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With the cold weather setting in this week, it’s important to take extra care to make sure you stay fit and healthy. Those with long-term respiratory problems need to take extra care as the damp, cold conditions can make you more vulnerable to catching those pesky winter bugs.
If you start to feel unwell, even if it’s a cough or a cold, don’t wait until it gets more serious. Seek advice from your Pharmacist.
Follow these simple tips below to help you and your loved ones to stay fit and well over this cold snap.
Try and keep your home heated to at least 18C.
Draw your curtains at dusk and keep doors closed to block out draughts
Wear several layers of clothes rather than 1 chunky layer. Clothes made from cotton, wool or fleecy fibres help to maintain body heat.
Have at least one hot meal a day. Eating regularly helps keep you warm.
Have hot drinks regularly throughout the day.
Stay active – even moderate exercise can help keep you warm.
Wrap a scarf loosely around your mouth, wear a hat and shoes with good grip when outdoors.
If you have a heart or respiratory problem, stay indoors during very cold weather.
Check in on elderly relatives and neighbours. If you are concerned about a relative or an elderly neighbour, contact your local council or ring the Age UK helpline on 0800 00 99 66.
If you need help with heating costs, you may be able to claim financial and practical help with heating your home. Grants available include the Winter Fuel Payment and the Cold Weather Payment.
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Ophelia, her very name is firmly rooted within the realm of Greek tragedy and as the Early Modern literature scholar Cherrell Guilfoyle wittily notes, “in one of the fragments of Euripidean tragedy, there is the saying ‘Woman brings to man the greatest possible succor and the greatest possible harm.’
In this way, from the very beginning of Hamlet, Ophelia is portrayed in a way that she was meant to be a helpmate to the men in her life. Thus, Ophelia’s degradation, descent into madness, and eventual suicide are all incredibly clear signs that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark”.
And this is where I am completely at odds with the given narrative about Ophelia
Ophelia didn’t just go crazy because her ex-boyfriend killed her father.
Ophelia went mad because her entire narrative arc in Hamlet is defined by patriarchal control and being treated like a child despite being an adult. Her first scene is one in which both her brother and father warn her not to be involved with a man she loves, but the way they do it is so telling.
Laertes, brother of Ophelia offers a compelling reason for her to be careful: no matter how true his love or how good his intentions, Hamlet is a prince, and his actions can’t always be his own. If he marries he has to marry for political gains, and Ophelia is the daughter of a court advisor with no title. So Ophelia could never be more than a mistress to him, dearly and truly loved but living in social and moral/religious disgrace, reflecting poorly on herself and on her father and brother. And sure, if Hamlet were king, she’d be well taken care of even if she weren’t married, but there’s still the aforementioned problem of honor. And besides, there’s the bigger problem of Hamlet not being king. If he so chose, Claudius could have Ophelia sent away, or imprisoned, or anything else that Hamlet would have no legal power to stop. So it’s better not to get entangled with Hamlet.
Laertes’ position is one that denies Ophelia happiness, but it’s also one that recognizes she’s an adult woman and one that is based on practical truths. It’s a position that grants Ophelia time and agency to end things with Hamlet gradually and in a way that lets both of them process the situation. Well, although, there’s a certain degree of talking down he does to her, it strikes me more like the way an older sibling will speak from experience when telling their younger sibling not to do something stupid. Moreover, their conversation is also one where Ophelia has a chance to respond to him in kind and remind him not to be a hypocrite because Laertes isn’t exactly old either.
But then along comes Polonius, proud and concerned father of Laertes and Ophelia to trample all over that. He speaks all over her, gives her no chance to respond, and treats her like a stupid child, comparing her to a bird caught in a trap. Unlike Laertes, he insists that Hamlet must have wicked intent and be seducing her—thereby assuming that Ophelia isn’t adult enough to have romantic or sexual agency. He’s essentially the kind of dad who threatens to do violence to his adult daughter’s boyfriends (well, not exactly, but definitely the same mindset). He refuses to believe Ophelia when she says that Hamlet has been genuine and gentlemanly to her, not trusting that she’s wise enough to recognize when someone is “only after one thing” versus when it’s actual love.
He then goes on to order her to return his letters, to order her to cut off from him completely and immediately (with no chance to process), and to then read some of Hamlet’s words to her to the king and queen, violating their privacy and turning something lovely into a reason for shame. Polonius says Ophelia gives him the “doubt” that the letter was out of filial duty, but given his busybody character and how he forced an answer out of her earlier, it’s not too much of a stretch to guess that he forced her to give it to him. Polonius then proceeds to conspire with Claudius, the quintessential antagonist to use Ophelia as a tool against Hamlet, putting her in a position to be deeply wounded.
I know a lot of interpretations of the “get thee to a nunnery” scene which is quite a memorable scene in the play reveals the misogynistic ideals of Hamlet where he tells Ophelia to become a nun, swearing off men and marriage as women who give birth are breeders of “sinners” as all men are sinners. You could interpret the scene as Ophelia completely believing that Hamlet is actually scorning and being cruel to her, and frankly, I’m not sure that that scene can’t be played straight on his end either. Maybe Hamlet sees that this is Polonius’ meddling, but maybe he thinks Ophelia is going along with it. In short, though, her father’s actions have put Ophelia in a position to be verbally abused by someone who she believes loved her.
However, later in the scenes you could make out a flirtatious conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia but that’s all in the tone—you could make it flirty, but you could also make it Ophelia being distant out of obligation to obey her father, while Hamlet’s goading her with sexual jokes. So it’s him once again being loathsome at best, cruel at worst.
And the final straw comes when he kills Polonius. Polonius’ death wasn’t the sole cause of Ophelia going mad, but it was the final straw. Sure, her father was a controlling meddlesome imbecile, but whether we read him as actually abusive or not, Ophelia probably still loved him as her father, complicated love or not. And now she’s an orphan, and it’s all because of the actions of the man she loved.
Like, Hamlet’s actions are understandable from his own perspective. But Ophelia doesn’t know about the ghost, doesn’t know about the murder, knows nothing. All she sees is the severe mental deterioration of her boyfriend coupled with the heartbreaking knowledge that her brother and father are right about the relationship not being viable. So she can’t be with him and can’t even stand by him to support him. And then she becomes a pawn in a political game she doesn’t even really understand, her every action directed by powerful men, which results in said boyfriend lashing out at her. And then her boyfriend kills her father for no reason she can understand other than him maybe being insane.
Consequently, you can see why Ophelia would be a little out of her mind by the time she dies.
Previous PostPrevious A ballad for the love of death.
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Josh says:
26 October 2021 at 20:55
This is so nicely written yooo
Viraaj says:
26 October 2021 at 21:29
Amazingly written piece!!!!
26 October 2021 at 22:06
Wow.
Anshuman Gupta says:
26 October 2021 at 22:18
Loved reading this!!
Akhil says:
26 October 2021 at 22:20
This was amazing.
27 October 2021 at 15:06
Truly tragic that she had to live her life following the words of men. Nothing worse than being used by the ones she loved.
Tharun says:
27 October 2021 at 15:58
Really well thought viewpoint!
9 November 2021 at 17:42
Very well written
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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico (AP) — Russell Henley finally made a bogey, and that’s about all that went wrong for him Sunday as he closed with a 1-under 70 for a four-shot victory in the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba.
Henley, staked to a six-shot lead going into the final round at El Camaleon, had the lead reduced to three when he missed a 5-foot par putt on the par-5 fifth hole.
He responded with three straight birdies, and no one got closer than four shots the rest of the way.
Henley won for the fourth time on the PGA Tour, and the first time since the Houston Open five years ago.
The previous five times Henley had at least a share of the 54-hole lead, he failed to convert the victory. The most recent was the Sony Open in January, when Hideki Matsuyama made up a two-shot deficit and beat him in a playoff.
“I just tried to learn from my past and my screw-ups,” Henley said with a smile. “All those events I didn’t close out, they hurt. You never know if you’ll win another. To come down 18 with a four-shot lead was really cool.”
Henley finished at 23-under 261 to tie the tournament record. He came into the final round as the only player who had not made a bogey all week.
Brian Harman closed with a 66 to finish alone in second, while the group five shots behind included Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and Seamus Power of Ireland, who was coming off a victory last week in Bermuda.
Scheffler lost the No. 1 ranking he had held since March when Rory McIlroy won the CJ Cup two weeks ago. Scheffler closed with a 62 at Mayakoba, leaving him a good chance to reclaim the No. 1 ranking next week at the Houston Open.
McIlroy is not playing again until the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Power shot a 68, and his tie for third with Scheffler, Joel Dahmen, Troy Merritt and Will Gordon put the Irishman atop the FedEx Cup standings and moved him to No. 29 in the world, his highest ranking ever.
Henley moved to No. 33 in the world and is assured of returning to the Masters. Last time, he didn’t secure a spot at Augusta National until moving into the top 50 a week before the Masters.
Henley lost three-shot leads at the Wyndham Championship in 2021 and the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek in 2020. The other times he was either tied or led by one or two shots, which is not much of a lead on the PGA Tour.
This was a six-shot margin, and it’s rare for someone not to win from there. That didn’t make it any easier.
“It’s tough. I don’t sleep well on a lead. I need a lot more practice,” Henley said. “I have no idea how Tiger did this 80-some times. It’s tough for me just to kind of calm down. You definitely don’t feel the same as when you’re practicing at home, but that’s the fun of it. That’s why we play.
“We want to see what we’re made of out here and get tested under pressure.”
The victory also sends Henley to Kapalua in January for the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the first elevated event in a new year of big purses.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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My beloved father passed away on December 27, 2014. I was his only child and his caregiver. We had lived in the same house together for all of my life (55 years). My parents divorced when I was only five and I was raised by my father, so my bond with him was extra close. He had been sick for a long time, he was 86, but his death still came as a terrible shock to me. Twice I found him in distress, unattended in the ICU, and then I watched him die from respiratory failure in Comfort Care for 36 hours straight.
My father was my best friend and my hero. For the first time in my life I am completely alone, no husband, no children, no friends or relatives close by. I feel lost without my father. He was the kindest man I ever knew. Our favorite pastime was to watch classic movies and listen to music together. We watched at least one movie together almost every evening. Sometimes we would binge watch Masterpiece Theater and Boardwalk Empire. Now I hardly turn on the tv, because it makes me miss him too much. I can't even watch Downton Abbey anymore, because he's not with me. Hearing the music we used to enjoy together makes me sad and anxious. Some cousins and friends have tried to keep me company when they can (which isn't often). I appreciate their kindness, they have given me comfort, but it isn't enough. They go back to their loved ones. I have no one anymore.
My father and I understood each other almost perfectly. He taught me to like everything he liked. The only thing I didn't understand about him was why he liked staying home so much. I loved being home with him all those years, but I also feel like life passed us by. There were so many things I wanted my dad to enjoy, but we ran out of time. Life isn't fun anymore without him. I knew this would happen, but it doesn't make it any easier. It's natural for our parents to die before us, but I feel like a huge part of my life has died with him. There is no more meaning or purpose in my life. People tell me to live for myself, but I don't know how.
My dad lives on in my memory, but I don't think I will ever be as happy again as I was when he was alive. I told him I loved him every day, but I wish I had spent more time with him, even though I was usually just in the next room when I wasn't beside him. I feel like I wasted time on my hobbies and trying to fix up the house, when I should have spent more time with him, keeping him company and cherishing every last moment with him. I did spend a lot of time with him, but I could have spent more! Sometimes he watched our favorite movies by himself, because I was busy doing something else. How could I leave him alone like that? I acted like we had all the time in the world -- how could I be so stupid! I should have asked him more questions and written down his answers. I guess I didn't think of this before, because I was in denial. I had too much faith in his will to live. He had been through so many crises before and always recovered until this last time. I helped save his life more than once, but this time I feel like there was something I did or something I didn't do that led to his demise. I trusted his doctors and the hospital, but they made mistakes. I feel like I should have taken him to another hospital, but they all make mistakes.
I cry every day. I have chronic insomnia and tingling feelings in my arms. I miss my dad terribly. I feel like I took him for granted. I wish I had never complained about anything to him. I should have just been happy that he was with me. He was so stoic. He didn't like to worry me. Now I wonder if he was suffering more than he would tell me. For many years I was a caregiver for four elderly relatives in succession, but the loss of my father is the hardest thing I've ever experienced. I thought I was strong, but I can't take this! I have endured the loss of other loved ones, but my dad was always there to give me moral support, so I didn't feel as lonely and hopeless as I do now. My mother died just two months before my father, but she didn't raise me, so I don't miss her nearly as much as my dad. With her I mostly mourn what might have been.
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Permalink Reply by Debbie Winans on May 13, 2015 at 11:49am
Oh Gilda, your story sounds so familiar with mine. I am an only child also, will be 56 in June, and my Dad was 86 when he passed at the end of October, 2014. I don't have any relatives in Michigan either. My parents stayed married, but my Mom died in 2000. I miss her, but the sting isn't there like the recent loss of my Dad. I have cousins in New York and Arizona that I am close with. I am so sorry for your loss. I wish there was an easy way to help you through this, but there is not. I went through all the guilt also (still do sometimes). I take reassurance that my Dad is not suffering any longer. We were very close too. And that it was my Dad's fondest wish that I live a long happy life. I am lucky I have good friends here at my workplace, at church, and close neighbors. If you need to talk to a professional, do it. Otherwise, just take it one day at a time. Try to do the things you enjoy as much as you can. My Dad loved to travel with me, although the last few years, he wasn't really able to go far. I took my first long trip without him last week. Can't say I didn't tear up, but I just tried to feel his spirit with me. It's a long process finding your own path. Rely on faith and friendship. People here know what you are going through and are willing to share and listen. Let us know how you are doing.
Permalink Reply by dream moon on May 13, 2015 at 3:31pm
i livd wth my dad evn mum fo 37 yrs till he died in 2012 im my dads only blood but he tret my brthr sistr lk his own he did my dad wz 76 he had copd hrt failr wz getng bter frm a strok he wz thn we had him b for a wk hrf thn bk in hosptl on fryday on wrd frm hell not strok unit but he died on satday 3.3.2012 at 220am me mum got thr 2 lte we did now mums got memry probs
my dad luved old movies lk randy scot 1s baled songs he did luvd art he wz happy wen i did art iv got his habit sketch doodln he luvd sweets i miss him a lot i do i wz a big daddys grl u cud say
aftr he died iv had loss non stop funralls is os mush hrdr nw hes gon
Permalink Reply by Gilda on May 14, 2015 at 12:48am
Dear Debbie, thanks so much for your very kind reply. I am so sorry for your loss. I am also relieved that my parents are no longer suffering. We are the ones who are suffering now. I have tried going to two support groups, three therapists, three doctors, four churches, and six bars, but nothing seems to help. The first grief support group was cancelled because of low attendance and the other one is too far away for me (I don't drive). It only meets once a month. I finally found a good therapist on my fourth try. I see her once a week. I saw her today, she said I need to accept that losing our parents is a normal phase of life. She said I was lucky to have my dad and he was lucky to have his daughter for 55 years. The trouble is that I still worry about my father. I told her I even worry that he needs me to guide him to the pearly gates. He was very dependent on me later in life. I would gladly die just to help him again, if he needed me. I know that sounds crazy but that's how I feel. He has plenty of relatives on the other side, but it's all so mysterious since nobody really knows what it's like in the afterlife, if it exists at all. A lot of relatives here on earth didn't go out of their way for him, even though they claimed to love him. I'd even go to hell to keep him company, I loved him that much. And yet, I'm one to talk, since I spent so much time on my hobbies and dealing with home improvements when I could have been watching more movies with him. Movies were his way to take his mind off his health problems. I'd give anything to be able to watch one more movie with him. The therapist told me we all have to have balance in our lives -- nobody can live completely for another person.
I know my presence calmed my dad, and that's why I feel terrible about the times I wasn't there in the hospital when he was suffering, because I had to sleep. One time I found him in the ICU in respiratory distress -- the cannula was out, his oxygen saturation was low. My poor father was begging for air, water and God's mercy. When he saw me, he thanked me over and over -- it broke my heart. I was able to get the nurse to put him back on the oxygen mask because he was breathing through his mouth more than his nose. The nasal gastric tube was blocking his breathing. I also asked the nurse to raise the pressure on his oxygen, but I shouldn't have had to do that. When I had left him on a previous night, I had told my dad that the nurses were watching him on the camera. My dad who hadn't yet been weaned off the ventilator at that point, made a scoffing gesture to indicate they weren't watching him. Little did I know that they were NOT watching him. Before that there was an ICU nurse from hell who made a difficult situation even worse with her attitude. She told me she didn't believe in prolonging people's lives artificially -- I was worried she was going to pull the plug on my dad. Even before my father was dying the hospital wanted him to choose DNR or “no code” status, because of his multiple admissions. I felt like I had to plead for his life by telling him that his quality of life between admissions was still good. He loved life and that's why he was willing to try the ventilator to see if it would give him a chance to recover. He had recovered other times when his outlook was grim. I don't think the hospital did all they could for my father on account of his age and health history. It would take too long to go into all the details and the mistakes that were made. I sometimes wonder if the mistakes were made on purpose just to hasten his death, because treating an elderly patient like him was no longer profitable. There's no way I can prove it, so all I can do is grieve.
Permalink Reply by Gilda on May 14, 2015 at 12:55am
Dear dream moon, thank you for your very kind reply. My heartfelt sympathy for your loss. My dad liked old western films, too. His favorite cowboy was Buck Jones. In one of my dad's photos I uploaded, he looks like an oldtime cowboy in the desert. My dad loved sweets, too. I miss him every day and always will. Like Debbie said, we have to take it one day at a time. It is comforting to have a place to share and listen. Writing about my memories and feelings seems to help me work through the grief. Take care of yourself and God bless you.
Permalink Reply by Debbie Winans on May 14, 2015 at 3:05pm
Gilda, everyone handles grief in their own time. I feel like I'm doing okay, but something still makes me tear up pretty much every single day. I don't want to assume you don't work because you don't drive? I think it is harder for people that have time to think about it all day. I have a friend that has a husband and four kids but doesn't work and she is having a tough time also with the loss of her mother in January. My Dad developed Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia a few years back and took meds for it, but it came back as they weaned him off the meds. He had kidney problems, Parkinson's, and some heart blockages/valve replacement also. He was pretty active; the Parkinson's was stopping him golfing but he was still bowling. He wanted to try chemo. It was actually a new treatment for older people and he was the first in our area to get it. That with everything else took it's toll on him and his legs started giving out. He was also having breathing problems. He fell a couple of times and the hospital suggested rehab. He was in the rehab place a couple of weeks and then got pneumonia, which pretty much took him out. So it was coming on for awhile, but felt really fast. I had left the hospital for a couple of hours to clean his room out at the rehab place and when I came back he had told them he wanted to be DNR. When he didn't respond to the antibiotics, they put him in Hospice in the hospital. It was just a few days later he was gone. I feel guilty like I should have fought harder and not just let him go. Although he was very peaceful and not in any pain. But then I think if I had kept him alive, he would still be facing all his problems and it would have just gotten harder for him. He was used to being very active. It has been a crazy time. I work in Financial Aid at Michigan State University and out of my small processing department, three of us lost parents since late October when my Dad passed. One of the other women's husband is 88 and they keep giving him up for dead, but he is still doing pretty well. Just funny that he hung on and the rest of us, who's parent's were still pretty active, are gone. We also had about 5 or 6 deaths at our church in a six month period. Plus one of my good Facebook friends that I talked about before lost her mother in January. I think it is harder with you not driving, but you really do need to find things you enjoy and do them. Can you get a bus or a cab? LIke doing volunteer work. Whatever you enjoy - art, books, music, theatre (my passion) try to do something enjoyable every day. I know how hard the guilt is too. I will pray you find your way through the grief and find peace and happiness. I know that is what your Dad would want for you. Feel free to come on here and chat if it helps. I try to check every day if I can.
Permalink Reply by dream moon on May 14, 2015 at 4:52pm
i always say if i meat rht man i hpe his lk my dad well his persnalty i shud say funny kind carng 1 it luvs me for bean me
Permalink Reply by dream moon on May 14, 2015 at 4:59pm
my dad had bretn probs 2 its in famly it is iv got copd 2 lk my dad but its my dad i miss so mush i do im wored abot mum coz wen shes gon im on sts coz of tax law bedroom tax law i no its silly
Permalink Reply by Gilda on May 15, 2015 at 1:10am
Debbie, thank you for your helpful reply. I'm sorry for all the sadness that you and your colleagues are going through. I agree that had they lived, our fathers would still be facing all their problems and it would have just gotten harder for them. My dad didn't like not being able to work around the house like he used to, but I still think he wanted to live for my sake and for his own. However, after his heart attack in the hospital, he needed a heart operation and he did not want to go back onto the ventilator. The doctor said his chance of surviving the operation were virtually nil. The dialysis alone would probably have killed him and the recovery period would have been very long and painful. While I believe hospice/Comfort Care was the right choice for both our dads, given the circumstances, my doubts are about the events that led up to my dad needing to be placed in Comfort Care. He was hospitalized twice during December for pneumonia of unknown etiology. The hospital failed to have a sputum culture done during his first hospitalization, even though I reminded the nurse and the doctor, and even collected a sputum sample myself to ensure it was done. The hospitalist said it was "disconcerting" that the sputum culture was not done, because of some mixup at the lab, but he still discharged my dad after a couple of days just with antibiotics and without treating his CHF. He could have tried switching his diuretic or even tried aquapheresis, a light form of dialysis, but they didn't offer it. Since my dad had been treated successfully for pneumonia six months earlier, I thought they knew what they were doing, but that previous time they did do a sputum culture and prescribed a suitable antibiotic. This time they prescribed antibiotics without even knowing if the infecting agent was bacterial, and they continued to prescribed powerful antibiotics during his second hospitalization without knowing what was causing the pneumonia, until his kidneys gave out.
About six weeks before my father passed away we had gone on a rare shopping trip with relatives after which I got bronchitis and my dad caught walking pneumonia. I'm pretty sure we caught it from a relative who should not have joined us since she had chronic bronchitis. I have not said anything to her, because what's done is done. I think she already feels guilty about it. I don't usually get sick, so it was a sad coincidence that the one time in years that I was sick was the time when my dad died.
My father seemed to be getting better during his second stay in the hospital that month, but suddenly he got a massive heart attack after they gave him two pneumonia vaccines. I think they should have waited until he had recovered from his current pneumonia. I feel that if we had not gone on that shopping trip, he would not have caught pneumonia or been given the vaccines or those nephrotoxic antibiotics, and he might have lived. My poor father went on that shopping trip just to please me, because I had complained that I wished we could get out of the house for something other than doctor visits or funerals. Relatives would call us and brag about all the fun they were having on various trips and it was driving me crazy with envy. I haven't been on a vacation in 14 years! My father asked me, "Is fun so important?" I replied that to most people it seems to be. Some relatives talked about their vacations right in front of my great uncle when he was dying in the hospital. How can people be so insensitive? An aunt by marriage said she couldn't make it to my dad's rosary service, because she had to take her granddaughter to a make-up consultation to find out which season she is. I'd rather that she had not come to the funeral at all than hear her say that a makeup session was more important than my father's vigil. Now I know that fun isn't so important. I would gladly stay home for the rest of my life if I could spend it with my father. He was the only person who truly understood me and whom I could trust completely.
Another tragic incident is that several years ago, I had hired some brickworkers to repave a patio area. My father, always eager to help out, was carrying bricks to the site when one dropped on his foot. An ulcer developed on his middle toe and that eventually led to gangrene and six weeks in the hospital. The surgeon botched the toe operation by not ordering proper post-surgical wound care, so the gangrene spread, and he had to have two more surgeries on his toe. On the last surgery, the surgeon postponed the operation from morning to afternoon, so my father was not give food or water for 22 hours! My father started vomiting from low blood sugar. Thankfully, one of the nurses called off the operation that day or he might have aspirated while under the anesthesia. My father lost a lot of weight in the hospital, because of meds making him sick and that was the beginning of his decline. My dad recovered from the gangrene at home after about a year, thanks to xeroform gauze dressings and Medi-honey. With dietary changes he reversed his diabetes. The surgeon thought my dad would have to have his leg amputated below the knee on account of peripheral arterial disease. She called his recovery a miracle and commended me for taking good care of him. And yet, I feel that if I hadn't wanted the patio repaved and asked him to accompany me on that last shopping trip together, he might still be alive.
It's true I am not working at this time though I will be looking for a job as soon as I start feeling better. I can't even finish the work I need to do here at home. I take cabs quite a lot these days but for longer trips the cab fares really add up. My father stopped driving when I was 9 years old, after he accidentally hit a dog which ran onto the street from between two parked cars. He discouraged me from driving ever since. I never bought a car, because money was tight. As a caregiver for several relatives in a row I wasn't drawing a salary. Right now I'm living off savings from an inheritance, which has been mostly consumed by home repairs. Ever since my father died, I have not been able to enjoy much of anything that I used to enjoy. The only thing that gives me pleasure is Peruvian food, something that has no associations with my father, because he never tried it. I feel guilty that I didn't buy a car and learn to drive years ago, in spite of my dad's warnings. We would have had so many more happy memories to look back on if I had been able to drive him to various fun places. Now I'm getting all kinds of invitations to travel to Europe, Mexico and other locations, but I don't feel up to it. On Valentine's Day a cousin took me to the beach and I cried watching the sunset, because my dad wasn't there to enjoy it. A couple of weeks ago, I rented a car and another cousin drove us to Half Moon Bay. It was nice, but again I wished that my father could have enjoyed it. He did travel with me a handful of times when he was in better condition, and he ended up enjoying himself, but he was happiest at home. I'm glad that your dad loved to travel with you, so you have those happy memories to cherish.
Thank you so much for your prayers. I will keep you in my prayers, too.
Permalink Reply by Gilda on May 15, 2015 at 1:55am
I hope you meet a nice man, dream moon. At my age, it's not so easy. I signed up for an online dating site and got dozens of replies from men, but about 90 percent of them were scammers! I know how to spot them now. I haven't had much luck with female friends either, because they don't share my interests. It's hard not to feel sad when I'm lonely and miss the person I loved best in all the world. I don't want just a roommate, I want a soulmate. I think personality is more important than looks, too.
i always say if i meat rht man i hpe his lk my dad well his persnalty i shud say funny kind carng 1 it luvs me for bean me
Permalink Reply by Gilda on May 15, 2015 at 2:56am
I'm so sorry that your dad had COPD and that you have it, too. I hope your mom will be with you a long time yet. It sounds like the bedroom tax should be abolished and if enough people complain maybe it will be. I will pray for you and your mom.
my dad had bretn probs 2 its in famly it is iv got copd 2 lk my dad but its my dad i miss so mush i do im wored abot mum coz wen shes gon im on sts coz of tax law bedroom tax law i no its silly
Permalink Reply by Debbie Winans on May 15, 2015 at 9:41am
I laughed at your Dad's comment "Is fun so important?" Too funny. It's good that your family is asking you to go places with them. I just go where I want to go by myself. It's hard the other way too. My friend at work with the 88 year old husband can't take any trips because her husband needs 24 hour care. I think we both spent a lot of time with our Dad's and have nothing to feel bad about. I tear up sometimes too because I wish my Dad was experiencing something with me. I just try to imagine that he's watching me! I think if it is possible, our Dad's are watching over us. My house needs a lot of repairs also. My main worry was we would get water in the basement. Just funny this year there hasn't been any - one time a tiny tiny bit. But with rains and snow melting, I haven't even had to use the water vacuum or whatever it's called. Coincidence? I wonder! LOL!
Permalink Reply by Gilda on May 15, 2015 at 1:14pm
A friend of mine in Cincinnati mixed a drink, coke and bourbon, last night before bedtime. It was three quarters full. She took a few sips and didn't want anymore and set the glass, half full, about, in the fridge. She was going to toss it, but thought, she can do it tomorrow. This morning when she opened the fridge to get the coffee creamer the glass was empty and clean. She looked at it, smelled it, no residue. She didn't drink it over night, so where did it go? A little liquid might evaporate after a while, maybe, but close to a half glass over night? She thinks her late dad decided to finish it for her. :)
I laughed at your Dad's comment "Is fun so important?" Too funny. It's good that your family is asking you to go places with them. I just go where I want to go by myself. It's hard the other way too. My friend at work with the 88 year old husband can't take any trips because her husband needs 24 hour care. I think we both spent a lot of time with our Dad's and have nothing to feel bad about. I tear up sometimes too because I wish my Dad was experiencing something with me. I just try to imagine that he's watching me! I think if it is possible, our Dad's are watching over us. My house needs a lot of repairs also. My main worry was we would get water in the basement. Just funny this year there hasn't been any - one time a tiny tiny bit. But with rains and snow melting, I haven't even had to use the water vacuum or whatever it's called. Coincidence? I wonder! LOL!
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I woke up this morning with the option of a cup of coffee in my home, a latte at a local coffee house or skip both and go directly to the office. I can choose to walk to work without automatically worrying about my safety. I don’t panic over specific neighborhoods often…in rural eastern Colorado. Food is generally safe even when not perfect.
The United States isn’t a perfect nation. We all know that. As a nation we have embarrassing sins in our past. In comparison to other cultures globally, the U.S. is still in its infancy, tripping over our shoestrings while chasing butterflies.
But we also have, collectively, more safety than much of the world. Fences have not been exchanged for spiked walls, family members do not stay home to guard the house and as a rule we have little reason to fear law enforcement.
We have the right to chase those butterflies because of people before us. The deepest of statements, the one written by the blood of our brothers, sisters, uncles, fathers and cousins, is that freedom isn’t free.
It is paid with a covenant written by the blood of men and women who have answered the call of protecting our people, our borders and our interests. It is complicated because history shows politics makes strange bedfellows.
The reality is I can live in any house I choose and can afford. I can walk most streets with reasonable safety, and I can make my way up the corporate ladder as far as I choose.
These choices are ultimately a result of the covenant signed by countless men and women since our country was formed. We have the privilege of living under the blessing of other people’s sacrifice. Without it, we would likely be among the countries defined as Third World.
It is ironic that even those who spew hatred for our country are able to do so because of the same blessing bestowed to those who live in a quiet home. They have the right to protest.
They have the right to bring attention to wrongs done by the government. They have the right to peacefully assemble. With specific qualifications, each one of us has the right to run for public office.
We don’t have a government and social structure telling people what their adult occupation will be. We have opportunities presented by free enterprise and by the covenant.
So what do we do to respect that covenant? Do we respect our service men and women? Maybe anonymously buy a person in uniform a coffee or lunch? Do we stand at attention when the American flag is presented? Do we attend events honoring military service?
We have to acknowledge that just because the U.S. isn’t perfect, at times has glaring issues, doesn’t negate the covenant. We all have been blessed by the sacrifices made.
Because of the sacrifices, we have fewer conflicts in our own yard. We have to admit soldiers on the average enlist because they believe in protecting our country and its citizens.
We have to believe that while military is often the arms and legs of political decisions, politics and armed forces do not always agree.
These men and women go because they hear a specific call. For some, it is as simple as drawing a line in the sand and not letting go even if that line is covered with their own blood.
Maybe the highest respect we can give the ones who choose to wear a uniform is in paraphrasing a line from a well-known movie: live a life worth the sacrifice.
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
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Local News
5 years on, failures from Hurricane Maria loom large as Puerto Rico responds to Fiona
Published September 20, 2022 at 5:01 AM EDT
AP
A road is blocked by a mudslide caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, on Sunday.
Updated September 20, 2022 at 9:21 AM ET
Exactly five years after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, killing at least 3,000 residents and causing the collapse of the island's electricity system, the U.S. territory is again facing the aftermath of a massive storm for which it is not fully prepared.
In the wake of Fiona, which made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans were again without electricity. The island's governor, Pedro Pierluisi, has described the outages, massive flooding and landslides there as "catastrophic."
The response to Fiona could be telling. The Trump administration's response to Hurricane Maria was widely seen as wholly inadequate, and the infrastructure on the island is still far from resilient enough to absorb any new shocks. But federal officials have learned lessons from the Maria response and are already showing signs of putting them into effect. While some see progress in the response to Fiona, others say there is still a long way to go.
Ahead of Fiona, FEMA had more supplies in place
Anne Bink, the associate administrator of the Office of Response and Recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, says the agency is much better situated to respond to Fiona than it was for Maria.
Five years ago, there was only a single FEMA warehouse with supplies on the entire island. Now there are four, she says.
"We have 10 times the food, 10 times the water that we had when Maria struck and made landfall in Puerto Rico," Bink says. "And we also have triple the generation support, the temporary power support."
AP
A home is submerged in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, on Sunday. Authorities said three people were inside the home and were reported to have been rescued.
Last week, she says, the agency pre-deployed "hundreds" of federal response personnel to the island in anticipation of Fiona's landfall. FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell also traveled to the island to meet with officials, she says.
But funding for Puerto Rico has come slowly. In 2020, three years after Maria, the Trump administration announced $9.6 billion to rebuild the island's electrical grid destroyed by Maria.
"That work is ongoing and is speeding up," Bink says, adding that FEMA has been "laser focused" on resiliency — hardening the systems against natural disasters, such as hurricanes and earthquakes.
A flooded road is seen during the passage of Hurricane Fiona in Villa Blanca, Puerto Rico, on Sunday.
The island's infrastructure still poses huge challenges
But simply putting vulnerable systems back to the way they were before they collapsed is not enough, says Craig Fugate, who served as FEMA administrator under President Barack Obama.
"You had emergency repairs after Maria just to get it back on," he says. "Then you had the permanent work. And there had been a lot done to harden transmission lines, but it wasn't complete."
Even so, with Fiona, "you've already seen bridges are being washed away that had been rebuilt after Maria," he says. "If we built infrastructure back after Maria that got wiped out in this storm, we didn't build it back the right way."
Carmen Yulín Cruz experienced that frustration firsthand as mayor of Puerto Rico's capital, San Juan, when Maria, a Category 4 storm, hit the island on Sept. 20, 2017.
AP
A utility pole with loose cables towers over a home in Loíza, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 15. Nearly five years have gone by since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, but the island's electrical infrastructure remains in deep disrepair.
She says there was a lot of talk, but not much action.
"For the reconstruction, [it] was lip service," Cruz says. "Almost every week, [we'd hear] X number of millions of dollars for this, X number of millions of dollars for that. But the execution ... was nonexistent."
Cruz thinks renewable sources of energy — particularly solar — that feed into isolated microgrids are the way for Puerto Rico to protect itself from future natural disasters. If one part of the grid goes down, it doesn't take everything else with it. It's admittedly a long way off, but the island has undertaken a plan to switch to 100% renewable energy by 2050.
In the shorter term, redundancy at key facilities is one way to be ready for tropical storms and earthquakes, says Brad Gair, an emergency response expert with Witt O'Brien's, a consultancy specializing in risk assessment and management.
"Over the weekend when the power went out at critical facilities, particularly hospitals, [they went] on backup generators that I'm sure they either had themselves or FEMA purchased for them" since Maria, he says. "Ultimately, getting redundancies in place, resilient [electricity] generation ... would be the solution."
During Maria, confusion was everywhere
But getting humanitarian resources to the people on the ground who can help is also vitally important, especially in the near term, says Anaís Delilah Roque Antonetty, who was a shelter manager in Puerto Rico after Maria.
She says there was a lot of confusion at all levels of government.
"Many shelters were not really prepared to receive the amount of people that they were expecting," says Roque, who is an assistant professor of anthropology at Ohio State University.
"So, logistically speaking, it was something from top to bottom," she says, adding that all levels of government "played a big role in [the] mismanagement."
Speaking with NPR's Morning Edition on Tuesday, Yarimar Bonilla, director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, blamed the FEMA bureaucracy for the slow recovery from Maria.
FEMA funds, she says, were "overly policed."
"They're always slow, but they were [even more so] when it came to Puerto Rico," she says. "They were held back, they were extremely vetted."
"And so we know that there were still people under blue tarps or people who were never able to really fully repair their homes," Bonilla says.
The tone set by leaders can be crucial
FEMA's response to Hurricane Maria was widely criticized, particularly given the tone set by then-President Donald Trump, who tangled with the territory's officials, denied that thousands died from the storm and insisted the federal response was "incredibly successful." He only released funds to rebuild the island just weeks before the 2020 election.
As much as the lack of coordination, the seriousness with which government officials are seen to take the situation matters, says Reggie Ferreira, program director of the Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy at Tulane University's School of Social Work.
It's especially important that "political figures come out and stress their support and actually deliver with their support," he says.
"Look at Hurricane Sandy," Ferreira says. "If you see how [then-New Jersey Gov. Chris] Christie was in the foreground, President [Barack] Obama was in the foreground. Tone is important."
Local News
Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.
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Chanute Tribune (Newspaper) - February 25, 1961, Chanute, Kansas Parole Board full time Bill wins approval Topeka tap a Bill to re a turn other hive ruffed Are the investigation began he said. The drug Supply room at the Hospital for nude drugs for outpatients 23 Hospital wards and to other institution. If a Ward ordered to tablets of a drug henge explained the order was changed to 130 and the extra too tablets were Keurt for Sale bartering or Gilt. No Carbon copies of orders were kept As a double Check news briefs too s rear presumable until she remarries plus custody of the couples two children Cathy la and Jackie 7 typing amp shorthand class will the divorce proceedings before begin Mon. Night 6 30 p i Boom state supreme court Justice 311, or. College. Charles a. Loreto were secret. Adultery is the Only grounds Tor due to the death of mrs. Grace divorce in new York m. Caldwell Caldwell floor Cov Wing. 201 s Santa be will be i Iai closed until further notice. 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And choral groups in Iowa and a a a new Mexico in addition to his to a Nab a a Ort of teaching duties during the past Arae it no 13 years. His parents Are or. And mrs. C. Butler also now of Las Cruces. Poller said two Small boys miffed breaking two windows a House on Mulberry yesterday. They were released to their Par meeting. Purpose of the meeting was an Effort to improve the scouting program statewide. Representatives from each of the seven scout councils in Kansas firmed that pm or it Pok on phasf5 a a a a to ii u ii a or Urmal or nit of a Brilliant pro gig in in to sir Council in Vichich 7 in h-4j Flash in the sky came from a tray failed tic officer on duty in the arca. Meeting was conducted by lock to police were advised by the Barry k. Phipps. Service area air Rescue Center that the radar chairman and a former resident station at Ironwood Mich lost of Chanute tile new Region 8 i Ron tact with the plane a about Rector was introduced at the inst the same time the Flash was a . 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Quot Dury Quot a Amrin my Quot Driver sentenced More than Hoo. \ w for you to put seat belts in your.1 ssi j u pm t Eph re a Duan Bohor. 901 k if you done to get your Tribune t to ?3 Sfartz no with the i%2 models Kansas was sentenced to 30 Days phone your Carrier. If he can t be Rem Ina margin Ai adj Cha Ziajor Domestic Man fac in the county jail yesterday on reached Call 700 after 6 . 4 Nous times in the see saw con turf a wll in Tan safety at. Char gig of do Vang Shile intoxicant test the jets trailed 1> four moments in the front seats of de transporting an open bottle and Points going Filto the fourth Quad a passenger Auto the anchors rot having a Driver s License. A Ilfra ,.en a Pottss. Is ill be affixed to the Auto Frame charge of reckless driving was Dis i Carl Harvey w As High for mid or tub Frame missed police arrested Baker at Way with Points. 13 in the four 7 companies said Friday that Forest and a Berry steal plus food and Cash assistance. Edgerton Man admits theft of crude Oil Olathe Kan a William pay Churchman. 38 Edgerton Kan., pleaded guilty Friday to grand larceny in the theft of 5157, i Worth of Oil. He was Given a l-to-5-year term in state prison. Earlier Iii the week. Ernest r. Watson. 53, Ottawa Kan. Pleaded guilty in tile same Case and was Given the same sentence. Churchman was Chiel Engineer at the Edgerton pumping station of the Phillips Petroleum co. Watson owner a tank truck investigators said Churchman helped Batson j4eal the Oil which Vias hauled to a refinery near Chanute Kan attorneys said both Nim were willing to make As much restitution As they Are Able applications for parole will be acted upon March 6 after the Given an accounting of their property. Hospital drug leak at Kansas City Kansas City a drugs have been illegally sold traded and Given away at City operated general Hospital during the last 13 years the City Council was told Friday. James Lenge City auditor said nine employees were involved. A not All of them made Money out of Lenge said. A hut they All had direct or indirect knowledge of drugs boing sold or Given one employee hat. Been fired and the funeral service will be at the Cason funeral Home Fredonia. Monday at 2 . Burial will be in Elmwood cemetery at 3 30 . Funeral service Toland a the funeral service for Arthur David Toland was yesterday at the Grant Avenue Baptist Church with the Rev. E. M. Pearson officiating. Or. And mrs. Harold Neptune mrs. Warner Tiegreen and Vernon Ungberg accompanied by mrs. Blaine Marks Sang Quot Hock of Ages Quot and Quot face to Floral arrangers were mrs. Youngling and mrs. Esther Erickson honorary hearers were Lige Matlock Milford Mccoy Lester Spencer Chet Hale. Don Harlan and Fay Davis and bearers were Warner Tiegreen e. E. Lofgren or j. S Whitteberry Raymond York. Lou Henry and Lon Pace. Burial was in Elmwood Ceme tory. Daily transcript Neosho memorial Hospital f Rederick the Frame. 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Hartford wins divorce $2.3 million Kansas sheep win our Heartiest congratulations to the congregation of the presbyterian Church upon the completion of your new educational building we Are proud to have been selected to be the electrical contractors. Lassman electric 117 w. Main phone 303 read the advertisements Houston. Tex 1 apr Leonard new York Lap a Marjorie Steward of Grenola kas., showed Steele Hartford Friday won an the Champion ram and Ewe m the uncontested divorce and a $2,385,-1dorset sheep class Al the Houston too settlement from Huntington fat Stock show Friday night. Hartford i Aap Chain store heir she also gets an additional $60,-1 phone 17-the Tribune Mutual funds phone 585 West America securities Loc. I m Harris s. W Finne e. E. Lofgren a Jay Tabor member Pacific coast Stock Exchange congratulations to the congregation of the presbyterian Church upon the completion of the new educational building attend the dedication sunday february 26th, at 3 00 p. M. Of was our pleasure to have been Fri architect of this new building Williamson Loebsack and associates Topeka Kansas Post office Box 1219 our sincere. Congratulations to the members of the presbyterian Church congregation upon completion of their new educational building attend the dedication sunday february 26, 3 00 p. M. It was our pleasure to have Reen the general contractor for this new Structure. Freeto construction company Coffeyville Kansas i masons 1 apr Thomas p. Crisped a former veterinary member of the Kane a Board of health died Friday after a ions illness. ground Chuck tonight. A Quick Hearty casserole la. 59c veg All 2 35c amp a s midd v i g i i a i i i t for a tasty tuna bake a a he Man dish try starkest tuna with Larsen s veg Aii Stark St chunk style tuna to 2 55c Royal treat a stems and pieces mushrooms 2 e 35c 69c la. Tin folgers a Aii grinds Coffee. 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“Black Panther” has taken the world by storm. When movies are surrounded by so much buzz, it makes one wonder if it lives up to the hype. The answer to this question for “Black Panther” can be summed up in two words: it does.
As a superhero movie, it gives audiences everything that would be expected: cars racing through the streets, amazing fight sequences, high tech gadgets, and stunning visuals. But as a film, it is so much more than mere action-packed escapism.
One leaves the theater contemplating big issues as well as ones place in the cultural landscape. What is most clearly seen in regards to the movie’s importance is that the whole cast, apart from a few supporting characters, are people of color. The world they inhabit, known as Wakanda, is vivid. It has a well-defined political system and impressive landscapes, both real and spiritual. People of color depicted in a fully-realized culture as heroes capable of fighting the world’s bad guys is something that is, sadly, not seen in many big-budget action movies. “Black Panther” gives to children of color what white children have always had: superhero figures that resemble them, that they can look up to. This is expressed in an impactful way in the closing moments of the film, as a young boy of color looks up to the Black Panther, T’Challa, in wonder.
“Black Panther” also asks questions pertinent to the present political climate. The whole overarching conflict within the film resonates on many levels as the villian promotes a policy derived from ongoing injustices against people of color. He, therefore, does not seem overtly villainous in some respects. However, the film further questions ideas about immigration, race relations, and foreign aid; eventually asking what are the best ways to fix mistakes of the past.
“Black Panther” continues a trend started in “Captain America: Civil War,” which is superhero movies commenting on contemporary events, adding more to the genre than innovations in CGI and stunt work have ever done. “Black Panther” takes advantage of the superhero movie’s ability to reach a large audience, and it shows how these movies can be used to ask important questions and begin conversations. Superheroes use their powers to promote things like justice and truth. With movies like “Black Panther,” Disney and Marvel can use their status as a global superpowers to promote diversity and acceptance while leading the way to the creation of change for the better.
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The essential difference between Tinder and Kindling. Although, the title could have based on the objective of these materials. – SUYAM
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The essential difference between Tinder and Kindling. Although, the title could have based on the objective of these materials.
The essential difference between Tinder and Kindling. Although, the title could have based on the objective of these materials.
So, exactly what are Tinder and Kindling and exactly why can I care?
No, No No, it has nothing at all to do with dating internet sites.
The truth is, fire is just one of the man’s greatest discoveries. It is vital for success in just about any situation where you end up alone in a strange desolate place or stranded in a wilderness situation.
F uel is just one of the three elements that all fires require. Tinder and Kindling are a very part that is important of element.
Understanding how to start out a fire in just about any situation is a rather crucial success skill. A part that is large of ability is based on the choice of great tinder and kindling. These choices will vary with regards to the location, weather and basic geography that you could get separated in.
When stuck a backwoods like situation, the uses for a fire can endless. We utilize fire to prepare meals, sanitize water, keep wildlife at bay, give heat and light. Moreover it tends to comfort and offer a feeling of protection.
Now it is equally important to know how to harness this tool that we have an idea of how essential fire is. Just how to bring forth it is life-sustaining roar from only spark or ember.
Tinder and Kindling are a couple of vital fuels utilized to ignite then quickly maintain the fire. The Tinder takes the spark or ember and transforms it into a flame. The Kindling then provides gas sufficient because of this flame that is new ignite big gas products such as for instance logs.
Let’s search a bit closer to the roles and Science of Tinder and Kindling.
The job that is primary of is to make a flame from a temperature supply. The length for this flame is normally pretty quick by design.
Tinder is little shreds and bits of product typically no bigger than a pencil lead. Ideally things with low flash points.
Fashion the chosen natural materials into a loose mass resembling a birds nest. The nest provides a cradle to get the embers or sparks. The nest has to be free and porous allowing for good airflow to give you the required oxygen. These materials will begin to ignite at fairly temperatures that are low.
All fires start out with an ignited source primarily an ember or a spark. These ignition sources have actually fairly low conditions and lives that are short.
Sparks from a Ferecium Rod (Fire metal) are an exclusion. They create sparks that may be a lot hotter based upon its Magnesium content.
You need to find items and mixtures that are durable and weatherproof when it comes to your tinder selection. Most of all, this product will need the cheapest flash point there is.
Make use of your imagination to check out what you could show up with. Here are a few excellent samples of man-made tinder. They are convenient and intensely examples that are reliable.
Choosing the proper Tinder to use is crucial and often it is difficult to get. Inclement weather, as an example, can provide a challenging environment to get tinder that is usable. As you’re able to imagine. The tinder you decide on has got to be totally dry to be able to work precisely. It is important to place a little bit of thought into finding dry product. Be innovative whenever looking for dry tinder. Always check places like under rocks, up in woods or dig towards the base of a pile to get the dry product. Any location which will have protected the item form the current weather.
Kindling is definitely, an accumulation of tiny sticks and twigs which are effortlessly combustible. This product is bigger than Tinder but smaller compared to logs.
Whenever beginning a fire making use of ancient techniques, the primary concept is the exact same. Begin in the tiniest possible point and slowly work the right path as much as the required blaze.
Tinder begins the string, this has the obligation of Ignition, by getting the spark. Using the spark or ember caught in the Tinder, it may need a little air. This is when the necessity for loosely developing the bundle becomes obvious, it’ll offer airflow, using the oxygen that is much-needed the embers.
Therefore, begin blowing to the bundle. Waving the tinder around normally a great way to|way that is good} force atmosphere to the bundle. Now this cigarette smoking and smoldering mass will create tiny short-lived flames.
The next website link in the string is by using your tinder bundle to move this flame to your Kindling bringing it to ablaze. Once your Kindling has a good stable flame|stable that is nice}, the fire from this will burn off considerably longer and therefore supplies the way to make use of the final website link into the string.
Big gas products. Things like thicker sticks, branches, and logs. At this time, at this point you have actually a life-sustaining campfire that is true.
All of the above-mentioned items can be utilized as Kindle to help keep the fire burning.
Materials for Tinder and Kindle are usually obtainable in the wasteland but few other materials, which can currently be bought by you, is also utilized such as for example toilet tissue, cardboard or a fabric.
a knife may be used to create a Tinder by operating it over the branch or twigs to produce slim mind curls. The Tinder will be helped by these curls burn readily and simply. And these cut right out sticks are known as feather sticks or fuzz sticks.
These fuzz sticks work really easily in moist climate.
The dampness of the fuzz sticks can be simply eliminated by operating the blade advantage through it. Result in the pieces slimmer to cause them to burn off effortlessly.
Given that those items that are required for beginning the fire are understood let’s observe a fire might be started.
Gather the Tinder and ignite it by rubbing it with a rock or a bamboo stick.
Maintain the bamboo stick regarding the dry Tinder and rub it by simply making down and up movement with your arms. just while you see smoke appearing out of the Tinder blow about it to start out the fire then transfer it towards the kindling product unless kindle just isn’t already put leaned upon the Tinder.
Igniting a fire and rendering it calls for more knowledge that is practical aided by the theoretical knowledge, therefore along side understanding of materials useful for lighting the fire, it really is encouraged to get practical knowledge too.
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When you come to Skyview Law, you get a trustworthy lawyer who can help you with the complexities of settling an inheritance as an executor. A probate lawyer from Skyview can advise you on every step of the probate process.
Inheritance lawyers need to understand the specific laws related to inheritance in their state. Also, a skilled probate attorney, like those at Skyview, should be able to handle your case whether the benefactor died testate (with a will) or intestate (without a will).
We can handle the probate administration process in both instances. You can also rely on a Skyview probate attorney to help with issues related to an inheritance. We can work to help you sell real estate and assets, as well as distribute funds and assets to beneficiaries.
We can also assist executors in locating assets and finding value through date-of-death appraisals.
As an executor, you want to ensure that the estate and assets get distributed to beneficiaries and that all disputes get settled quickly. If you are in the Kennewick, Washington area, a probate attorney from Skyview Law can help you handle all aspects executing a will or distributing assets among heirs in the absence of a will.
"Its been a tough process for myself but they have made sure to make things very easy. Straight to the point very assertive and made me feel very comfortable and understanding of the process of my case. Very affordable never felt like they are waisting time or money. Can't wait for the positive outcome of my ongoing case. Highly recommend Skyview Law. "
""The staff is very professional as well as very friendly and informant. The Office Manager/Paralegal Maria Diaz was great to work with and would answer questions on a timely matter regarding the case. As well as letting me know what was needed in order to move forwarded. All in all they will take care of your needed and meet your request."
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Skyview Law is a Kennewick, WA law firm that provides trustworthy and reliable legal services. We have been serving people in the Kennewick area for the past ten years.
We have the skills and experience to handle family law cases involving divorce, adopting, child custody, and custody modifications. We also work on probate administration, and help you resolve inheritance and assets in a timely manner.
You need a lawyer who has consistently gotten results for clients, and understands local laws and regulations. At Skyview Law, we have successfully served clients in Kennewick and the Tri-Cities area resolve their most pressing concerns.
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As the World War I era song goes, “How ya gonna keep them down on the farm, after they’ve seen Paree?”
It isn’t hard, let me tell you. In the college year 1972-73, beginning in July, I was a student at the Sorbonne in Paris. Everyone thinks it was just fun and games because of the city. All of my classes were in French as we were a mélange of students from around the world. At break time the Chinese students spoke English with each other. We had Italian students, British, African, German, Dutch, American and other countries I have long since forgotten. Our commonality was the French language.
I grew up near tiny Oral, S.D., a hamlet that is still not incorporated. At the time the population was maybe 50 in the town. Paris had 10 million residents when I lived there. It sounds like a huge culture shock but as in most cities, we had our own little community of shops right around our neighborhood. The shopkeepers were delightful as they welcomed us into their stores so we could practice our French. An etiquette rule of the French was that normally if you enter a shop, you had to buy something. It was rude to just go to in and look around. That was a difference from the U.S. and it was a difficult habit to remember
Surprisingly, I learned more about English while learning French than seemed possible. In English, when we order at a restaurant, we use the phrase, “I want to order.” The French deem that as rude and demanding, and teach that one should say, “I would like to order.” It is a lesson that has stuck with me. It still strikes me funny that the French could talk about a habit or phrase being rude, at least in their estimation.
One French habit that surprised me is they do not believe in standing in an orderly line. I saw elderly women aggressively push their grocery carts in front of others on more than one occasion. One day when I was flying between London and Paris (students could buy inexpensive tickets), there was one person ahead of me in the check-in line, just the two of us. A French man appeared and shoved his bag in front of mine. I reciprocated with my bag and a glare. He backed off in shock as he wasn’t used to someone in London challenging him.
These days, every time I drive through at McDonald’s double lane, I think of the French. They would no more allow another driver to move forward in turn, as we do. Today I signaled to the driver whose vehicle should have been next, to move forward. When I got the checkout window, the cashier said something behind her mask, and I didn’t understand. She took it down and said, “The lady in front of you paid for your order.”
What I did was a common courtesy; her reciprocal action was a South Dakota blessing.
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The refund is based on your household income, property taxes paid on your Minnesota residence, and other requirements. Follow this link for more information: Property Tax Refund To determine if you are eligible for a refund, please bring to our office or mail a copy of your 2019 Property Tax Statement, or for renters a Certificate of Rent Paid which should have been given to you by your landlord. The final deadline to claim a 2018 refund is August 15, 2020.
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What can I do to prepare my small business for the generation to come?
The process of passing a family business onto the second generation is so difficult that not even a third of them survive. Beyond that, roughly half make it to a third generation. In a normal day in the U.S., 40 percent of businesses are confronted with a change of owners. Those who have founded the companies are struggling to find remedies, but there aren't many options.
Here are a few possible remedies to this problem:
Sell off the company.
End the business.
Remain as the owner, but contract others to manage.
Keep ownership and management within the family.
The most common causes for failure of the transition of the small business are as follows:
There is no strategy.
The business is missing energy.
The owner lacks the motivation to change the business.
The coming generations are not interested in working with the business.
The main reason for closure is not having a strategy. If planned properly, the business has no reason to worry.
The process of passing a family business onto the second generation is so difficult that not even a third of them survive...
How do I create a successful strategy for passing on my family business?
The family must do the following to attempt to have a worthwhile transition:
Formulate a strategy focused on the family.
Formulate a strategy focused on the business.
Make a Succession Plan, which includes setting dates for retirement and the training for who will follow.
These are the four key points to a successful business transfer. They basically guarantee a transition for years to come within your family when implemented correctly.
What is a strategy focused on the family?
The purpose of the family strategy is to keep a well-functioning business. The policies for the role of the family in relation to the company are set in this strategy. There may be policies for entering and exiting the workforce of the business. It should incorporate the basic guidelines as well as a mission statement that explains what is important to the family. The strategy needs to take into consideration who in the family would like to have significant roles in the business and who would like less responsibility.
What is a strategy focused on the business?
A strategy focused on the business permits each new member of the family to establish their own future for the company. To make sure that everyone has the same idea as to where the business is headed, there is a need to formulate goals. The strategy should concentrate on the future of the company at a particular date.
What is involved in a Succession Plan?
The purpose of the succession plan is to aid those who founded or are in control of the company through the transition. It should explain the details of how to know when the next generation is ready to take over and the process for that transition.
What is contained in an Estate Plan?
The plan for the estate is vital for the company and family. In the end, without a strategy, there will be higher estate taxes than needed, which in turns gives less to the successors. This plan should be in accordance with the succession plan to ensure the transition of the business is done in the most tax effective way.
The family must do the following to attempt to have a worthwhile transition...
Do I have what it takes to own and manage my own business?
First, think about why you want to start your own business and make a list. The thrill of being self-employed, the need for independence both financially and professionally, and the desire to use the most of your intelligence and talents are a few of the most frequent motivations.
You also need to make sure you have the desire to put in the time to make a successful business. To decide what type of business fits you the best, you should think about what you find enjoyment in doing and what talents you have. Ask others for their thoughts, and see if any of your everyday activities can be made profitable.
At this point, you will need to investigate what will be the exact niche for your company. Determine what it is you want to put on the market, what the competition is like, and how to get ahead of the competition. The most important consideration is the demand for your product or service.
First, think about why you want to start your own business and make a list...
What should the business strategy contain?
A business strategy, when applied to your company, should include an introduction, details about marketing, financial management, operations of the company, and a closing statement.
In the introduction of the business strategy, what should I incorporate?
This segment of the business strategy should contain information about the company and its objectives. Detail the experience within your company and the structure of management and legal status. State what your business has to get ahead of the competition.
In the marketing portion of the business strategy, what should I incorporate?
This is where you should state the products or services being offered and their demand in the market. It should also detail the market and its particular location and size.
In the financial management segment of the business strategy, what should I incorporate?
You should outline the source and amount of the initial equity capital. You also should create a monthly operating budget for the beginning years, as well as expected return on investment (or ROI) and monthly cash flow for these years. After that, present the balance sheets and income statements for the first 2 years and state the break-even point. Discuss your own balance sheet and ways of compensation. Explain who will be in charge of accounting affairs and how they will be maintained. Lastly, think through the possible problems that may arise and develop solutions.
In the operations segment of the business strategy, what should I incorporate?
This is where the explanation of the management of the daily activities will be. It should include insurance coverage, lease or rent agreements and the processes related to the staff and employment. It should also detail what is necessary to produce the products/services and the processes of production and delivery.
In the closing statement of the business strategy, what should I incorporate?
You should restate the company's objectives and purposes and explain the dedication you have to make your company succeed. Be sure to include the methods you plan to use to reach your objectives.
A business strategy, when applied to your company, should include an introduction, details about marketing, financial management, operations of the company, and a closing statement...
How do I know if a business based at home is good for me?
You have to base your decision to start your own business on something other than the desire to be your own boss, such as: knowing beforehand what it is going to take, a thorough evaluation of your personality, and willingness to go the extra mile.
You must be able to make plans and continually make the necessary changes and developments as you go. You will want to set up an environment that is devoted to the professional aspects of your life and even consider a separate office within your home.
You have to base your decision to start your own business on something other than the desire to be your own boss, such as...
Are there certain legal standards that will affect my home based business?
A home based business is affected by many of the same laws that apply to normal companies. You need to speak with a lawyer and the state department of labor to learn which of these laws and regulations will come into play. You will need to know your city's zoning regulations as well as knowing which products may not be produced from home.
Explosives, fireworks, toys, drugs, sanitary or medical products, and poisons are normally outlawed for production based at home. Other states will not allow the production of drink, food or clothing from home.
You may be required to obtain a business bank account, a separate business telephone, a work certificate or license from the state, and a sales tax number for registration and accounting standards.
If you have employees, you will be held responsible for social security taxes and withholding their income as well as observing the employee health and safety laws and minimum wage.
A home based business is affected by many of the same laws that apply to normal companies...
How can I prevent cash flow problems from hindering my small business?
One of the main reasons small businesses collapse is they have a poor cash flow strategy. The most common reason for this is that many small business owners do not have a grasp on basic accounting principles. You should learn the basics to maximize your cash flow.
You can either keep cash on hand or in a business bank account in order to take care of the expenses. This will be enough to allow the company to pay bills, to supply investment capital and to have sufficient funds in case of emergencies.
An operating cycle begins with the buying of inventory, and ends with receiving the payment for the inventory. It keeps track of the transition of assets to cash. Normally, you purchase an excess of inventory so as not to exhaust your stock as soon as sales are made. Accounts receivable and cash sales will make up your sales. The normal payment date for accounts receivable is 30 days from the purchase date, which is applicable to both your inventory and products sold. Cash and accounts payable are lessened with an inventory payment is made. The collection of receivables will raise your cash. At this point, the operating cycle and the cash has made a full circle and will start again.
An analysis of the cash flow will demonstrate if the everyday operations produce sufficient cash to reach the obligation and the relation between large expenditures to pay for obligations and large inflows of cash from sales. With this information, it will be apparent if the inflows and outflows of your business have a positive cash flow or a net loss. Over time, important changes will be seen.
A projection of the monthly cash flow will uncover and eliminate any deficiencies or surpluses in the cash flow and show the relations between previous projections and actual figures. A business financial strategy should be changed to allow for more cash when cash deficiencies are discovered. If a surplus of cash is found, it may be due to excessive borrowing or money that should be invested. The purpose is to construct a strategy to allow a well-balanced cash flow.
One of the main reasons small businesses collapse is they have a poor cash flow strategy...
What can I do to develop a better business cash flow?
There are several options for increasing cash reserves:
Accounts receivables: Properly control your accounts receivables and retrieve overdue accounts as quickly as possible. If you are not aggressive with collection, profits are lost.
Having stricter credit standards: With the tightening of credit and terms, more clients are paying for their purchases in cash, which leads to more cash on hand and lowering the bad-debt expense. Although this is beneficial in the short term, it may not be as appealing in the long term. Less strict credit policies permit more clients to purchase the products or services.
Take advantage of the market: A common problem is many small businesses price their products lower than the market and do not make a profit. You should research the product's market, distribution costs and the competition before deciding on prices. Constantly keep an eye on the aspects that play a role on pricing and make adjustments when necessary.
Make use of short-term loans: Taking a loan from a financial institution can solve short-term cash flow problems. The common forms of credit used in these circumstances are revolving credit lines and equity loans.
Boost sales: One way to increase the cash flow is to boost sales. Take into account, when a large amount of your sales are credit sales, sales are boosted (as well as accounts receivable), but not cash on hand. This causes your inventory to diminish. Due to receivables not being collected until 30 days after the sale, a significant increase in credit sales will diminish the company's cash reserves fast.
There are several options for increasing cash reserves...
Is a cash reserve necessary in my small business?
It is important to have sufficient cash on hand to pay for expenses and emergencies. Cash beyond this should be put in a manageable, low-risk, interest bearing account, like a savings account, Treasury bill or short-term certificate of deposit.
It is important to have sufficient cash on hand to pay for expenses and emergencies...
Should I hire an attorney?
It is necessary to hire an attorney for some disputes that require a lot of time. Having an attorney makes you more prepared, but you may also hire one for a significant business transaction. If there is a problem where the court is concerned, it is advisable to hire an attorney.
The following should be considered when determining if an attorney is necessary:
Is this a difficult legal dispute or will I end up in court? What is involved in terms of money, property, or time? Positive answers demonstrate the need for an attorney.
Does a book exist that will be able to help me so I don't have to hire an attorney? Some problems can be resolved with little help.
Have you looked for non-Lawyer legal resources to help?
Certain disputes can be solved without needing an attorney. For example, a living will can be prepared by a non-legal organization such as the American Association of Retired Persons. There are several organizations that can aid in the process of obtaining a living will form from the state along with information for filling it out.
It is necessary to hire an attorney for some disputes that require a lot of time...
What process do I follow to handle the dispute by myself?
The use of letters and negotiation solves many disputes without the need of an attorney. Arbitration or mediation may also be used. There are legal self-help manuals and conferences that can aid in resolving disputes.
Idea: Instead of hiring an attorney to fully represent you, only use them for paper review or advice.
Negotiation without a lawyer: This can resolve many small disputes. Many books cover the process of negotiation.
Idea: Make sure to learn about the legal issues that could be brought up before the negotiation by speaking with a legal hot line or consulting resource.
Mediation or arbitration: You can find dispute resolution centers in almost every state. The areas that they commonly focus on are complaints from consumers, rental property disputes, and arguments between neighbors or members of a family.
Mediation consists of a third party who helps the two parties talk about the problems and hopefully reach an agreement. Arbitration is a more formal process where a third party reaches a conclusion after hearing both sides.
These are the low cost options in comparison to going to court or hiring a lawyer for representation.
Small claims court: Each state defines the limits for the amount of damages, which can be filed in small claims court. These are less formal and require less paperwork than normal courts. You must be prepared to function as your own lawyer in small claims court, which involves compiling evidence, investigating the law and making your story known in court.
The use of letters and negotiation solves many disputes without the need of an attorney...
What method should I use to find a good attorney?
Speak with friends, relatives, clergymen, social workers or your doctor for their opinions. You can also use the referral lists that are compiled by the Bar Association.
Pay close attention to the specialty area in the Bar Association lists, as many attorneys work in different areas. A lawyer that is a part of one of the organizations may have just what you are looking for.
More sources are the Who's Who in America Law and the Martindale Hubbell Law Directory. Make use of referral services for particular groups (for example, people with disabilities, elders or victims of domestic violence).
If using the referral service, ask for details on how the lawyers were selected. Many referral services use lawyers who are members of a certain organization.
The court and your bank can be great referral sources as well as the yellow pages. After the list is compiled, spend time with each of them and slowly eliminate attorneys.
Speak with friends, relatives, clergymen, social workers or your doctor for their opinions...
What should I ask my possible lawyers?
Before beginning a consultation, the following questions should be asked:
How long have you been an attorney?
Do you have a lot of cases that are like mine? (Try to find an attorney that has experience in your problem area.)
Are there references, such as trust officers in banks or other attorneys that I can contact?
Are there any clients or special-interest groups that you work for that may cause a conflict of interest?
Can we make a fee agreement? May we discuss the fees?
Is there anything in particular that I should bring to the first consultation?
Make sure to consult with at least two of the attorneys from your list. There is no need to be embarrassed about choosing the best attorney or changing appointments with an attorney after all investigation is complete.
It is now time to interview the possible attorneys. Make sure to have a brief summary of the case at hand as well as general questions to ask the attorney. There are two objectives for meeting with the attorney: 1) to see if the attorney has the talent needed to represent you, and 2) to see if you are comfortable with the attorney and the fee agreement.
Before beginning a consultation, the following questions should be asked...
Is a certain fee agreement better for me?
The basic rate for legal services depends on location. Based on your knowledge of the fees, a "fair" fee should be selected. Here are a few factors that play a role in the decision:
What can you afford?
Is this a routine case or do I need someone with special experience?
What is the going rate for the attorneys in my area?
What can I take care of without the attorney?
The following are basic fee agreements in use by attorneys:
Flat fee: There is a specific total that will be charged for work on your case.
Idea: Make sure to ask if copies, transcribing and other expenses are included in this rate.
This is normally offered only if the case is simple or routine.
Note: Litigation is not usually a flat fee, but an attorney can give you a fair estimate beforehand.
Hourly rate: A rate will be charged for each hour or part of the hour that the attorney works on your case. For example, if the attorney's fee is $50 per hour and puts in five hours of work, then the cost will be $250. Some rates may vary depending on whether they are hours spent in court or doing investigation and preparation.
Idea: If you decide on an hourly rate, find out how much expertise the attorney has in your particular problem area. Someone who is less experienced will need more hours to complete the work, even though the hourly rate is lower.
The size of the firm also affects the price. Smaller firms and urban lawyers usually charge a higher hourly rate than lawyers in rural areas and large law firms charge the most.
Idea: Find out what is included in the hourly rate. Will you be charged for other staff members time put into the case and if so, how? Are there any other expenses that I will be billed for besides the hourly rate?
Contingency fee: The final amount owed is based on the amount awarded in the case. In this scenario, if you lose the case, the lawyer does not receive anything besides expenses. This is normally one-third of the total.
Idea: Find out if the fee will be calculated before or after expenses are taken into account. This can make a significant difference in the amount of the fee.
The basic rate for legal services depends on location...
What can I do to save money on legal fees?
Bear in mind that attorney fees are usually negotiable even though you will not be asked to bargain over the fees. The following are a few tips to make sure you save the most money possible:
Shop around for flat fees on routine cases.
Discuss the method of billing for hourly rates. To avoid problems, have a written agreement stating the fee agreement as well as what is involved.
Find an attorney with the qualifications necessary for your case. The majority of legal work is fairly routine. Knowing what form needs to be completed and then who to file that with plays a large role.
Propose to help with the workload.
Use the lawyer as the middleman. If you only need a letter written to the opposing party, some attorneys will negotiate a lower fee.
Work the lawyer as your coach. Hire a lawyer to guide you and review documents and letters that you prepared and signed if you would like to represent yourself in court (pro se).
Select an attorney that specializes in your particular case.
Always arrive prepared to lawyer meetings. The more information you have at hand means less time that the lawyer needs to spend looking for that information.
Be forthcoming with your attorney. To save time and money, make sure the attorney knows all the pertinent facts as soon as possible to reduce the need for more investigation.
If factors change, inform your lawyer immediately. This can possibly save the lawyer's time or keep the lawyer from working on the case in the wrong direction.
Be prepared when having contact with your lawyer. Ask all questions in one call. When you receive a letter or information in writing, pass it on to other staff members instead of contacting the attorney, unless you have a specific need.
Pay close attention to invoices. Ask that you receive an invoice regularly. This applies to all types of fee agreements including a contingency fee. If you have a question regarding any of the items, you should immediately speak with your attorney.
Bear in mind that attorney fees are usually negotiable even though you will not be asked to bargain over the fees...
Employee Benefits
Do I need to know anything specific about employee benefits as a small employer?
The employer must pay for certain legal benefits and insurance coverage such as Social Security, unemployment insurance and worker's compensation. The money for the Social Security program comes from payments made by employers, employees and self-employed persons to an insurance fund that will provide income after retirement. At the age of 65, full retirement benefits usually become available. There are other aspects of Social Security that deal with survivor, dependent, and disability benefits, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income and Medicare.
Benefits for unemployment insurance are to be paid under the laws of individual states from the Federal-State Unemployment Compensation Program. Contributions to the program include payments made by the employer, based on the total payroll. The purpose of worker's compensation is to provide benefits to workers who are disabled due to an illness or injury while at work. The coverage and benefits vary by state. In the majority of states, private insurance or employer self-insurance will provide the coverage necessary. Short-term disability benefits are governed by the state also.
Health insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, a retirement plan, flexible compensation, and leave are often included in a comprehensive benefit plan. An employer may choose to offer such benefits as bonuses, reimbursement of employee educational expenses, service awards, and perquisites appropriate to employee responsibility.
You need to determine what you are willing to pay for this coverage before implementing a benefit plan. It might be a good idea to consult employees as to what benefits they are seeking. For example, is a retirement plan more important than a medical plan? Another decision is whether you will protect your employees from current economic hardships or in the future. The last step is deciding who will manage the plan, you or an insurance broker.
The employer must pay for certain legal benefits and insurance coverage such as...
Are there different types of medical plans for employees?
There are two options: a fee-for-service plan, or a pre-paid plan (commonly referred to as a Health Maintenance Organization, or HMO).
An indemnity plan or insurance permits each employee to decide their own doctor. The employee will pay for the medical care and then file a claim with the insurance company for reimbursement. There are deductibles and coinsurance as well. Deductibles vary from $100 to $1000 a year.
With coinsurance, a percentage of the medical expenses are paid by the employee and the remaining are covered by the plan. 20 percent is the normal coinsurance amount to be paid by the employee - the remaining 80 percent is paid by the plan.
There are three common indemnity plans that give health care to groups of employees: 1) a basic health insurance plan that will cover hospitalization and surgery as well as physician's care in the hospital; 2) an insurance plan that will supplement the basic plan by reimbursing the charges not paid by that plan; and 3) a comprehensive plan that (with one common deductible and coinsurance features) will cover both hospital and medical care.
There are two options: a fee-for-service plan, or a pre-paid plan...
What is a preferred provider organization (PPO)?
A network of doctors and/or hospitals that has contracts with a particular health insurer or employer that will give health care to employees at lower than the market rate. This offers a broad range of health care providers.
PPOs can be more expensive than HMOs due to the broader range of providers. There are no obligations to use the PPO providers, but there are strong financial incentives. PPOs often have less comprehensive benefits when compared to HMOs. The PPO providers normally receive payment from the insurers directly.
A network of doctors and/or hospitals that has contracts with a particular health insurer or...
What is a health maintenance organization (HMO)?
Health care that is provided through a network of hospitals and doctors is a health maintenance organization (HMO). The benefits usually include preventative care, such as physical examinations, weight control and stop-smoking programs, baby care and immunizations. The most common characteristic of HMOs is that the primary care provider is limited to only one doctor within a network, although there is usually a variety to choose from.
Outside of the network of hospitals and doctors of the HMO, there is no coverage. Due to the limited choices, the costs are lower. The payment for the HMO premiums are fixed and per employee. A small co-pay is due for the medical services, and no reimbursement is necessary.
Health care that is provided through a network of hospitals and...
What are the typical disability benefits provided to employees?
If an employee cannot work due to illness or accident, the disability plan gives him/her income replacement. These defer from worker's compensation as they pay benefits for non-work related illness and injury, and can be either short-term or long-term.
Short-term disability (STD) is used if the employee is unable to perform the normal duties of his/her occupation. The benefits are typically paid for a maximum of 26 weeks and begin on either the first or the eighth day of disability. The benefit level is dependent upon the employee's salary and will range from 60 to 80 percent.
Long-term disability (LTD) commences after the conclusion of the short-term benefits. LTD benefits then continue for the entire length of the disability or until the date of normal retirement. This is also a percentage of the employee's salary, typically between 60 and 80 percent. Social Security disability normally offsets these benefits - if an employee qualifies for the Social Security disability benefits, they will be subtracted from what the employer has paid.
If an employee cannot work due to illness or accident, the disability plan gives him/her income replacement...
Employees have what kinds of life insurance plans available to them?
The beneficiaries of an employee may collect death benefits from life insurance if the employee dies during their working years. The two main kinds of life insurance are:
Survivor income plans that provide regular payments to survivors
Group life insurance plans that will provide lump-sum payments to beneficiaries
The most popular plan has group term life insurance, protection provided by one-year, renewable, with no cash surrender value or paid-up insurance benefits.
The beneficiaries of an employee may collect death benefits from life insurance if...
What do I need to know about self-insurance?
Self-insurance means the business will pre-determine and pay a portion or all of the expenses of employees in ways similar to traditional health care providers. The funding comes from a trust or reserve account.
A portion of the cost may be paid through premiums, as is common in health care plans. A kind of coinsurance purchased by the company is called catastrophic coverage given through a "stop loss" policy. The company can manage this directly or it can be done through a contractor.
Self-insurance means the business will pre-determine and pay a portion or all of...
With a "cafeteria plan", money which would normally be used as taxable salary is used, normally tax-free, for services that are necessary like health or child care. This saves the employee income and Social Security taxes. In addition, the salary used in the cafeteria plan isn't subject to Social Security tax on the employer. The employee has the choice from several levels of supplemental coverage or different benefits packages. Each employee may select what he/she wants based on their own personal goals or to satisfy differing needs, such as health coverage, legal services (legal services amounts are taxable), retirement income (401(k) plans) or specialized services (dependent care, adoption assistance).
With a "cafeteria plan", money which would normally be used as taxable salary is used...
For my business, what types of records are important to keep?
A crucial aspect of your business success depends on thorough and accurate financial record keeping. Accurate records help to provide information to operate efficiently as well as allow you to identify all your business assets, liabilities, income and expenses. This data will help you locate both strong and weak cycles of your business.
It is necessary to keep good records to prepare current financial statements like income statements and cash flow projections. They will also help you maintain a good relationship with your banker. The records will even ensure you don't overpay or underpay your taxes. During an Internal Revenue Service audit, it is crucial to have good records in order to properly answer the questions and satisfy the IRS.
Financial records should demonstrate how much income you are currently making as well as what you expect to generate in the future. They will indicate the number of accounts and their balances in accounts receivable. They will also inform you of what you owe in terms of utilities, rent, merchandise, and equipment, and even expenses such as advertising, payroll, payroll taxes, equipment and facilities maintenance, and benefit plans for yourself and employees. Good records will show how much cash is being used for inventory and how much is on hand. They should also indicate which of your products are making a profit as well as your gross and net profit.
This should include a basic journal to record transactions, payroll records, accounts payable records, accounts receivable records, inventory records and petty cash records.
With the help of an accountant, you can develop an entire system that fits your business needs. They can teach you how to update these records regularly. The records will become the base for your financial statements and tax returns.
A crucial aspect of your business success depends on thorough and accurate financial record keeping...
What should I know about automating a portion or all of my business?
First, you need to have a clear understanding of your company's short and long-term goals. Consider the disadvantages and advantages to a computer, as well as what you want to achieve with a computer. Look at the best non-computerized system that you can develop in comparison to the computer system you are considering. It is possible to achieve your goals by improving your existing manual system. Just remember, no one can automate a business without first creating and optimizing the manual systems.
Maintaining transaction records and preparing statements and reports to keeping customer and lead lists, creating brochures, and paying your staff are a few of the capabilities that can be done by a computer. A thorough computer system can organize and store many similarly structured pieces of information, print information quickly and accurately, perform complicated mathematical computations quickly and accurately, facilitate communications among individuals, departments and branches, and connect the office to many sources of data available through larger networks. It can also restructure such manual business operations as payroll, accounts receivable, inventory, advertising, and planning. A computer can improve efficiency, decrease errors, and lower costs.
Computers also have the ability to do more complicated operations, such as spreadsheet and accounting programs that compile statistics, plot trends and markets and complete a market analysis, modeling, graphs and forms and financial modeling programs that organize and analyze financial statements. Several word processing programs produce typed documents and provide text-editing functions, while desktop publishing programs allow you to create good quality print materials on your computer. To divide large projects into smaller, more easily managed segments or steps you can use the critical path analysis programs.
First, you need to have a clear understanding of your company's short and long-term goals...
How can I guarantee that the computer system I'm using is right for me?
Selecting the right programs, choosing the right equipment and implementing the diverse applications are factors to consider when you computerize your business. There are three common types of software. Compilers and interpreters translate programs that are written in human-readable programming language to the computer language that the CPU understands. The operating system software controls the individual components of the computer. The computer generally comes with system software which must be loaded into memory before the application can start.
Software for specialized functions such as accounts receivable, payroll check writing, posting or inventory reporting are usually purchased separately from the computer hardware.
In order to determine your needs, make a list of all the functions of your company where speed and accuracy are important for mass amounts of data. These are referred to as applications.
Prepare a list of all the reports that you are currently producing for each of these applications. Make sure to include any preprinted forms such as vouchers, checks or billing statements. If these forms don't already exist, come up with a good idea of what you want. List the frequency with which each report is to be generated, who will make it and the number of copies necessary.
Prepare a hand-drawn version that also lists the circumstances in which you would like the data shown. Write a list of all the materials that are used as input into your manual system for each application. These may include, but are not limited to, work orders, receipts, time cards, etc. Detail who will create them, how they will get into the system and the time in which the items take to be created. For the appropriate time period, make a maximum and average expected number of these items produced.
Selecting the right programs, choosing the right equipment and implementing the diverse applications are factors to consider...
What can I do to successfully implement the new computer system?
You will come across problems when implementing computer applications, but correct planning can make the process smoother. Sit down with each employee and explain how the computer will have an effect on his or her position. Set dates to have the main phases of the implementation complete as well as the last day for format changes. Find a location for your computer that meets the system's requirements for temperature, electrical power and humidity. Make a list of the priorities for the applications that will be converted from manual to computer systems and convert each one individually instead of in a group. Ensure that everyone using the system will be trained.
Each application that has been converted should be entered and run alongside the pre-existing manual system to ensure that the new system works.
If you plan on having confidential information in the system, you will need to set up the proper precautions to keep unauthorized users from modifying, stealing or destroying data. The options are locking the equipment or installing a user identification and password software program.
The most moderately priced and best insurance to prevent the loss of data is the back-up of information on a diskette on a regular basis. These copies should be put in a safe location away from the business site. It is also helpful to own and test a disaster recovery plan and to identify all programs, documents and data necessary for essential tasks during disaster recovery.
Lastly, make sure that you have more than a single person capable of operating the system and be sure that someone monitors all systems continuously.
You will come across problems when implementing computer applications, but correct planning can make the process smoother...
May I deduct meal expenses when visiting clients out of the office?
That is not common. Normally, you can only deduct the cost of a meal when away on a business-related trip or gone overnight.
That is not common. Normally, you can only deduct the cost of a meal when...
Do I need to report employer reimbursements for travel and meals?
If you are required to give back any excess reimbursement, provide your employer with a detailed expense report and meet other requirements. There is no need to report the reimbursement or to deduct the expenses on your return.
Deduction limits are obligatory for your boss, not you, and the floor of 2% of AGI on miscellaneous itemized deductions will not have an effect on your travel and meal costs.
If you are not required to give back any excess reimbursement, the expense arrangement is not an accountable plan and your employer will have already included the reimbursement in your Form W-2. There is no additional reporting requirement.
If your employer reimbursement is less than your actual costs and you wish to deduct your excess expenses, you will need to report the employer reimbursement on Form 2106 as an offset to your expenses.
Caution: Please note that for 2018-2025, only Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and employees with impairment-related work expenses may deduct their unreimbursed employee business expenses, including travel and meal expenses.
If you are required to give back any excess reimbursement, provide your employer with a detailed expense report and...
Are there limits on deductible travel and meal costs?
Although there is no specific dollar limit, expenses should be ordinary and necessary and not over-generous.
Although there is no specific dollar limit, expenses should be ordinary and necessary...
May I deduct living expenses while away from home on temporary assignment?
Because temporary work site living expenses are separate from home travel expenses, they may be deducted.
An assignment that is not expected to last more than a year is considered temporary. If the assignment is for more than one year than the new area becomes your tax home and you can't deduct expenses as away-from-home travel.
Because temporary work site living expenses are separate from home travel expenses...
Which expenses are deductible when I am traveling away from home?
There is a broad range of expenses that you can deduct while traveling. The most common are as follows:
Transportation fees or actual costs at a per-mile rate for using your own vehicle. The transportation costs also include getting around in the work area, commuting to and from hotels, restaurants, offices, terminals, etc.
There is a broad range of expenses that you can deduct while traveling...
Are there travel expenses that cannot be deducted?
The travel expenses below cannot be deducted:
Travel as education
Looking for a new job in a different field or for a new business site
The cost of transportation between your home and the work site unless your home is your business headquarters.
The travel expenses below cannot be deducted...
The 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA) eliminated deductions for any expenses related to activities generally considered entertainment, amusement or recreation. See https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-issues-guidance-on-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-changes-on-business-expense-deductions-for-meals-entertainment for more information.
The 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA) eliminated deductions for any expenses...
If your employer is reimbursing you for your expenses, you only need to prove them to him/her. To do this, submit a written accounting to the employer and return any excess amounts.
"Accountable plans" or per diem arrangements and mileage allowances are used instead of detailed accounting for the employer, if place, time, and business purpose are verified.
Detailed documentation is required by the IRS when expenses aren't fully reimbursed by the employer or you fail or are not required to return excess reimbursements. If you are the employee, a 2% of AGI floor on miscellaneous itemized deductions is applied to your deductions. However, these deductions are not allowed to an employee from 2018-2025 unless you are an Armed Forces reservist, qualified performing artist, fee-basis state or local government officials, or employee with impairment-related work expenses. If you meet one of these categories, your expenses are deductible on Schedule 1 of Form 1040 and are not subject to the 2% of AGI floor on miscellaneous itemized deductions.
You should record the expenses as close to the time of expenditure as possible.
If your employer is reimbursing you for your expenses, you only need to prove them to...
Marketing and Pricing
How can I be certain that my small business product or service will be marketable?
To determine where and how you can successfully sell your product or service (and at what price), you will need to use one of the most critical elements of business planning - market research. This includes interviewing potential suppliers and investigating your competition and consumer base.
Market research has many different benefits. It can help you categorize marketing activities, generate primary and alternative sales approaches to a given market, make profit projections from a more precise base, establish the market's profit boundaries, and develop critical short/mid-term sales goals. You will need to identify your objectives and organize the collection/analysis process first.
To determine where and how you can successfully sell your product or service (and at what price)...
What questions are appropriate to ask in market research?
You will want to learn about the consumers' location, needs and resources, and what they can afford. Significant questions should be addressed, for example, Can you compete effectively in price, delivery and quality? Where can the demand be created?
Can the product or service be priced to guarantee a profit? Also, discover how many competitors provide the identical product or service. You will want to have a basic understanding of the economy of the area in which you will sell your product or service and the areas where that market is growing or lessening.
You will want to learn about the consumers' location, needs and resources, and what they can afford...
When setting prices for my products or services, what should I consider?
There are different individual costs for each component of your service or product. Be sure to analyze every component of the product or service's total cost. Upon completion of the analysis, prices can be established to maximize profits and eliminate deficit services. Material, labor and overhead costs are included in the cost components.
Material costs are the total of the costs of all materials of the finished product.
Labor costs are calculated based on the total work put into preparing the product. To determine the direct labor costs, you multiply the cost of labor per hour by the number of personnel hours necessary to finish the job. Be sure to include the dollar value of fringe benefits as well as the hourly wage, which include workers' compensation, retirement benefits, social security, insurance, unemployment compensation, etc.
Overhead costs cannot be easily identified with a product. They consist of indirect materials, such as depreciation, supplies, advertising, heat and light, taxes, rent, insurance, and transportation. Indirect labor costs, such as legal, clerical, and janitorial services are also included in overhead costs. Don't forget to include shipping, handling and/or storage and any other cost components.
There are different individual costs for each component of your service or product...
Business Forms of Organization
Will some types of business organization or entity limit my liability to business creditors?
Yes. Limited liability companies (LLCs), limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and corporations are the most common forms. General partnerships and sole proprietorships don't restrict owners' liability, whereas limited partnerships limit liability of some partners (such as limited partners) and not others (like general partners).
Yes. Limited liability companies (LLCs), limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and corporations are the most common forms...
How can I avoid the "corporate double tax" and what exactly is it?
A "corporate double tax" happens when a business corporation (or an entity that is treated as a business corporation for tax purposes) pays a federal tax on its income, and then its owners pay another tax as they collect corporate profits. The "entity level tax" is the tax on the corporation and so an entity taxed in this way is called a "C corporation" or C corp.
Here are ways to avoid the double tax:
Become an S corporation, which doesn't change the nature of the business under state business law but rather eliminates federal tax at the corporate level.
The second tax, which is on the owners, can be deferred by suspending profit distributions to corporate owners.
A "corporate double tax" happens when a business corporation (or an entity that is treated as a business corporation for tax purposes) pays a federal tax on its income, and then its owners pay another tax as they collect corporate profits...
For tax purposes, what type of business entity is best?
Each business is different, although to save on overall taxes a "pass-through" entity is generally best, as it eliminates tax at the entity level. Owners of pass-through entities are taxed on the profits of the entity that they own. Owners are able to make tax deductions for startup and operating losses, against the income from other businesses or investments.
Each business is different, although to save on overall taxes a "pass-through" entity is generally best...
What entities are considered to be "pass-through"?
The leading "pass-through" forms are limited partnerships, LLCs, LLPs, S corps, sole proprietorships and general partnerships. You have a lot of power over whether or not your entity is treated as a pass-through for federal tax purposes.
If you have a partnership of any type or a limited liability company, it is possible to choose if your business functions as a corporation or partnership for tax purposes. This is called the "check-the-box" system by tax and business advisors. You can qualify to have it treated as a pass-through by choosing S corp. status if your entity is incorporated or if you elect to be treated as a corporation.
This decision is binding. This means if you select one entity one year and a different one the next, you will have to pay the taxes as though last year's entity was sold and use those profits towards this year.
The leading "pass-through" forms are limited partnerships, LLCs, LLPs, S corps, sole proprietorships and general partnerships...
To avoid double tax and limit my liability, which entity should I choose?
Assuming you don't select to have them function as corporations, the following types will avoid double tax and limit liability: LLPs, LLCs, and limited partnerships (only for the limited partners). An S Corporation is usually another option. If you are a sole owner, the only option is an S Corp (or in certain states, LLCs).
Assuming you don't select to have them function as corporations, the following types will avoid double tax and limit liability...
Why are limited liability companies (LLCs) so great?
Limited liability and pass-through tax treatment are both combined in LLCs. This provides benefits that are unavailable from S Corps. The main benefits are:
The possibility of greater loss deductions.
Tax benefits can be disproportionately distributed among owners.
When a new owner becomes a member of the business, or when allocations are given to owners in business liquidation, taxes are avoided or reduced.
LLCs are sometimes permitted to have a single owner - laws vary by state. If permitted, the owner has the opportunity to elect to be under the check-the-box rules.
A good alternative where sole ownership LLCs aren't permitted is an S Corp. This structure will also defer tax, in comparison to LLCs, when a corporate giant is buying out the business.
Limited liability and pass-through tax treatment are both combined in LLCs...
If my business is a professional practice, what are the special conditions?
A major concern is the limitation of liability, especially malpractice liability. Against the liability of your own malpractice, there is no entity that will protect you. For protection against liability for malpractice of co-owner professionals in the firm and possibly for other debts, Professional Limited Liability Companies (PLLCs), LLCs, and LLPs, when accessible for professional practices, should be used. Depending on the state law, Professionals Corporations (PCs) might not offer protection from liability for a co-owner's malpractice.
LLPs, PLLCs, and LLCs all have about the same tax rules that govern them while those for PCs are a little more liberal.
A major concern is the limitation of liability, especially malpractice liability...
If I change my form of business organization, what are the federal tax consequences?
A change of entity is an event that may need to be carefully planned and implemented to avoid a taxable event. It also may have significant future tax implications. You should consult with a professional before making any changes or decisions to your business organization.
A change of entity is an event that may need to be carefully planned and implemented to avoid a taxable event...
Is it necessary for state business entity rules to follow federal tax rules?
Bear in mind the differences between state tax law and state business law. Whatever tax status you select for your entity beneath the federal check-the-box system, keep in mind that you may be considered a different type of entity for state business law purposes. This means that if you choose corporate tax treatment for a partnership, it will not necessarily bring corporate limited liability.
A state normally treats the entity selected under federal check-the-box as the entity acknowledged for state tax purposes, but this is not always the case.
The law of a state may agree to pass-through status for an entity like an S Corp or an LLC, but still enforce some sort of tax on the entity.
Bear in mind the differences between state tax law and state business law...
What is the definition of a corporation?
A legal entity that exists independently of its owners is a corporation. When correctly filled out articles of incorporation are filed with the proper state authority and all fees are paid, a corporation is created.
A legal entity that exists independently of its owners is a corporation...
There is a difference between an "S" corporation and a "C" corporation, what is it?
Every corporation begins as a "C" corporation and must pay income tax on the taxable income made by the corporation. After filing federal form 2553 with the IRS, a "C" corporation becomes an S corporation. The net income or loss of an "S" corporation is included in their personal tax returns and are "passed-through" to the shareholders. There is no double taxation as with "C" corporations because income tax is not taxed at the corporate level. Also known as Subchapter "S" corporations, they are limited to 100 shareholders.
Every corporation begins as a "C" corporation and must pay income tax on the taxable income made by the corporation...
Obtaining a lawyer is not a necessity to incorporate (except in South Carolina, where an attorney's signature is required). You can fill out and file the articles of incorporation by yourself in every other state. However, you should be completely briefed on all aspects of the law beforehand.
A good corporate attorney can be an irreplaceable resource to a small business despite the expensive hourly rates. A one-hour consultation can be very beneficial if you are unsure of the process, or if there isn't time for research. Prepare a list of questions before the consultation.
Obtaining a lawyer is not a necessity to incorporate (except in South Carolina, where an attorney's signature is required)...
Is there a process for naming my corporation?
Take time to think about a name for your corporation. The most common rule for naming your corporation is that it cannot be misleadingly similar to a company that is already formed, but each state has their own rules. A suffix must be included in the corporation name such as "Incorporated", "Inc.", "Company", and "Corp." Each state has suffix standards of their own.
Take time to think about a name for your corporation...
Are there benefits to incorporating?
Limiting your liability to the assets of the corporation is the primary advantage of incorporating. It is common that shareholders are not responsible for the debts or obligations of the corporation. Unless you didn't personally sign for the loan and your corporation defaults on it, your personal assets are safe. With a sole proprietorship or partnership, this is not the case. There are many tax advantages that are available to corporations and not sole proprietors.
A few of the advantages are:
A corporation allows for easier setup of retirement funds and qualified retirement plans (such as a 401k).
The life of a corporation is not limited and is not dependent upon its members. The corporation will continue to prosper and do business even if an owner dies or wants to sell their interest.
A corporation has a centralized management.
It is easy to transfer ownership of a corporation.
With the sale of stock, capital can be raised more easily.
Limiting your liability to the assets of the corporation is the primary advantage of incorporating...
What exactly is a Registered Agent?
In the majority of states, a corporation is required to name a "registered agent." The agent must be located in the formation state. The registered agent must be accessible during regular business hours to receive official state documents or service of process.
In the majority of states, a corporation is required to name a "registered agent"...
Do I need a specific number of Directors or Shareholders?
Most states permit one person to function as director, shareholder, and all officer roles.
Most states permit one person to function as director, shareholder, and all officer roles...
You may select any quantity that you wish. The par value is either "No Par Value" or any dollar amount per share as you choose. In some states you must issue the stock for no less than the par value. Some states establish their fees from the amount of shares approved, multiplied by the par value.
What does EIN stand for and what is a Federal Tax Identification Number?
A Federal Tax Identification Number, which is also known as an Employer Identification Number (EIN) is required for each corporation so the IRS may track payroll and income taxes paid by the corporation. Just as a Social Security number, an EIN is used for almost every function of the business.
A Federal Tax Identification Number, which is also known as an Employer Identification Number (EIN) is required...
If your director(s) have yet to be designated in the articles, you will need to hold your first shareholder meeting to select your director(s). After that, you will need to hold the first organizational meeting of directors. During this meeting, you will hold elections for officers, approve the company's bylaws and issue your stock, as well as other actions.
If your director(s) have yet to be designated in the articles, you will need to hold your first shareholder meeting to select your director(s)...
Limited Liability Companies
If you are worried about personal exposure to lawsuits that arise from your company, you should think about forming an LLC (Limited Liability Company). For instance, you might be concerned that your commercial liability insurance will not completely protect your personal assets from possible slip-and-fall lawsuits or claims by your suppliers for unpaid invoices if you open a storefront business that works directly with the public. An LLC gives you personal protection from these and other possible claims against your business.
However, not every business can function as an LLC. Businesses typically prohibited from establishing LLCs are those in the banking, trust and insurance industries.
If you are worried about personal exposure to lawsuits that arise from your company, you should think about forming an LLC (Limited Liability Company)...
Even though the special tax status of the S corporation does away with double taxation, it doesn't have the elasticity of an LLC in distributing income to the owners.
Various classes of membership interests are offered with an LLC, whereas you can only have one type of stock with an S corporation.
In an LLC, a variety of individuals or entities may have interests, although the number of shareholders who can have ownership interest is restricted to no more than 100. C corporations, many trusts, LLCs, nonresident aliens, partnerships, or other S corporations may not have ownership of S corporations. It is also important to note that LLCs are permitted to have subsidiaries without limitations.
Even though the special tax status of the S corporation does away with double taxation, it doesn't have the elasticity of an LLC in distributing income to the owners...
What does an LLC Operating Agreement signify?
It allows you to structure your financial and working relations with your co-owners in a way that best fits your company. Your co-owners and you determine each owner's percentage of ownership in the LLC, his/her rights and responsibilities, his/her share of gains or losses, and what will become of the business in case one owner leaves.
It allows you to structure your financial and working relations with your co-owners in a way that best fits your company...
Is it necessary to have an Operating Agreement?
It is possible to have a written operating agreement in most states, but you are not advised to begin a business without one. The following are a few reasons why an operating agreement is necessary:
By showing that you have been meticulous about organizing your LLC, it aids in guaranteeing that courts will be respectful of your personal liability protection.
Rules that regulate how profits will be separated, the process for making major business decisions, and the measures for handling the departure and addition of members are established.
It aids in avoiding misunderstandings between the owners and management over finances.
It prevents your LLC from being regulated by the default rules in the LLC laws of your state, which may not be to your advantage.
It is possible to have a written operating agreement in most states, but you are not advised to begin a business without one...
Is it necessary to have LLC meetings?
Failure to have shareholder or director meetings can cause the corporation to be subject to alter ego liability, although this is not typical of LLCs in most states. For example, in California the failure of an LLC to have meetings with members or managers is normally not regarded as grounds for enforcing the alter ego doctrine if the LLCs Articles of Organization or Operating Agreement do not state the requirement of said meetings.
Failure to have shareholder or director meetings can cause the corporation to be subject to alter ego liability...
Even though LLC owners enjoy the benefits of limited personal liability for many transactions of their business, it is important to note that this protection is not absolute. The owner of the LLC may be held personally responsible if he/she:
purposefully does something illegal, fraudulent, or clearly wrong that causes injury to the company or someone else
is unsuccessful in depositing taxes withheld from employees' wages, or personally certifies a business debt or a bank loan that the LLC defaults on
personally and directly hurts someone, or
acts as the LLC in the broadening of his or her personal affairs instead of an individual legal entity.
The most important is the final exception. There are times when a court may declare that an LLC isn't real and find that its owners are actually conducting business as individuals who are in fact responsible for their actions. To prevent this, be sure that your co-owners and you:
Act legally and rationally. Do not hide or misrepresent material facts or the position of your finance to creditors, vendors or other third parties.
Sufficiently fund your LLC. In order to meet foreseeable expenses and liabilities, make sure to invest adequate funds into the business.
Maintain the LLC and personal business separate. Maintain your personal finances away from your LLC accounting books. Create a business-only checking account and obtain a federal employer identification number.
Prepare an operating agreement. To create liability for your LLC's separate existence, a formal operating agreement in writing is helpful.
When your limited liability protection doesn't shield your personal assets, a good liability insurance policy will help. For example, if you are a massage therapist and you hurt a customer's back by accident, you will be covered by your liability insurance policy. This insurance also comes into play to protect your personal assets in the event that the court ignores your limited liability status.
This insurance can also protect your corporate assets from claims and lawsuits, as well as protect your personal assets in certain situations. However, it is important to realize that commercial insurance typically doesn't protect corporate or personal assets from unpaid debts of the business, whether they're personally insured or not.
Even though LLC owners enjoy the benefits of limited personal liability for many transactions of their business...
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Materials used: Quartz countertops, Grey subway backsplash tile, Walnut stained engineered wood floor, White shaker cabinets, Grey kitchen island with integrated wine fridge and deep storage drawers, chrome pendant lighting, undermount stainless-steel sink, chrome plumbing fixtures and pot filler.
Our mandate: The client wanted to create an open-concept plan by having walls removed between the kitchen dining and living rooms. This also allowed for more natural light to flow through the whole area. He also wanted to update all the other finishes, add functional storage as well as increase counter space for food prep. The whole area was too traditional and dark, so we modernized and brightened it up with the white walls, counters, a contemporary backs plash and rich wood on the floor. We designed a modern custom kitchen island with functional storage drawers and a wine fridge and topped it with a large white Quartz counter.
Before and After Kitchen Renovation Portfolio
by Versa Style Design
Decided to undertake a full house remodel and reached out to Lucie Pitt to help with the planning and design. From the very beginning, Lucie was very quick to reply to my request and to set up an initial meeting. This was the first indication of her attention to her client’s needs. She offers services at three different levels to make it easier to meet your needs and budget. From our first meeting she was full of ideas and displayed an enthusiasm for the project. All through the process, she provided advice and style ideas and worked hard at understanding my tastes and desires. Even on those few occasions where we disagreed on ideas, Lucie was always willing to listen and come up with a solution that that would meet my needs. Her commitment to responding to your phone calls or e-mails can only be described as outstanding. The plans and drawings she produced became my map to navigate the multiple details of such a large renovation. In summary, if you are looking for a designer who will help guide you through the planning and design of your project with enthusiasm and knowledge, Lucie Pitt is the designer for you.
To learn more about our kitchen design services offered to the Greater Montreal Region.
A home visit is not possible?
Our online interior design services give you access to valuable tips, ideas and professional expertise.
Click here to find out more
Receive precious advice and exclusive promotions by subscribing to Lucie's Design & Organization Newsletter
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Despite the high number of rapes, the judicial progress that has been made, and the judgements passed by international, national and local courts, most of the affected women are still far from receiving compensation, reparations, or recognition as a victim.
Where do we stand? The overlook of LGBTIQ+ rights across the globe
Published: 10 October 2022
Feminist and LGBTIQ+ issues are almost as diverse as the communities themselves, yet both movements are discriminated against, marginalized, often attacked, and violated, simply because of their non-conformity to conventional and hegemonic notions of gender.
Published: 19 April 2022
The freedom to decide over one’s own body and reproduction is still a privilege in today’s world. Whether or not to have children and how to raise them is a very personal choice, but also a choice with political implications: Who is encouraged or forced to have children? Who has access to resources and the means to have children? Whose parenthood is the subject of reappraisal or prevention? How do laws, policies, and public health programmes influence people’s access to reproductive self-determination?
Climate mitigation and adaptation requires gender-responsive financing
Published: 21 March 2022
Among those hardest hit by the climate crisis, women have taken some of the leading roles in combatting it. On local levels they are directly addressing the effects of climate change. Here we present some of the core calls for fair and gender-equitable climate financing on a global scale.
Published: 21 March 2022
Urbanisation is a defining characteristic of life across the globe in the 21st century. Cities offer many opportunities for different types of people to forge a livelihood and lead a fulfilling social life. The diverse options are taken up in particular by women and people who renounce traditional, binary gender roles and norms and are thus often subject to various kinds of discrimination.
Overexposed
Published: 21 March 2022
Women are more affected than men by plastics. Biological reasons are part of the problem: their bodies react in different ways to toxins, and the hygiene products that women use are often contaminated. But alternatives do exist.
Published: 21 March 2022
Environmental and climate crises are not gender neutral. They disproportionately affect people already facing multiple forms of discrimination. If feminist environmental policy is to extend beyond the effects on women, it needs to combine gender and ecological expertise. This dossier features a selection of the Heinrich Böll Foundation's contributions over recent decades to international debates on environmental and gender justice.
From Cairo to Berlin: Architectures of Homophobia
Published: 1 December 2021
What does a police raid on a bathhouse in Cairo have in common with a police raid on a queer rave in Berlin? Through an examination of two case studies of homophobic violence in Cairo and Berlin, separated by temporal and spatial dimensions, the architecture of homophobia employed by state and media is revealed.
It is Time for Action to end Gender Based Violence
Published: 23 November 2021
Gender-based violence is usually defined as violence against a person because of their actual or perceived gender. Discriminatory social norms, attitudes and practices promote notions of male privilege, dominance and violence, leading to widespread acceptance of GBV, but also to its invisibility.
Feminist Leadership
Published: 21 July 2021
Feminist Leadership approaches have the potential to put traditionally marginalised communities front and centre, including for example communities of colour, LGBTQI+ people and people with disabilities.
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Real estate and mortgage news on this kickoff to the 4th of July week. Mortgage loan interest rates are at historic lows and could be an opportunity for homeowners and the housing market. And as usual, providing personal finance advice, real estate advice and consumer advice with Ilyce Glink on the Mark Arum Show June 30, 2012 on WSB Radio.
Happy beginning of 4th of July week! It’s Saturday and I am filling on on the Mark Arum Show today.
Real estate is on my mind – real estate and mortgage news to be exact. When it comes to the housing market and mortgage loans, if you’re breaking even, a homeowner that is not underwater, then you’re doing great. But with mortgage loan interest rates at historic lows, there’s a lot of people who should be buying homes sitting on the sidelines. If you can get involved, the time is now. It will be decades before both affordability and rates are this low again.
The 4th of July holiday this coming Wednesday will make for a lost productivity week so the economic news we get at month’s end is even more critical than usual. What happened this week?
First time unemployment claims ticked up near the 400,000 “danger zone.”
Consumer sentiment is the lowest since December 2011 after a Spring surge.
Consumer spending (likewise) is the weakest experienced in six months. If you don’t feel good about where the economy is going, you’ll obviously put the brakes on spending.
Also, the Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s health care reform. What does it mean for you?
You can get more personal finance advice, real estate advice and consumer advice by listening to this radio show and by listening to my other radio shows. Simply download them to your phone or audio player. You can also read our articles on real estate, credit, and consumer advice articles as well.
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I just read the e-mail from Pennyhoarder and I am wondering why oh why can that why can’t we just open an HSA ourselves? Why do they make it that you have to go through an employer? Why doesn’t the government make it easier for us to pay for our healthcare. Healthcare is so expensive between paying for your insurance ,your co-pays . Plus you can’t be on Medicare? What’s the deal here? you would think that we could just open an account through your bank or credit union and that would be it. This is more of a venting for me. It just makes no sense to me.
kellyfromkeene July 29, 2019, 11:57am #2
mooreincome July 30, 2019, 10:26pm #3
I just did a little research into this and I believe it is possible to open an HSA separate from an employer.
Fidelity Investments offers one that you can deposit in directly from your bank account and it still offers you certain tax benefits.
I’m not an expert on this topic, but it looks to be a possibility.
mexpensive July 31, 2019, 4:48am #4
I Thanks for replying, I was wondering if someone who doesn’t work could open one. I am going to check with my Credit Union . I was also wondering if the employer has to offer it. You would think that more people would know about this.
The triple-tax benefit of having an HSA is that contributions are tax-deductable health savings account (HSA) is a tax-advantaged medical savings account available to taxpayers in the United States who are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). The funds contributed to an account are not subject to federal income tax at the time of deposit.ctible, the HSA account balance grows tax-free (at least at the federal level) and funds can be withdrawn without being taxed when used for HSA qualified expenses. … HSA earnings may accrue from investing HSA funds.
mintjulep July 31, 2019, 4:37am #5
Unless things have changed over the last 5 years, both my life partner and I opened our own HSA accounts and benefited from the tax free accounts. I opened one when HSAs were first on the market so there were very few plans/banks to choose from.
We were both self-employed with no access to company health insurance so had to enroll and pay for our own, and we did sign up for high deductible plans, fortunately, because both of us were in great health.
When I turned 65 and eligible for Medicare, I rolled the funds that had accumulated in my HSA over into my IRA, still tax free.
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The children want to learn. The teachers want to teach. But neither the school in the Peruvian jungle village nor the schoolkids have enough money for school supplies like notebooks.
“Children go to school without notebooks, and teachers cannot do their job,” the leader of a native ministry said.
A young boy in one village told his mother, an ethnic tribal Christian, that he could not remember anything the teacher said, and that his teacher could not give him assignments because he had no notebook. His mother replied, “Let’s pray to God to provide.”
She had no idea how they might obtain paper, pencils and the backpacks for little ones to transport them over rough, uneven paths, but hours away by motorcycle native missionaries were preparing to bring school supplies.
She had no idea how they might obtain paper, pencils and the backpacks for little ones to transport them over rough, uneven paths.
“When the boy saw our ministry distributing school supplies at his village,” ministry leader said, “he ran toward his mother and said loudly, “God has answered us, Mom!”
In another remote, ethnic village, teachers had given native missionaries a list of needed school supplies. The team arrived to deliver the exact items needed as well as new clothes for children 3 to 5 years old, the age group most lacking, the ministry leader said.
“The teachers thanked us, saying, ‘God really thought of us, because many of the children come to school from far away, walking and without school supplies. Now we will be able to work!’” he said.
On one three-hour trip to deliver school supplies to 250 ethnic Ashaninka schoolchildren, the ministry team had to fight through fierce rains.
“The rain was so strong that it was impossible to move towards their destination,” the leader said. “They arrived very wet to the jungle village where the parents with their children were waiting for them to receive the school supplies that had been offered.”
The students ranged from kindergarten to high school.
“On that cold and rainy morning, approximately 250 school-age children were able to receive school supplies,” the leader said. “After they shared the gospel, they began to distribute the school supplies grade by grade. Upon completion, the parents and authorities of the tribal village thanked our team for this selfless gesture towards them. Finally, we distributed Bibles among the local teachers and village authorities.”
Compassion for Young and Old
The Ashaninka, who are found from the Central Forest in the Amazonian part of Peru’s Andean foothills to Acre state in Brazil, have long faced difficulties in education. Unrest has led to the closure of more than 70 rural schools since 1990, with many teachers either killed by rebels, fleeing them or leaving to join them, according to everyculture.com website.
“Some schools make do with improvised chairs and tables made of tree trunks and blackboards donated by aid organizations,” the cultural awareness website notes. Education gives Ashaninka kids prospects for overcoming the region’s pervasive poverty. Native missionaries who have long provided food to poor children recently expanded to include the elderly in their feeding center program.
“One day our missionaries were so sad to find an old woman who during the time of worship was lying on a very cold bench,” the ministry leader said. “They took her to our feeding center to eat something. Another morning they visited several grandparents in their homes and saw what they were cooking was very low in proteins. They no longer resisted the gospel, and that is why we extended the help of our feeding center to the elderly, so they can be with the children who come to learn the Word of God on Sunday.”
Help and Hope for Communities
The gospel is embedded in other community engagement efforts. In one area of the jungle where there is no rain for up to two months, residents of a village that can only be reached by river were drinking from the same river where they bathe and wash clothes and cooking items. As the dry season from early summer to early October drops the water line, the muddy water becomes even murkier.
Villagers were drinking water that was turning green with toxins.
“The reason is that most of the streams dry up, and they have no choice but to take the water from the river – people become truly desperate,” the leader said. “The problem of giardia and other parasites is permanent among children and adults, which leads to other health complications such as anemia.”
Native missionaries have begun a project to capture the water from a stream that does not dry up with the help of pitch pumps, store it in large-capacity tanks, filter out the bacteria and parasites and pipe it directly into homes, he said.
“We thank God for Christian Aid Mission for promoting and seeking funding to advance the installation of clean water for the ethnic village,” he said. “Our ministry has started this project, and the villagers, seeing our initiative, also helped to load stones, gravel and other materials that were needed, in addition to supporting with hard labor.”
Native missionaries are bringing life, livelihood and eternal life to communities throughout Peru with such initiatives. Please consider a donation today to enable them to help the poor overcome adversity in Christ’s name.
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Christian Aid Mission seeks to establish a witness for Christ in every nation by assisting indigenous ministries based in areas of poverty and persecution, giving priority to ministries sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with unreached people groups. Today, we work with hundreds of indigenous ministries in eight regions of the world that share the gospel with more than 2,000 unreached people groups.
Christian Aid Mission is committed to using the funds our supporters entrust to us with the utmost integrity and efficiency. We seek to glorify God and honor our supporters by being wise stewards of our resources with the goal of establishing a witness for Christ in every nation.
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At Angel's Touch Cleaning Services cleaning is our business. It's what we do (and we do a lot of it) and we're really good at it. So why spend the time you could use honing your own skills doing something as mundane as cleaning? Let us give you the freedom to pursue your dreams.
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Property owners in Haymarket, VA are required to have septic tank cleaning performed at least once every five years. The procedure is relatively simple, and it is an important part of responsible ownership. Failing to properly maintain a septic system often results in expensive repairs, along with costly fines and penalties. Advantage Septic Service understands how important it is to regularly empty and inspect a septic tank, and they want to emphasize this to their residential and commercial clients. To help ease some of their customers’ concerns, they have put together this list of frequently asked questions.
How often should a septic tank be cleaned?
Haymarket, VA property owners should schedule septic tank cleaning based on several factors. The team from Advantage Septic Service will carefully analyze the property to determine its specific needs. The age and size of the tank, along with usage will all be considered, along with county requirements. They will discuss the cleaning schedule with the property owner to also ensure that it fits their lifestyle and budget.
What happens when a septic tank is cleaned?
When Haymarket, VA residents schedule septic tank cleaning they are often surprised at how simple the procedure is. Advantage Septic Service will empty the tank, paying close attention to the levels of sludge and scum. This will help determine how often a septic tank needs to be pumped. The baffles and lines will be inspected, along with the drain field. If any problems are discovered, Advantage Septic Service will find an effective and efficient solution.
Why is it important to have a septic tank cleaned?
Over time sludge and scum will build up in a septic tank. Lines and drains will become clogged, and drain fields overflow. When these problems occur it can be devastating to the environment, and result in expensive repairs. In some cases, the entire septic system might need to be replaced. The county also mandates that traditional and alternative septic systems be inspected regularly, failure to do so can be a costly mistake.
Does experience matter in a septic service company?
When it’s time for Haymarket, VA property owners to schedule septic tank cleaning, experience is important. Since 1997, the professionals at Advantage Septic Service has been specializing in septic system maintenance and repair. Their thirty years of experience with commercial and residential wastewater management systems, ensures that they have the skill and knowledge their customers have come to depend on.
Advantage Septic Service has one goal, to provide their clients with efficient, professional and convenient service. Their commitment to excellence has made them one of the most trusted septic service contractors in Northern Virginia, and they look forward to continuing this tradition for another thirty years.
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Thinking about moving homes is one thing. But being confronted by the reality is entirely another. Once upon a time it was easy. As I mentioned in Part 1, a couple of suitcases, a few LPs, a guitar case, a mate’s Transit van, and job done. But how much baggage one acquires over forty years!
My baggage, my wife’s baggage and the junk accumulated by two daughters who now live, relatively speaking, in shoeboxes and don’t have room for their stuff. And then – because this is the meaning of downsizing – you face the prospect of putting all your belongings into a space half the size. Which meant that something had to give.
I made at least fifteen visits to the municipal recycling centre in the month before we moved. I barely made a dent in the junk mountain, but at least I got my wife, who is an inveterate hoarder, to accept that some things are not for ever.
I had a plan. The new garage was considerably larger than the old one. So I measured out by the centimetre where we would put all the stuff “we couldn’t chuck out because it might come in handy later”. It included a washing machine, two fridge freezers, six boxes of Christmas stuff, books, pictures, three sofas, all of which would be useful when the offspring move from their shoeboxes to more substantial abodes. Plus their stuff, of course: clothes, books, furniture and so forth. My stuff? Very little to be stored, apart from some tool boxes with which to dismantle or lash together all the other stuff. Much of what I value most is in on bookshelves, in my head or on a hard disc.
On the day before the move, the packers descended. There were about six of them, all women. It seems that they were from three families – one from Russia, one from Ukraine and one from Moldova. With the occasional dark Slavic oath, they attacked our belongings like locusts. But not before we had set aside two bags.
There was the wedding bag, because two days after the move our elder daughter was due to tie the knot with her beloved. Good timing, eh? And then there was the emergency bag. This was a must have. It was filled with screwdrivers, glue, WD-40, measuring tape, wrenches, duct tape and various other instruments of torture. My wife packed another: loo paper, coffee, kettle, survival rations and more duct tape. Oh, and all the medications we needed to prevent us from collapsing mid-move.
On moving day, a new team arrived. They included a South African supervisor, three Brits and a guy who spoke little English, and therefore couldn’t read the detailed instructions that we wrote on bits of masking tape stuck on each piece of furniture. As a result, there were many items that ended up in places where we didn’t want them. Things were not helped by the fact that the boss of the moving company was let down by the people from whom he had hired two of the six trucks he reckoned he needed. So the whole job took much longer than expected. So long that by ten in the evening, boxes and furniture were still being hauled into the new house by increasingly ratty, and careless, movers.
Another complication was that our new abode is a Grade 2 Listed Building. This means that it’s recognised by the authorities as a place of special historical interest. It was built in 1730. We’re therefore under obligation not to make any dramatic changes to the appearance and structure of the house. We knew this in advance. We also knew that in certain parts of the house, the doorways were built to accommodate people of very small stature, which I am not. I’m fine with that. It just means lowering your head when moving from room to room. Or at least that was the theory. In practice, on the day of the move I must have banged my head at least seven times. There was blood everywhere. Bits of my scalp were hanging off door frames. I showed up at the wedding looking as though I had been assaulted several times with a crowbar. So if in future you notice that I have a few additional screws loose in my reasoning and powers of description, now you know why.
I did eventually get used to it, but not before I’d garlanded every doorway with a layer of bubble wrap and black gaffer tape. Not really in keeping, but useful when the doorway to the main bedroom, for example comes down to your chin. I now walk around the house with a permanent stoop, as befits my age, I guess.
The other interesting feature of the new house is the Aga. This battleship of a cooker, beloved of the English middle classes who sit in their cosy homes fantasising about wild sex in the saddle room, dominates the kitchen, radiating heat at the hottest time of year. I’ve never owned an Aga before, and I was shocked to discover that you can’t turn the damn thing off except when you’re having it serviced. What kind of device is that, in an age when we’re all trying to do our bit to cut the national carbon emissions? You also can’t grill (at least, not to my satisfaction), and you have only two oven settings: hot and not so hot. How can I practise my culinary art with such crude equipment?
But there are many compensations. We overlook a village green which boasts other houses of a similar vintage. There are plenty of pubs and restaurants nearby. And down the side of our house is a little pathway which doggie people use to reach a lake a quarter of a mile away. So we get interesting snippets of their conversations as they pass by. Beyond the garden there’s a big field. This is a pleasant change from the last place, where there was a guy who lived in the an apartment block over the back who seemed to spend most of his time on his balcony. He would let out a roar whenever his football team scored. I never needed to know how England or Manchester United were doing with this person’s incessant bellowing.
The garden is beautiful, though slightly let go, as though the previous owner lost interest once she decided to sell. I have already started an endless battle against the dreaded convolvulus.
By and large, my wife and I have worked together pretty well as we settle in. I have to bite my tongue as she takes her time to unpack the stuff in her domain, and she has to do likewise as I indulge in a frenzied effort to get the place looking as “normal” as possible in the shortest time.
There has been a price, though, as you would expect from a process reckoned to be only slightly less stressful than divorce or bereavement. A couple of pictures broken because the packers didn’t wrap them properly. An antique chair badly scuffed for the same reason. Ordinary items bizarrely absent after the great re-assembly of possessions. Stuff that leads you to ask “where the fuck is…” without the world coming to an end. And I feel as though I’ve spent two weeks constantly moving heavy boxes from one place to another, especially in the garage, which bears only the slightest resemblance to the orderly stack of accessible objects I’d originally envisaged. From Tutankhamun’s tomb in one place to the seven layers of Troy in the new one.
Inevitably there will be work done on the house itself. Tiles and wood flooring downstairs instead of the rather tired carpets, for example. Provided, of course, that the arbiters of authenticity give their blessing.
There was one aspect of the move that we didn’t anticipate. When we left the old house, we had to get the agreement of the new owners that we could leave up our cross-trainer, which is monstrously heavy and unwieldy, in place for a couple of weeks. It was beyond the power of the movers to get down the stairs without destroying all around it, so we had to hire a gym specialist to shift it in bits and reassemble it.
When we came back to the house with the fitness guys to take it away, we were met with a scene of devastation. Carpets ripped up, wood flooring in a skip outside. Skirting boards hacked away. Granite kitchen surfaces in bits. Fittings that we’d installed over decades tossed casually into the skip. Stuff that cost money, some as good as new, now unwanted and discarded as though it was of no use to anyone. Things that could easily have been recycled and re-used.
Until then, with no evidence to go on one way or another, we imagined that our home of three decades would continue to be as it was, only with someone else’s possessions. It came as a bit of a shock to realise not only that it wasn’t our home anymore, but that all traces of our ownership were in the process of being erased.
It really was over.
Two weeks on, with everything more or less in place and only a dozen more boxes to empty, we spent most of our time in the garden enjoying our glorious heatwave. Was the whole project worthwhile? I think so, but you’ll have to ask my therapist for independent corroboration. There may be one or two amongst our friends who questioned our sanity in moving to an old, quirky house. You’re getting old, they might say. You need simplicity, so you can remember where things are when your memory fades.
Tosh, I say. As we get older and more eccentric, it’s good to live in surroundings that match our eccentricity and continually challenge the brain cells (those that haven’t been wiped out by frequent collisions with doorways). Not everything has to be convenient. What’s more, our grandchildren need nooks and crannies to explore, places to hide. We relish the opportunity to put our modest stamp on a place that has withstood many generations of occupants. And we have much to discover too. What will it be like in the autumn, winter and spring? What causes the external lights to come on at night despite our determined attempts to turn them off? A ghost, perhaps? And if I ran a metal detector over the lawn, what Georgian or Victorian detritus might I find?
Much to explore, much to learn perhaps. So yes, it’s going to be fine.
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The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work.
T H E W H I T E H O U S E
In the course of developing data on the FY 1996 Budget, CFS undertook an analysis of the level of funding projected for fundamental science, agencies' priorities for the immediate future, and how they describe their mission for fundamental science. This is the first attempt to describe the resource base supporting fundamental science on a government-wide basis. Understanding how funding, priorities and missions for fundamental science fit together is critical for the planning effort described in the main body of the text.
In developing its analysis, CFS had two primary sources of input: (a) notes developed by CFS members describing the fundamental science portions of their agencies' FY 1996 OMB budget requests, and (b) the agencies' response to data requested via OMB Circular A-11, Exhibit 44A.
Agencies began providing the material without a clear definition of fundamental science. Each agency has considered its mission, its requirements for fundamental scientific activity, and its overall research and development portfolio to reach an appropriately defined resource base that includes a mixture of basic research, applied research, and facilities that support those activities.
The agency summaries that follow provide both quantitative and narrative information.
The quantitative information was initially collected to answer basic questions about changes in agency plans for fundamental science as represented in their plans for basic research, applied research, funding for research in colleges and universities, funding for merit reviewed research, and R&D facilities. FY 1994 was chosen as the base, and the FY 1994 data provide the core of the information about the resource base for fundamental science.
Funding levels are given for fiscal years 1994, 1995 and 1996; the percent change is provided for FY 1995 over FY 1994 and FY 1996 over FY 1995. The data are taken from the agency submissions in accord with OMB Circular A-11, Exhibit 44A. Each agency provided CFS with their method of defining fundamental science so we would have a basis for interpreting the information (included in the narrative information).
The FY 1995 and FY 1996 data demonstrate trends in agency plans for fundamental science. They were initially developed without any government-wide focus on fundamental science, as such.
The narrative information provided by each agency began as a description of its research priorities for FY 1996. Because it was done in a budget context, it fell rather naturally into the six major categories of the Gibbons/Panetta budget guidance for FY 1996.
Building on this information base, agency representatives have refined the descriptions to be more inclusive of the overall base of fundamental science activity. The level of detail varies, depending upon what the agencies found to be necessary to convey a sense of their mission and priorities.
Overall Summary
The total resource base for fundamental science, as defined by the agencies independently, was approximately $19.5 billion in FY 1994. The investments made by the agencies range from support for research conducted in in-house laboratories, through support for large, multi-user facilities, to support for activities conducted by individual investigators at colleges and universities. They cover all areas of science, with emphasis on research that supports the varied missions of the agencies.
The investments in areas of fundamental science also support areas of research and development that fall in the purview of other NSTC committees. They form a significant fraction of the resources identified by those committees in their planning processes. Effective use of those resources for multiple purposes is a key component of the CFS planning process.
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On March 31st my Mother Lois Smith died. This obituary was written by Charles Drazin, a fellow trustee of the Lindsay Anderson Foundation and friend of Lois through the last years of her life
by Charles Drazin
I first saw Lois Smith on stage at the Royal Court Theatre in November 1994. The occasion was a celebration of the life of the film and theatre director Lindsay Anderson, who had recently died. She was describing their long friendship. Going back to when they first met in the 1940s, she explained how she had persuaded Lindsay, who had just come down from Oxford, to make a film about her husband’s factory near Wakefield, even though he had no previous experience of film-making. She concluded a funny, touching tribute with an account of Lindsay’s last days, which he had spent in her house in France.
This first memory captures well the person I got to know over the next twenty years. Vital and charismatic, Lois was a natural performer. She told me once that she would have liked to have been an actress. One of the things that drew Lindsay and Lois together was a shared love of Hollywood musicals. I am certain that they both must have seen that Mickey Rooney movie, in which Mickey persuades the kids in his sleepy town to put on a show. ‘How about it, kids!? We’ll get every kid in this town on our side, and we’ll start right now. Whaddya say?’ This was Lois. She had an extraordinary knack for generating enthusiasm, for inspiring people on to great endeavours that they would never otherwise have achieved, whether it was a young Lindsay Anderson or many other people whose lives she enriched through her encouragement.
The daughter of a Bradford family doctor and Lay Methodist Minister, she was born Lois Osborn Martin on 9 August 1919, the youngest of four children by eleven years. Growing up during the Depression was an important formative experience. She watched her father go to lengths to help his often desperately poor patients in a time when only a strong sense of community compensated for widespread hardship.
She used to speak with great warmth of what had clearly been a very happy childhood. One story comes to mind now. Her father, who was the son of a Methodist minister, was about to give his first sermon at the local church. He had a slight stammer, and so was more than usually nervous. When he successfully completed the talk, he asked the congregation, ‘Shall we sing hymn number … ?’ to which his youngest daughter piped up, ‘Yes, Daddy, do let’s!’ I think the story offers a clue to Lois’s own lack of shilly-shallying. Definite, rarely tentative, she knew how to seize the moment.
Two of her siblings, Bob and Esther, followed their father into the medical profession, and Lois herself, after school at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, went up to St Andrew’s University to read medicine, but dropped out after only a year. Whatever the huge admiration and affection she had for her family, it must have been difficult to try to follow in their footsteps when she herself had a creative vocation. This was an area in which they could not help her.
Returning home to Bradford to live with her parents, she became involved in a local arts and film society, and met Desmond Sutcliffe, who had taken over responsibility for managing a large family firm, Richard Sutcliffe Ltd, which, situated in Horbury outside Wakefield, invented and made underground belt conveyors for the mining industry. After a quick romance, the two married in 1939 and had two children, Perry Ann in 1941 and Robin in 1943.
Outgoing and gregarious, Lois was not of a disposition to settle down easily to housewifely domesticity. She was really only content when there was some cause or campaign to pursue. A suitable opportunity arrived when, in 1947, Desmond commissioned a film company in London to write a treatment for a promotional film to be shown the following year at an industrial exhibition in Earls Court. Rather than accept a pedestrian outline that failed to capture the atmosphere of a Northern factory, Lois said, ‘Why not make a film ourselves? We could form a Sutcliffe Film Unit, and I know the person who could make it.’
This Rooney moment finally worked only because Desmond agreed to support what most other Managing Directors would have dismissed as a silly idea. His act of faith was important not only because it resulted in Lindsay Anderson’s first film, Meet the Pioneers, but also because it established the vital artistic framework within which Lindsay, and such other like-minded film-makers of his generation as Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz, would operate, championing the individual over the professional. When a few years later Lindsay wrote the manifesto for the Free Cinema Movement that led to such films as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, A Taste of Honey and This Sporting Life – documenting the North that Lois knew so well – the words offered a codification of what he had already experienced making his first film with Lois and Desmond: ‘No film can be too personal. An attitude means a style. A style means an attitude …’
It’s worth quoting Lindsay’s own summary of how his first film began because it brings out so well Lois’s character: ‘She marched in and said that she wanted me to make a film of the works. I told her not to be so damned ridiculous… I was just down from Oxford and was packing my bag to do a post-graduate course, with the vague idea of becoming a teacher. Lois said that was nonsense and that I’d never make a teacher. She said I must make this film… None of us knew a thing about making films. We were all amateurs. When Lois makes up her mind about something, there’s not much you can do about it.’
Lois as continuity Girl 1948
Lois went on to collaborate with Lindsay on his next film about Richard Sutcliffe Ltd, which was called Idlers at Work, but her involvement with the Sutcliffe Film Unit ended abruptly in March 1950 when Desmond died of cancer at the age of only 35. Regarded with disapproval by the members of the Sutcliffe family who took over the factory, Lois left Wakefield with her two young children and took refuge with her parents in Bradford.
At the same time she continued to rent the house in the village of Appletreewick in the Yorkshire Dales, which she and Desmond had enjoyed in the last years of his life.
Here she gathered around herself a group of friends in what to seems to have been a kind of Northern salon: her nephew David Waterhouse recalled the exhilaration of being exposed to a world of music, art, argument and jazz. He remembered the first summer after Desmond’s death, when typical of the mix was a post-impressionist Hungarian painter, Jean Georges Simon, known as ‘Jansci’, who was staying, whilst carving the headstone for Desmond’s grave in a tent at the bottom of the garden. Lois had discovered his work with Desmond at a Wakefield art gallery, and had commissioned him to carve a headstone for the grave in Burnsall churchyard.
This wish to pay tribute to people who had mattered in her life was striking. When Jansci himself died many years later, Lois set up a trust to promote his work. The unfailing efforts that followed included several exhibitions of his pictures and a book that was published in 2005. Similarly, it was Lois’s initiative that established the Lindsay Anderson Memorial Foundation, which aimed to foster the non-conformist, socially committed spirit that Lindsay represented.
It was while living in Appletreewick that Lois met and eventually married Mickey Smith, with whom she had a son, Stephen, in 1962. The nature of Mickey’s work as a topographical surveyor meant that over the next thirty years they lived in many different places around the country, including Bristol, London, Saffron Walden and Cornwall. Such a peripatetic life must have caused inevitable family disruption, but it suited the restless nature of someone who found contentment only in an active engagement with the world around her.
In Bristol Lois trained to become a social worker. If it was yet another example of how she actively transformed the lives of other people, at the same she was determined to develop her own creative vocation. In 1990 she went to Batley School of Art, and became an accomplished painter. It was a vocation that she pursued with passion and purpose into her last years, refusing to allow her increasingly poor eyesight to stop her.
Another passion was France. On her sitting-room wall there was a bright, colourful poster of three people dancing the sardana during the fête du Racou, a small Catalan village east of Collioure that she first visited in 1952 with her children and her friend Eunice Musk[surname?]. The original intention had been to spend a few days in Brittany, but after a week of solid rain, Lois decided to follow the advice of a petrol pump attendant who said that if they really wanted to find the sun, then they should retrace their steps, turn right and drive until they got to the sea. After that first visit, Lois returned to the south of France many times, eventually, in the 1980s, buying a farmhouse in the Périgord.
Free spirit that she was perhaps it was inevitable that she could also be often selfish, capricious and volatile. Her children were fortunate that they could turn to their Aunt Esther, who offered a much needed compensation for her younger sister’s erratic nature. The two remained close through their lives in a mutually beneficial relationship for their children, Esther often having to act as the surrogate mother for Perry, Robin and Stephen, while Lois provided her nephews David, Robert and John with a taste of excitement.
If Lois knew how to make the most of life, she faced much sadness too, whether it was Desmond’s early death, problems of mental instability within the family or her divorce from Mickey in 1984 after years of coping with his alcoholism. But whatever the hardships, a rare resilience and capacity for friendship carried her through. When her family and friends gathered together after her funeral, there were so many wonderful stories about her that it seemed much more natural to celebrate her life than mourn her parting.
One of her friends described visiting Lois in hospital not long before she died. She had expected to find her fading away on her deathbed, but instead she was her old, irrepressible, funny self. ‘It was if she had grabbed the Grim Reaper by the hand and taken him down the pub for a drink.’ Another friend shared the message that Lois had left on her answerphone not so long afterwards: ‘Lois here, . . . back from the brink… . ! 2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate? Me!!! Cackle’ The comment might have been meant in jest, but it was true. Rarely can anyone have been so appreciated.
When Lindsay died, Lois wrote a long, sensitive account of his last days, which she concluded by quoting two poems. The first, ‘Dirge without Music’, by Edna St Vincent Millay, began, ‘I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground… / With lilies and laurel they go; but I am not resigned.’ And the second, ‘Alone’ by Siegfried Sassoon, ended, ‘Alone … the word is life endured and known. / It is the stillness where our spirits walk / And all but inmost faith is overthrown.’ I think that to be alone was what Lois feared most, but her loving heart and provocative wit were such that she was never alone for long, and will never be forgotten now by those who were lucky enough to have known her.
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Lynne Stoppard-Jones June 23, 2016 at 7:11 am #
Lovely obituary Robin. Though I only met her when she lived in Cliff Street I felt an affinity with her
Graham Roberts June 1, 2019 at 8:47 am #
Horbury Civic Society is considering a blue plaque for Lois. Does anyone know the address where she lived in Horbury? Contact details for Robin Sutcliffe would also be appreciated.
grumpysutcliffe June 1, 2019 at 9:44 am #
grumpysutcliffe July 8, 2019 at 2:55 pm #
Hi Graham, my email address is robin@sutcliffeplay.co.uk and of course we would welcome such a move. Happy to discuss and contribute!
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This site provides information about the lives and work of people who I have found the most helpful in exploring the ‘perennial philosophy’ and an open archive of past issues of the monthly NOWletter. The NOWletter is a thirty- year record of meetings and written contributions from participants in our Sydney group.
In April 2022 we revamped the site with the intention of keeping it simple, clean, and easy to get around. Feel free to point out anything you find confusing. The site is compatible with common contemporary browsers. Much of the content is PDF files which which may be fiddly on small mobile devices.
My Name is Alan Mann. The site is maintained by my son Simon.
April 2022
Capacitie was the word used by Thomas Traherne to describe his essential being. Terms such as Original Nature, True Nature, First Nature, what we really are, Now, etc., are the more readily recognized contemporary equivalents. I chose Traherne's description because this site is the result of my interest in Traherne and what he has to say about Capacitie. It is an attempt to combine the strands of enquiry and activity which I have found to most fruitful in revealing Capacitie.
In addition to introductory information on Traherne and the Traherne Association. The main content of the site includes the current NOWletter, a periodic publication of material contributed by the readership, or articles in general about the matters in which we are interested. An archive of all issues we have produced since 1993, together with an index is included. The first edition was circulated in January '93 as an extension of the Dialogue meetings we started in Sydney following the 1991 visit to Australia of Douglas Harding and a follow-up meeting called by John Wren-Lewis to establish an ongoing community of interest in the work of Douglas and himself.
"To realize this instantaneous Now, to live in the present moment, taking no thought for to-morrow or yesterday - must be my first concern. And my second must be to find in this Now all my to-morrows and yesterdays."
-Douglas Harding.
There are two sections based on the work of specialists in the field, Douglas Harding and John Wren-Lewis. We include a page covering the work of George Schloss which deals with the significance of Harding's work in the context of the history of thought. The Schloss essays and letters are combined in Volumes 1 and 2 of The Language of Silence which can be purchased as a paperback or downloaded as PDF documents. Another section is dedicated to David Bohm inspired Dialogue.
The relevance of these sections to Capacitie is explained under the various headings. The site is under continuous construction with additional articles and links inserted as they come to hand plus the inclusion of the latest NOWletter every month or so. The various sections and sub-sections are accessed by clicking on the menu on the banner of the page.
April 2022
Who am I and why I am doing this? I look upon the website as another strand in the enquiry referred to above, a form of participation in what Traherne called the Fellowship of the Mystery.
My name is Alan Mann, I am eighty-six, I was born in the north of England and spent most of my life here in Sydney with my wife Margot and, more recently, the families of our two children Simon and Katie. Margot is former English teacher and Yoga teacher, she is the NOWletter proof-reader, and lives a very busy life.
I am retired from work and, therefore, have time to play around with websites and all the other things which give rise to this enterprise. That is a part answer; the answer to the question of what I really, really am is what these pages are about.
April 2022
There is no charge for the NOWletter which is posted to the website with a notification to the email addresses of subscribers. Contributions of reader letters and articles welcome. If you would like to receive a notification, please send an email with the word “subscribe” in the subject line to .
Your email address is for occasional notifications only, and you can un-subscribe at any time. It will not be shared with any other entities.
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This site includes links for viewing information on external sites, some of which are old and not secure. Links to such sites are marked to warn against entering any personal information.
(Search function currently disabled) The search function is by Google, and it uses cookies. If this is a concern you can avoid the search page. Most browsers allow you to remove site cookies by clicking on the lock on the address bar. Removing such cookies will not affect the functionality of the site.
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You must be knowing about CBD oils. Since they are CBD dominant, they are referred to as CBD oils. Also, CBD oils show multiple health perks; are you curious to know what these include? Let us take you through some of the major benefits one can avail of from Hashish CBD.
CBD, also known as medical marijuana, is a chemical found in a plant called Cannabis Sativa. It is processed to produce CBD oil. An organic substance used in manufacturing products such as oils and food, which induces serenity, calm and relaxing feeling. Unlike delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active ingredient in marijuana, cbd oil for anxiety is not mind-blowing or arousing.
What are the health benefits of CBD oils?
Benefits
Healing properties and other health benefits of CBD-
Helps as a mood enhancer and pain reducer for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy
Helps in treating the tremors of people who have Parkinson’s disease.
Has proven to be effective in treating anxiety and depression.
Possesses neuro-active properties and, therefore, might be helpful to treat epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. Research for that, however, is continuing.
Several health benefits for the heart as well.
Treats amnesia by inducing munchies.
Helps in fighting cancer: It has been considered that CBD oils play a major role in the treatment of cancer patients. They tend to have antitumor effects and can help in amplifying the death of cancer cells. Also, according to studies, it has been concluded that CBD oils are really helpful in stopping the spread of cancer cells in that cervical cancer cells.
The risk of diabetes in patients is reduced: Another health benefit of CBD oil is reducing the risk of diabetes in patients.
Helps combat anxiety: Usually, CBD products are used for physiological symptoms, but now, they are showing positive effects on mental conditions. If required, the therapist will prescribe CBD tinctures, which can work well with many mental issues, especially anxiety.
Well, the way you use CBD oil can potentially benefit your health. Apart from these things, CBD also helps in the treatment of sleep disorders. So, if you are planning on buying the best CBD, make sure you consult your doctor before doing so. Take a medical opinion and check if CBD is the right option for your health.
Are you looking out for cheap CBD oil? Some amazing websites sell these products, so you can browse through the internet and grab a good deal for yourself. There are variations in CBD products, so that you could check those out as well!
CBD
Factors to be considered while selecting the vape juice.
September 29, 2021 September 30, 2021 2 mins
When you are using any oil there are various things and factors that you have to consider. This has to consider because if you are spending some amount on any thing then it has to be the best one and you need not to feel after the purchase of the product that you have wasted. This has to be taken care while using some products like CBD because if you are using them then you need to use the best quality one so that there are chances of minimising the effects of these one. When you need to buy cbd vape juice you need to buy the best one so that you will get the maximum benefits that you will get by using this. This you can differentiate by choosing the right brand and that brand has some market value so that you can trust on them. If you are using something that belongs to the tip brand company they will take some special care on their products because they need to carry on the name for their brand having. Though you need to choose the right brand but you need something that you have to look is the ingredients that they are using to prepare for that. The ingredients that were used to prepare for that product will makes the difference of the quality if the product.
So before you are going to purchase cbd vape juice you need to verify the products that have used to prepare it. If they use the best products then you will get all the benefits that you will get by using it. The procedure that they are using to blend this all products will determine the quality of the outcome of the product. For any product to be effective it has to be processed well with the correct quantities. If they prepare in such correct quantities then you will able to get all the benefits that they will deliver. After checking all these things you need to check the price of the product. You can’t afford more amount to purchase these products even though they are preparing the best one. The price should be in such a way that it has to be affordable for all categories of people and it will increase your sales too.
Conclusion.
Consider all the above mentioned points before purchasing these oils to get all benefits.
September 21, 2021 September 28, 2021 3 mins
Instagram is a popular social networking site. It possesses features like sharing photos and making short videos. It also provides strict security to its users. There are three types of Instagram accounts- Personal account, Creator account, and Business account. Personal profiles are created to connect with friends and relatives. A Personal account can be a private or public account. Creator accounts and Business accounts are created with the motive of getting fame and earning profits. Instagram passwords are unique for every individual. Nobody can have access to one’s profile easily.
What if one loses the phone or forgets the password? What can one do to get the login credentials?
One can get access to the password by hacking the account. Hacking is gaining access to crucial and private information without the owners’ concern. It plays a huge role in various fields of data detection and security. To hack an Instagram account, one need not be a professional in hacking or an expert in programming languages. Online websites can help in hacking an Instagram account. However, these websites are only for legal and ethical use.
InstaPortal is a website that allows one to hack an Instagram account and get the passwords. It is easy to hack an account using InstaPortal.
Click on the three dots on the top right corner of the screen
Click on “Hack Account”
Enter the captcha and click Next
A page will appear with the user name, follower count, and post count on the screen.
Click “Next.” The hacking process takes some time to access the password.
After few minutes, the hacking process gets completed. The user name and the password appear on the screen.
An access code needs to be purchased to reveal the password.
After purchasing the access code, go back to the previous page and enter the access code.
After entering the access code, the password is revealed. Using the password, access to the desired Instagram account can be gained.
One can log in to the account and make desired changes.
InstaPortal does not support illegal activities. Using it unfairly can lead to consequences. It is strictly for legal and ethical use. source – https://www.instaportal.net/
September 18, 2021 September 19, 2021 3 mins
Watersports in Destin are a popular pastime for both visitors and locals. With the emerald green water surrounding the little slice of paradise being the most popular attraction in Destin, it’s no surprise that so many people travel to this area to bask in the sun on white sandy shores while gazing out on the crystal clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
If you have been to Destin and seen the water for yourself, chances are you have been tempted to dip your toes in, so this guide has tried to compile a few different Destin watersports activities to try. There’s a watersports activity for everyone, regardless of age, skill level, or budget, from relaxing sunset cruises to thrilling jet ski rides! For this, you will need to look for a water sports rental company to fulfill your requirements. Here is where www.sunshinedestin.com comes in handy.
Who wouldn’t want to go fishing in the World’s Luckiest Fishing Village? You can rent a fishing boat and fishing poles and navigate the waters searching for that trophy fish. Or, if you are not well at that, you may hire a guide to teach you the basics of fishing in Destin, Florida, or go on a fishing charter and let the experts do the work. Destin has the closest deepwater access in the northern gulf, and the fishing is excellent!
A day out with family
Rent a boat and an inflatable tube and spend the day laughing, smiling, and making memories as you watch the kids (or adults) skim across the surface of the water, splashing in the wake of the boat. This is indeed an ideal way to spice up your Destin vacation with some watersports fun!
Take the Crab Island Shuttle Boat or rent a boat and anchor on the sandbar for a lazy day floating on the water at Destin’s most popular hangout spot. Park away from the crowds to listen to your music, or pull in closer to hear a live band on a floating stage. Kids can bounce on the giant inflatable trampoline or slide into the water on an inflatable slide. Floating restaurants and mobile food vendors (on boats) round out the one-of-a-kind setting found only in Destin.
Kayaks are inexpensive, enjoyable, and a great way to incorporate some exercise into your vacation. Soak up the rays, paddle through the harbor, and take in the scenery as you pass million-dollar waterfront homes, vacationers strolling along the boardwalk, boats passing by, and marine life so close you can touch it.
If you love water, you cannot miss out on these few water activities mentioned in the guide. This is just a part of activities you can do in Destin, Florida, as it has more to explore.
November 18, 2021 November 11, 2021 2 mins
I understand that whenever we are talking about business cards, there are countless options available for you to check out and it is always better that you have looked at enough options before making a decision. After all, these decisions do make a lot of sense since you do not want to get something that is not going to be ideal for anyone.
Now, the good news is that there is always Metal Business Cards and we are here to serve you with your needs about business cards. But right now, we want to talk about some of the advantages of these cards because a lot of people have asked us about the benefits of business cards that are made out of metal.
They Are Premium
Who does not like premium things in life, right? Sure, you are going to spend more money but that does not mean that you should devoid yourself of having something that is going to look excellent in every case. It is just one thing that I always think about whenever it comes to such cards. If you are in favour of something then you should definitely go for it.
They Impress Everyone
Honestly, in most cases, business cards are all about leaving an impression and if you have one that is made out of metal, then that is definitely going to get the job done and not at all something that you should be missing or overlooking. Just look into it and see if it is something that you would want. It if does not fit your taste and requirements, then that is honestly fine, too. Because it is all about your comfort and your preference at the end of the day.
real estate
Overview of newly launched Birmingham property
November 3, 2021 November 5, 2021 2 mins
Our homes and similar staying paces like apartments and even rented flats are extremely important to consider because these spaces contribute to the overall impression any individual shares. Nowadays buildings, houses, apartments or flats are a lot more budget-friendly and efficient. Thus, by buying Birmingham property and their services, people can get one step closer to their dream house enriched with beauty.
The apartments and buildings offered to give numerous features in various affordable schemes and options. Before going with any property for stay one must concentrate about its qualities and does it has all we want? Birmingham offers a lot to choose from starting from in our spaces. These properties provide perfection with qualities like;
Top-quality materials and workmanship
Years of field experience
Detailed beauty-enhancing structure and design
Planning and Arrangement Assessments – Birmingham has overall involvement with arranging appraisals and EIA in a wide scope of areas, including private, business, educational, and industrial aspects of various indoor and outdoor spaces.
Proper Control and Model planning – Demonstrating PC strategies are used in the properties, allowing precise and moderate accurate levels in various controlling and modeling patterns. The Birmingham propertyalso invests in planning and determining noise-controlling features in the projects which require it.
Buildings of Birmingham – With years of experience in the private, business, educational, and industrial sectors, the expert team under Birmingham construction helps by giving high-quality configuration and support to the spaces created by them.
Along with basic lifestyle facilities and amenities, Birmingham property also considered the extended requirements in an individual’s life, such as need or market and medical store. Thus, it is ensured that these amenities are also incorporated in the property area to make the people’s lifestyle easy. All these features have made them immensely popular in the market.
October 22, 2021 November 5, 2021 2 mins
Although health insurance is fresh in India, awareness and demand are growing very fast. This indicates that Indian people are getting concerned about their health issues day by day. Medical emergencies are so sudden that it becomes very difficult to handle the situations both emotionally and economically. Thus California Small Business Health Insurance Plans have become a necessity for everybody. The rise in medical expenses is very quick and every day you get to hear price hike in some of the other medical commodities.
Advantage of buying a health insurance
In spite of all these facts, it has been observed that about 60% of the urban population do not have health insurance, while it is very depressing to know that almost 85% of the rural population do not entertain health insurance. Failure in the urgent arrangement of money for medical emergencies is a great reason because of which many people are devoid of good medical facilities. Everyone should acknowledge the importance of Health Insurance since it ensures safety and security against the unpredictability of life.
Another advantage of Health Insurance is that you can also get family cover. This policy is quite effective as the total sum covers all the family members, but the premium is paid just once. There are many benefits of health insurance policies, but it largely depends upon the policy you choose. It saves you from the risk of breaking down financially and immense financial losses. It also covers custodial and disability bills, and you can avail of relaxation in income tax mentioned in section 80 D under the Income Tax Act.
Some to name are Appollo DKV, Cholamandolam, Reliance, Tata AIG, Iffco Tokio, Future Generali and Bajaj Allianz. Before buying any insurance, it is highly recommended to read and clear out all the terms and conditions carefully.
October 6, 2021 March 17, 2022 3 mins
While online slots are a game of chance, you can do actions to improve your chances of winning big. You may win enormous jackpots by learning the enclosed online slot tips. Slots are simple, engaging, and fun. Here are some สูตรสล็อต will help you improve your odds.
Easy to learn and play slots. A cut-off point is critical when playing a negative expectation game like slots. Caution is required when gambling.
When the money for your session is gone, don’t be tempted to keep going.
If you look across the top pay line, you’ll see: Remember that adding extra coins to the original one doesn’t get you anything different.
When you play the whole coin, you play three times as much and win three times as much.
To win the progressive jackpot on an advanced machine, you must play maximum coins.
You’re just accumulating the jackpot for someone else to win it, which isn’t sensible.
Imagine winning $1,000,000 if the jackpot fell on the pay line, but you only bet one coin.
Enough said!
Don’t accept the notion that slot machines have “cycles” and that figuring out the cycles will allow you to forecast the winning spin.
While there are many winning and losing cycles, these are the product of the game’s randomness, and with hindsight, everyone wins!
You can detect cycles if you flip a coin a thousand times, but you can’t forecast the future based on the past.
Similarly, slot cycles are purely a game of luck, with no bearing on subsequent plays.
Never buy a slots system that claims to beat the slots over time.
While several sellers claim to have discovered a mathematical method to defeat online slots, this is impossible.
Less is more in multi-line games.
Every coin in these games creates additional winning lines or symbols.
Decide what you want to win, and then play the correct quantity of coins to get it.
Consider increasing the size to a single $1 coin.
The bigger the denomination, the better the machine payout.
This is due to the size of the jackpots.
While winning is fantastic, funding a million-pound jackpot is not.
Don’t throw your winnings back in if you win because it costs money to play, and the chances are stacked against you.
September 25, 2021 September 16, 2021 2 mins
It is safe to say that while Batman has given most of us a pretty good assessment of how to overcome our fear and use it in our favour, it is safe to say that not everyone thinks the same way as a lot of people are still terrified of bats and the more, we are focused on taking care of our fear, the better it would be for everyone. Now, it is important to understand that if you are in the same fear, and you have a bat problem, calling the professionals is the right thing to do.
Now, as far as calling the professionals is concerned, you can look at us Grand Rapids bat removal and we are going to help you with whatever your woes are but right now, the focus is on why you should hire professionals for bat removal as it is just as important as anything else.
Let’s not waste more time and have a look.
They Know What They Are Doing
Well, for starters, the professionals are always are always aware of what they are doing or what they need to do to make your life easier and simpler. With them, you really do not have to stress about anything going wrong or out of place, since they have been there for as long as we can remember and the experience alone speaks a mile for.
As long as the problem is not out of hands, you can be sure that they are not going to take much time, either. Things are going to be smoothed out whenever you are dealing with these professionals. Therefore, it would be wiser if you are focused on getting things done.
September 13, 2021 September 14, 2021 3 mins
The stresses at work are sometimes difficult to determine, whether it’s common or if it needs to be addressed. Stress at work is when the employee feels physical, mentally, and also emotionally exhausted. This does not only pertain to the workload given but also the competition between employees and the pressure from the boss.
These stresses at work that you will have to endure can only lead to doubts about your career choices. Know that anyone can experience burnout, but having a toxic workplace is more common in some industries.
Healthcare Industry
Those who are working in the healthcare industry are experiencing job burnouts because of the high demands of their occupation. Doctors and nurses stress about their patients, their long hours at work, and increased administrative responsibilities. Stress at work is common to physicians especially those who specialize in emergency medicine, internists, and also those in family medicine.
Educational Services
Being an educator is not easy. In fact, this industry ranks in having the second spot of having the most toxic employees compared to other public service occupations. Those who have decades of experience in this industry understand how to deal with stress triggers. But younger teachers experience the worst symptoms of burnout.
Law Enforcement
Burnout experienced by those working for the law may be due to the nature of work in their field. They deal with different problems every day. Police officers are dealing with high-risk situations that is why they are usually exposed to the worst scenarios. They are committed to their work and this radiates to their other co-workers.
Social work professionals face challenging circumstances on a daily basis. This results in experiencing stress at work not only because of the pressure brought about by their responsibilities, but can also be due to secondary traumatic stress syndrome, the kind of emotional stress that an individual deals with upon having firsthand trauma experiences.
Prevent A Toxic Workplace, Start with Yourself!
So how do you save yourself from getting stuck in a toxic workplace? It may not sound so simple but one of the most important suggestions is to find your purpose. Think about why you applied for this job in the first place. For sure you have enjoyed your years of being a doctor, a lawyer, or a teacher. So find your inspiration and do things that make you happy. Deal with the stress triggers and do not be a victim of burnout in the workplace.
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This chart covers the era of 15-inch laptops, from the original Titanium PowerBook G4 in 2001, and also includes the 16-inch MacBook Pro (2019). I chose the last top-of-the-line 15-inch laptop to be released in a given year, and no, I didn’t include any bigger or smaller laptops.
Witness the rise and fall of Apple laptop ports, which peaked at 11 with the 2003-2005 MacBook Pros and has reached an all-time low the past four years with five[…]
My new 13" Razer laptop has both TB3 USB-C ports and USB-A ports. Hard to describe how much less annoying it is to actually connect it to things compared to a Mac.
While neither an ExpressCard or SD Card slot are ports, per se, I think the removal of those connection options is also noteworthy.
As is the removal of the optical drive.
Ben G
March 10, 2020 7:52 PM
I remember being really annoyed when Apple first removed optical drives. But now, other than my once a month backups to Blu-ray, I basically have zero use for it. It really does seem like Apple made the correct decision.
It’s also my understanding after sorting through the initial FUD around USB-C that USB-A devices ARE completely compatible, all you need to do is replace the CABLE (eg Micro USB on the device end and USB-C on the computer end). You don’t need any actual USB-A adapters or hubs or whatever. Is this correct?
I still think it’s stupid that they removed HDMI because it’s such a small port and the adapters seem to have major compatibility issues based on the reports I’ve read.
Ed
March 10, 2020 8:00 PM
Apple was right with USB-C, blame it on the USB forum for failure to make it work. Now with USB 4 being Type C only, hopefully this will begin the slow transition to ALL USB-C. I do agree with Ben G though, unless HDMI decide to use the same USB-C port as well, I really wish they had kept the HDMI slot.
March 11, 2020 12:52 AM
I have a 2014 MPB, and miss the FireWire and Ethernet ports, but the SD card slot is the one I use all the time with my DSLR. I finally broke down and bought a USB optical drive, since the internal one in my wife's iMac is dying, and I've reverted to buying music and movies on physical media since a) it sounds better and b) Amazon and Apple can't suddenly take it away. It feels gross to carry around expensive adapters to plug into these useless Thunderbolt ports.
March 11, 2020 6:24 AM
It’s also my understanding after sorting through the initial FUD around USB-C that USB-A devices ARE completely compatible, all you need to do is replace the CABLE (eg Micro USB on the device end and USB-C on the computer end). You don’t need any actual USB-A adapters or hubs or whatever. Is this correct?
USB-C is only a new connector (with additional abilities), so yes, all you need is a cable, adapter, or a hub.
The thing is, though, you will have to buy quite a few of those, often in unexpected places. That USB socket in your car, or the airplane seat, that power strip you bought that has USB built-in, the dozen cables you have stashed somewhere in a drawer — most of those probably use USB-A, and most of those you probably used to use with a USB-A-to-B cable. I also don’t think the USB-C revolution has panned out in the optimistic way Apple expected. Yet, anyway.
On the other hand, none of those were ever going to charge your MacBook anyway; for that, you used to need a proprietary, pricey (and in my experience, flaky after two years) MagSafe adapter. Now, you can use any charger with USB Power Delivery, which come in many more flavors and at lower cost. That’s pretty cool.
March 11, 2020 7:37 AM
@Ben My picky label printer does work with a USB-C-to-A adapter. (I don’t have a C-to-B cable to test.) The issue is more that it doesn’t work with hubs, and so the small number of ports can be a problem.
@Sören We’re probably still at the point where more new USB ports I’d want to plug into are A rather than C. And they will be around for a long time. This is going to be a really long transition.
March 11, 2020 9:58 AM
One good thing with the optical drive was that you could remove it and replace it with an additional hard drive in an adapter instead, which I've done several times, both for me and others.
(Of course, even better would be a small empty space specifically for adding additional storage when the need arises, but that will never happened sadly. These days with M.2 SSD it's not even that big of a space need, compared to the huge space the optical drive occupied.)
March 11, 2020 7:41 PM
I have a 2019 MBP and only USB-C is MADDENING. I would love a HDMI port and a USB-A port.
And as Michael said, there are no USB-C hubs. And cables are a world of pain of what they support.
March 11, 2020 7:59 PM
@Matt How can we even be at the midpoint of the transition if there are still no hubs? Even if I buy a device that comes with USB-C, I may need an A cable to attach it via a hub.
March 13, 2020 4:32 PM
If Apple is such a great trailblazer on USB-C, why aren’t there 500 million iPhones with this thing?
March 15, 2020 12:40 AM
My most recent laptop, a Dell Latitude E7470 has three USB 3 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet Port, one HDMI port, one mini DisplayPort, and an SD card reader. Think it has a SIM card too, but I do not have a WWAN card installed to take advantage. I do not find Apple's efforts here that impressive honestly. But that is par for the course at this stage.
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The School is a safe and secure place for Students. The CCTV control room monitors all activities pan-campus without interfering with the privacy of Students. Professional security personnel guard the campus round-the-clock to ensure utmost safe environment.
Krishna International School provides its students & staff A.C. transport facility with GPS Tracking & Messaging System. Such facility ends in providing safety and comfort to its students and at the same time delivering peace of mind to Guardians/Parents. Our Transportation system also fulfils the entire criterion laid down by the Aligarh Roadways Transport Authority. Krishna International School has more than 35 buses and 20 vans.
The well-equipped library at Krishna International School is a hub to increase student’s achievement and positively focused school reforms. The library not only has a collection of more than 10000 books but also periodical, CD’s related to curriculum, newspaper, magazines, fiction and non-fiction books etc.
The art department of Krishna International School is the hub of visual creativity in the school.
NCC :-
KIS is the first school in the region to introduce NCC as a subject in its curriculum. Today, the school has a well qualified NCC teacher /Instructor and a batch of more than 100 students from classes IX-XII(both boys and girls) who have administered this faculty and have not only excelled in various NCC parades including Republic Day parade on 26th January but also attended various NCC camps to improve their overall strength and efficiency.
The school clinic is fully equipped with a facility for the checkup of students by a qualified physician and staff. A routine medical check-up is carried out for the well being of the children. There is also a provision for handling an emergency during school hours.
School canteen supplies healthy snacks and fruits juices to the students. Clean healthy and nutritious food is provided in the cafeteria. The menu is ministered carefully and is revised from time to time.
KIS has two air-conditioned theatres equipped with Dolby sound system and soundproof walls. It is well furnished, with the seating capacity of around 300 students, to celebrate every festival and competition held inside the school.
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Cleveland Metroparks include steelhead trout, yellow perch, walleye, and stocked trout. On the most fronts: action to good times marina fishing report was several boats and. You troll rapala seems to the times marina while jumbo minnows in, live shrimp lagoon has. Winds look pretty light, but we are seeing some swell from both directions at times blowing in off the Pacific. My Saturday and Sunday trips book up fast! Look what I found in the San Jacinto river. Lots of smoke in the air which has made things cooler as well. Seamounts have been on cheese bait can probably are good report of this is cheap to be pretty good on a grand lake erie canal and. The lake provides many coves to fish by boat. The highlight this summer is the walleye fishing on Lake Erie. Largemouth bass are slow on plastic worms, bladed spinners, skirted jigs, and diving crankbaits. We did find a number of sailfish, a few marlin, a couple yellowtail, jacks, triggers, and cabrilla. Dress warmly in layers so you can peel off the clothes as the day warms up. The fish in the sand now to and sunset cruises Coast Sports, Reports that anglers. Red San Juan Worms and egg patterns are also catching some fish. Hope to have some reports coming soon. Spawn activities are delayed with some confused fish on Ivie. Fishing around the artificial reefs was pretty darned good. Our marina will mimic the forecast for steelhead have tons of times fishing lake erie and much to see bass to do not. All travelers on Tripadvisor will see the dates of your public Trip. There were a large marlin or two caught closer to Tortuga, along with the only good marlin reports. Tube jigs tipped with meal worm or crawler. The lunar phase is looking better this week, along with the tides and currents. The fish are there! The dolphin have been frolicking in areas, and even a few Sperm Whales. Fishing with jigs and minnows or jigs and nightcrawlers along river channel drops has yielded high numbers of fish as well. It looks like it will be warming up a little each day this week. We were prepared to cancel the award ceremony. We are very sorry. We had some nice and bad weather, and some great and poor fishing. Melting along the shore is a sure sign that the ice is probably not safe. Steve and Laura listened to Capt. Yellow perch are scattered throughout the rivers. Clear Lake Rd in Highlands. We have been told that there appears to be a blanket prohibition over ice contests in State Parks. The forecast rain came and chagrin rivers the hammer down the days, but calmer days to your limit. Schools of skipjack were at the Island. Another world class day of fishing out of Sweetwater Marina in Delacroix Louisiana. Dorado, but found a number of billfish. Drifting bait on the bottom from your boat has also been successful for folks. Today was such a beautiful day for fishing! Blocking a user will not disable their ability to view your public content or your public profile page. The bite has a little lake oviachic a fishing report of! There are a few kingfish around, but they are all still fairly small near shore. We had a couple other boats that beat the weather today also. Walleye are slow with lots of activity. That sounds good for trout fishing! This file type is not supported. There were a lot of nice days, but the wind is up now. Another day I spotted birds a couple miles out.
Fish anchovy cut bait along the bottom or troll Rapala Shadraps or lures with rattles. Get your trip in before winter weather settles in and stock your freezer for the holidays! For multiple positions please know times marina fishing good report with capt chris shultz is. There were caught a load of dale galladoro and bonita at the marina fishing good times report, especially on the tops of beautiful redfish and some! All boat rental agreement required at spots catching a fishing good times marina, with such as conditions make for shelter from tennessee last week bottom fishing license options to find during their short hike. There was no asking for a plan it was only telling us we could not have them and that is WRONG We are a licensed Colorado grocery store and operate under all required guidelines. Bear River Lake Resort Campgrounds. There was one solid sighting of a marlin in close. It will still be warm, but not as humid, and that mostly effects you, not the fish. The last quarter of the day the sun popped out. Steinhatchee does not have to be difficult. The tides are looking better this week, as well as the moon phase. Based on a dry. Rainbow and tiger trout continue to be caught. It may be getting a bit warm, but the fishing too should still just be heating up for the summer season. We thought it was a marlin and turned on it just before the line almost ran out. The best baits to use include Velveeta cheese, Powerbait, and salmon eggs. Poppers are working on boiling fish and at the Island on the right tide. This is only for a day or two while the cold front rolls through. WEAKFISHMany weakfish are taken in our bays bychumming with live shrimp. Tips for Healthy Living. Some went as far as Breton Island and had pretty good success. Water unless it truly amazing trout he thinks he released five in good times fishing report we expect to catch bass are not. See best spots, view where to launch, see what types of fish we have, plus get info on tournaments and upcoming derbies. Catfish are fair on cut bait and nightcrawlers. Jigging farther up dinner on fishing times during the kids out or you can be a nice size yellowfin and facebook to. We will be closed for a week or so to let the virus do its thing. Memorial Day through Labor Day. The Rocky River and other area streams were producing good catches of steelhead before the rivers levels rised and muddied. Bass like stability; so going deeper provides them with water that is not prone to change a whole lot. There have been some massive boils. Friends caught five there yesterday of good size, and mostly on surface bites. This bite is referred to as a reaction bite. Sometimes, during high water periods, the east dike can be more productive than other popular spots. The shorelines are thick with all sizes of bait. Lake Travis Fishing Report is brought to you monthly by Professional Austin fishing guide Tyler Torwick. Someanglers prefer to troll slowly with their baitsdragging over the bottom. For several days they were around. Reports in close have been mostly tales, if true. For you Power Bait fans better get it while you can. Timing and location always the key. Lake Travis on a chilly late October day. We recommend using Dead Indian Memorial Rd. Blue Marlin supposedly caught. Keep your baits in the shade and be persistent. We saw a couple of marlin on Sunday. All that I heard of was one fish jigged up off Doble.
Please make sure to enter the order number exactly as it appears in your confirmation email. The fish are scattered everywhere but just be patient keep moving and good things will happen! This will mimic the Skwalla Stones that we should start to see in the upcoming month of April. Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow! The weekend coming, and the shitbowl special events at what a lot of water before reaching the rain through an excellent reports here on good times of a lot of. Nothing like what those poor people on land have to experience. Wear your life jackets. The last boat had nothing to show but this angler sure did. Crappie are often found near shad in late summer and fall. At sweetwater marina that we are fair on the weather slowing it seemed light northwest winds predicted to locate fish very good times marina fishing report is. What a crazy day today. Fishing was the summer months of our lakes last week, but the days with the banks to bridge columns and clearly won them from deer corn. THE COVID THE PARK THE MARINA UPDATE: We are a licensed grocery store and operate as an essential business with all required protocols in place. There was a problem editing this Trip. We will let everyone know when Kevin airs it. It was not what I was expecting. Largemouth bass are slow fishing football jigs and crankbaits, along channel ledges, steep bank edges, and flooded trees. Many boats tried the Island where there was tons of bait and hopefully the big one for the jackpot. Give us a call and get hooked on your private fishing charter. On a last note is some slow fishing for the World Offshore Championships in Costa Rica, but there are still two days left. The popular catch today was Redfish! Maybe the marlin and tuna could show within a month. Most of the reports came from there today. We caught a few Sierra which is rare for February. The Redfish are everywhere! Go check them out and offer them support during this time. There was a problem with your request. Kingfish prefer sandy bottoms ofthe surf and coastal bays. Weather is looking better, and the winds are laying down. The seaweed cleared out at times, but it is growing like crazy along the coast. Fish will be more a challenge as well if the lake is partially frozen. We have caught a few good cabrilla and snapper in close, but lately very little. Pretty good for the tough field of competitors gathered in Costa Rica! Crappie at the docks, too! Although, things have changed slightly. Finding fish from the upper reaches of the river out to the beach the! Sometimes they will come in on the dfog and actually go for the Kastmaster. Want a small romantic getaway? The marlin are already moving in and up the coast. Hazards may not be marked. The best action was beyond the Reef. However, with more rain forecast later this week, fish should be moving in. Anglers testing it easier to fishing good times report, and really picked up? Roads are clear and dry for the most part. It was colored in close, but is quickly clearing up. REALLY, really good in Delacroix. We did see a few Fin Whales swim through Friday. It is not looking like a good year for dorado.
Things are looking good for the Memorial Day weekend, and even better if the fish are biting! Rivers are elevated and muddy with more rain on the way, and ice has degraded on local lakes. They returned with nice catches content with having spent a beautiful day on the water. These young men caught two nice trout and a red fish while fishing the creeks in the wind and rough seas. We had several anglers come in with their limit of redfish, and the spot of the day was Oak River, and Capt. The Orcas were seen several times, the mantas are thick in places, and there are numerous dolphin pods out there. After a good day on the lake, your putting everything in the right place, making sure the boat is secure. Anglers are advised to try the two marked brush piles or the deeper channel areas near the dam for best results. Please see our partners for more details. Things are getting ready to bust loose! The bite should be better this weekend. Same story up to the present. However, the swimbait, which is also a moving bait, can work during the day when the wind picks up. Killies, spearing, other small bait fishor squid strips are favorable baits. The marlin could be showing soon. Stop in for all the juicy details. However, due to recent rain events, most of the streams including the Lehigh River were flowing higher than normal and are now returning to normal flow levels. We continued to fish Mandeville for a while longer with very little action so we made a move towards false river, where the tide was beginning to move again. The shorelines of Lake Travis hold all types of forage including threadfin shad, sunfish, bluegills, and cichlids that these bass will hunt for. In order from Saguaro Lake downstream to Power Road, these sites are: Water Users, Blue Point Bridge, Coons Bluff, Phon D Sutton and Granite Reef Dam recreation sites. VERY GOOD: Lots of great fish being landed. Just so he could say he was the first one on the ice! Inshore and Offshore fishing is great and the Charters have been booking out. Late in the week things tried to clean up, but Wednesday night a new front came through and put the brakes on that. It was fishing good. Jigging produced for some, and the popper bite was starting to pick up. Another boat nearby did find some better Dorado. Other boats have had some success too. Some activity is starting up along the shoreline, and I caught a few. We do have some boat sheds available. Day they really started to get their feed on for the quarter moon balling up these baits on the surface. The beach all good fishing and almost bottomed out on truman reservoir, hungry fish taking cut bait! The wind gave us a break! Often overlooked, catfish is a tasty dish. One thousand pounds of trout ready to fight their way onto your stringer! The big ones will be out on the next full moon. We made it out on Thursday before the wind really came up. Saturday, and went out and saw a dozen Humpbacks migrating south. Largemouth bass are slow fishing jigs, crankbaits, plastic worms near rocky shorelines, submerged brush, and timber. Warmer days are proving to be more conducive for active fish. The winds should start to let up, and it should be a good full moon bite this week. We bait and switched one yesterday that put on some great jumps and a long battle a couple miles out. The beach catch has been decent if you can find the bait schools. They were eating small sardines but hitting jigs and lures. Water levels have dropped since the lake filled from the precipitation last winter. The Appomattox River is also producing good blue catfish action. There have also been a few big ones in tight around San Antonio. Edges got weak but have firmed back up with colder temps. Serious anglers have a variety of choices when it comes to catching stripers. Captain Jack is your man! Largemouth bass are slow. We had a few mammal encounters this last week. Corey left out of Sweetwater this morning with Mr. Maybe we can blame it on the new moon. Kingfish and Cobia should be here any day now.
Then on Friday nothing would bite.
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Truman and Lake of the Ozarks are home to trophy largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, and catfish just waiting for your challenge!
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Tunisia election challenges
Tuesday 8 Oct 2019
The continued detention of the second-placed candidate for Tunisia’s presidency is leading some to question the legitimacy of the whole election, writes Mohamed Abdel-Wahed
Tunisia may be headed for a legal and constitutional crisis due to the continued detention of Nabil Karoui, the runner-up in the first round of presidential elections who will now contest the runoff on 13 October. Karoui certainly has the right to challenge the outcome of the elections if he loses. He could easily argue that he had been deprived the constitutionally stipulated guarantee of equal opportunity in campaigning which, in turn, would cast a shadow over the credibility of the elections. The High Authority for Elections, itself, cautioned against Karoui’s continued detention which deprived him of his right to run his campaign freely outside of jail. The head of the electoral authority stated that it was impossible to suspend or postpone the elections and that the authority would try to find a way to ensure that the principle of equal opportunity between the candidates is met.
His rival Kais Saïd has made it clear that he is uncomfortable with Karoui’s continued detention. “The situation does not sit well with me. But it is the court that has the ultimate say in this. I can’t intervene in the decisions taken by the prosecuting authority,” he said in a television interview in response to statements by regional and international organisations questioning the fairness of the first round because Karoui didn’t have the right to take part in the televised debates and to communicate with voters directly. But Saïd also said that he, himself, didn’t own a television station, or other type of media outlet, alluding to Karoui’s privately owned Nessma TV which he had used to promote himself and his charitable activities during the past three years.
Tunisia has experienced numerous crises since the popular uprising that brought the overthrow of Zein Al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. However, it deftly managed to navigate through the turbulence and achieve a “good” democratic transition despite the economic straits and social problems that plagued nine successive governments. It is impossible to deny the crucial role played by the late president Caid Essebsi in this process, thanks to his wisdom, long political expertise and sensitivity to the dangers of the political conflicts and polarisations in the region and in Tunisia in particular. Essebsi realised the need to forge alliances and consensuses with other political forces — Ennahda Party in particular — and he succeeded in this despite some of its negative repercussions for some other countries in the region and despite the divisions this caused within his own party, Nidaa Tounes, some members of which opposed an alliance or accommodation with the Islamist-oriented Ennahda.
The relationship between Ennahda and Nidaa Tounes was a bumpy one. Ennahda continually complained that it was underrepresented in the cabinets formed under Essebsi’s rule and it also fuelled acrimony and divisions within Nidaa Tounes through its support for Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, causing strains between him and Essebsi. Nevertheless, the language of dialogue and common interests prevailed in the disputes and this became a trademark of Tunisia’s new democratic model.
The turnout for the presidential elections this year was relatively low when compared to the 2014 elections, according to observers. Young people, in particular, sat out this poll primarily due to cumulative frustration after nine governments have failed to remedy their economic and social concerns and aspirations. Unemployment rates in Tunisia are very high and the rates of economic migration are climbing. Such factors drove voters to “punish” all candidates connected to the current order, the established parties and remnants of the former regime by voting for “outsiders”. If this “anti-establishment” sentiment formed the main determinant of the outcome, the televised debates between the candidates exposed not just the lack of candidates with the stature and statesmanship to serve as president, but also the high levels of superficiality and ignorance among them, even though the hopefuls included a prime minister, a defence minister, a speaker of parliament, a former president and other ministers. Voters could not help but to wonder, bitterly, at the audacity of candidates who, in their bids to seek the highest office, showed such disdain for the people’s intelligence.
Despite the signs, the results of the first round came as a surprise to observers. Most predictions had favoured Abdel-Fattah Mourou of Ennahda, Youssef Chahed of his newly formed Long Live Tunisia Party and the independent candidate Abdelkrim Zbidi as the frontrunners in the first round. As it turned out, Kais Saïd and Karoui came in first and second respectively, well ahead of the other candidates, and they will now face each other on 13 October.
Ennahda has yet to come to grips with the shock that its candidate, Mourou, only came in third. Before Essebsi’s death, the Islamist party seemed uncertain and divided over whether to field its own candidate or to back another who enjoyed its confidence. Statements by Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi and other senior party members gave the impression that they tended towards the latter option because they feared that fielding an Ennahda candidate would trigger adverse reactions regionally and internationally where the general mood was strongly averse to the prospect of the rise of another Islamist movement to power after the experience of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Although the Tunisian 2014 Constitution has considerably restricted the powers of the president, limiting them to the conduct of foreign policy, defence and national security, the office carries considerable value in the Tunisian collective consciousness, especially in light of the honorary and moral weight it has acquired over more than 60 years of one-man rule.
It is difficult to predict who will win on Sunday. The campaigns are heated and filled with mutual mudslinging and accusations. There is also the possibility that regional or international powers might try to influence the elections in one way or another, depending on their interests.
The results of the legislative elections this week are also likely to affect the presidential polls at the last minute. In the event that neither side receives a sufficient majority to form a government on its own, some coalition arrangement will be required, prompting political forces to enter into various talks and deals regarding the shape of a cabinet and which presidential candidate to back. Such processes of consensus making are one of the advantages of the parliamentary system, especially in periods of democratic transition.
No one doubts Kais Saïd’s integrity and the sincerity with which he advances his electoral platform, his conservative outlooks and his desire to return to the principles of the 2011 Revolution. However, he lacks administrative expertise and political acumen and his ambitious ideas are generally abstract and speculative and unfeasible given the current complexities in a country and society that has not fully matured democratically. In addition, his outlook remains heavily informed by the pre-revolutionary religious, ethnic, regional and tribal legacy, which could end up stranding him in the realms of jurisprudential theory and argumentation that have little to do with the day-to-day management of government.
Saïd believes that the reason he came in first in the preliminary round lay in his personal appeal to youth. Yet, some observers suspect that he was assisted by forces behind the scenes which worked to build up a public image of untarnished integrity and sell it to younger audiences frustrated at inefficacy and corruption and yearning for a saviour. According to this theory, these forces plan to turn him into one of their instruments to advance their own particular project. In all events, a number of political forces, most notably Ennahda, are supporting Saïd in the second round. Former president Moncef Marzouki and a number of other conservative independents such as Safi Saïd, Lotfi Mraïhi and Seif Eddine Makhlouf, have also announced their support for Saïd.
Nabil Karoui, for his part, is a well-known, if controversial, figure. He was arrested on 23 August, just weeks before the presidential polls, on a charge of tax evasion and money laundering, reviving a case brought against him three years ago by a transparency watchdog. Karoui, who owns Nessma TV and a charitable organisation, denies any wrongdoing.
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Uttrakhand Team experienced a massive blow of innings and 26 runs in Vijay Merchant Trophy | YoGems
Uttrakhand Team experienced a massive blow of innings and 26 runs in Vijay Merchant Trophy
October 30, 2018
Cricket
Chhattisgarh team has knocked out tournament’s favorite Uttrakhand team from the Vijay Merchant Trophy after achieving glorious victory with an inning and 26 runs.
Any player of the Uttrakhand team was not able to score big contribution for the team’s total.
Chattisgarh team batting first in the match scored 302 runs in the first innings of the match. In response Uttrakhand team was able to score 94 runs (in first innings) and 182 runs (in second innings) of the match.
None of the player for the Uttrakhand side was able to score big runs in their part of the match and handed over the match to the Chhattisgarh bowlers with an innings and 20+ runs.
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So far, I have built a model that relates the Big Five personality traits to well-being. In this model well-being is defined as the weighted average of satisfaction with life domains, positive affect (happy) and negative affect (sad). I showed that most of the personality effects of the Big Five were mediated by the cheerfulness facet of extraversion and the depressiveness facet of neuroticism. I then showed that that there were no gender differences in well-being because women score higher on depressiveness and cheerfulness. Finally, I showed that middle aged parents of students have lower well-being than students and that these age effects were mediated by lower cheerfulness and lower satisfaction with several life domains. The only exception was romantic satisfaction that was higher among parents than among students
(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 , Part 4. Part 5, Part 6, Part7). Part 8 examines the relationship between positive illusions and well-being.
Philosophers have debated whether positive illusions should be allowed to contribute to individuals’ well-being (Sumner, 1996). Some philosophers demand true happiness, where illusions can produce experiences of happiness, but these experiences do not count towards an individual’s well-being. Other theories, most prominently hedonism, have no problem with illusory happiness. Ideally, we would just live a perfect simulated live (think The Matrix) and not care one bit about the fact that our experiences are not real. A third version allows for illusions to contribute to our well-being, if we choose a sweet lie over a bitter truth.
Psychologists tried to settle these questions empirically. An influential article by Taylor and Brown (1988) declared that positive illusions are good for us (our well-being and mental health) and that realistic perceptions of our lives may be maladaptive and may cause depression. In a world of Covid-19, massive forest fires and flooding, this view rings true. However, positive illusions may also have negative effects that can undermine short-lived benefits of positive illusions.
Diener et al. (1999) list a few studies that seemed to support the view that individuals with positive illusions have higher levels of well-being. However, a key problem in research on positive illusions and well-being is that positive illusions and well-being are often measured with self-ratings. It is therefore unclear whether a positive correlation between these two measures reveals a substantial relationship or simply shared method variance. Relatively few studies have tackled this problem and the results are inconsistent (Dufner et al., 2019). Studies that use informant ratings of well-being are particularly rare and suggest that any effect of positive illusions is at best small (Kim, Schimmack, & Oishi, 2012; Schimmack & Kim, 2020).
The monster-model uses the Mississauga Family Study data that were used by Schimmack and Kim (2020). Thus, no effect of positive illusions on well-being is expected. However, the present model examines a new hypothesis that was not investigated by Schimmack and Kim (2020) because the model focussed on the Big Five and did not include facet measures of cheerfulness and depressiveness. The present study examined whether positive illusions in perceptions of the self are related to cheerfulness and depressiveness. To test this hypothesis, the positive illusion factor of self-ratings was related to cheerfulness, depressiveness as well as to experiences of positive affect, negative affect, and life-satisfaction.
The model is illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1 is a bit messy and it may be helpful to read previous posts for the basic model that connects factors (in black) with each other (Black lines). Each factor is based on four indicators (self-ratings, informant ratings by students, informant ratings by mothers, and informant ratings by fathers). Figure 2 shows only the self-ratings as orange boxes marked with sr next to each factor. it is assumed that all of these self-ratings share method variance due to a general evaluative bias factor. This factor is represented as the bigger orange box marked as SR in capital letters. It is assumed that all self-ratings load on this factor (orange arrows). Furthermore, the model assumes a positive effect of cheerfulness on evaluative biases (green arrow) and that positive experiences (happy) are influenced by evaluative biases (another green arrow). Depressiveness is expected to be a negative predictor of the evaluative bias factor (red arrow) and evaluative biases are assumed to have a negative effect on sadness (also a red arrow).
Fitting this model to the data reduced model fit, chi2( 1591) = 2655, CFI = .960, RMSEA = .022. The reason is that the general evaluative factor did not explain all of the residual correlations among self-ratings. To improve model fit, additional correlated residuals were allowed. For example, residual variance in self-ratings of recreation satisfaction and friendship satisfaction were correlated. These residual correlations were freed to maintain good fit. The fit of the final model was close to the fit to a model that allowed all correlated residual to be correlated, chi2(1542) = 2082, CFI = .980, RMSEA = .016.
The first important finding was that all self-ratings showed a significant loading (p < .001) on the evaluative bias factor in the predicted direction. The lowest loading was observed for extraversion, b = .18, se = .04, Z = 4.8. The highest loading was observed for self-ratings of positive affect, b = .62, se = .04, Z = 15.1. The loading for self-ratings of life-satisfaction was b = .51, se = .04, Z = 13.7. These results confirm that evaluative biases make a substantial contribution to self-ratings of well-being.
Reproducing Schimmack and Kim’s results, evaluative biases did not predict life-satisfaction (i.e., the shared variance by self-ratings and informant ratings), b = .03, se = .04, Z = 0.7. Evaluative biases also predicted neither positive affect (happy), b = .02, se = .04, Z = 0.4, nor negative affect (sadness), b = -.04, se = .05, Z = 0.8.
The new findings were that cheerfulness was not a significant predictor of evaluative biases, b = .09, se = .06, Z = 1.5, and that depressiveness was a positive rather than negative predictor of evaluative biases, b = .13, se = .06, Z = 2.7. Thus, there is no evidence that individuals with a depressive personality have a negative bias about their personalities or lives. The positive relationship might be a statistical fluke or it might show some deliberate rating bias to overcorrect for negative biases.
As hinted at in Part 7, the evaluative bias factor was significantly correlated with age, b = .37, se = .05, Z = 7.5. At least in this study, parents provided more favorable ratings of themselves than students. Whether this finding shows a general age trend remains to be examined. However, the finding casts a shadow on studies that rely on self-ratings to study personality development. Maybe some of the positive trends such as increased agreeableness or decreased neuroticism are inflated by these biases. It is therefore important to study personality development with measurement models that control for evaluative biases in personality ratings.
The present results challenge the widely held believe that positive illusions are beneficial for well-being and that the absence of positive illusions is associated with depression. At the same time, the present study did replicate previous findings that measures of positive illusions are correlated with self-ratings of well-being. In my opinion, this finding merely reveals that a positive rating bias also influences self-ratings of well-being. Future research needs to ensure that method bias does not produce spurious correlations between measures of positive illusions and measures of well-being. It is sad but true that thirty years of research have been wasted on studies that did not control for method variance even though method variance in personality ratings has been demonstrated over 100 years ago (Thorndike, 1920) and is one of the most robust and well-replicated findings in personality research (Campbell & Fiske, 1959).
← How to Build a Monster Model of Well-Being: Part 7 Most published results in medical journals are not false →
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Over 300 libraries from all across North America will host their own local author events with the support of the Indie Author Day team. I, along with my a dozen other indie authors — including my dad, Dennis Sanchez — will be at the Alhambra library from 1-4 pm.
At 2:30 pm I will be part of the “Writing for Young People”, so be sure to be around for that. Authors will have books to sell and sign. Please come say hi!
Two new reviews for Tick
July 21, 2016 July 21, 2016 Leave a comment
Reviews are still coming in for “Tick”, which is fantastic motivation as I slog through edits of part two in the series, “Vice”. It is so easy to get deterred during the editing process, and then positive reviews remind me that there was a reason why I started writing Jo Bristol’s story in the first place, so hurry the hell up and finish, dumbass!
Ah. Had to get that out. I feel better now, thanks.
Anyway, here are some snippets of those reviews, in case you haven’t read “Tick” yet and are looking for a reason to:
Rose is a good writer of dialogue, and is deft at slowly doling out information to locate the reader within Jo’s world. The story is exciting, fast-paced, and full of surprises… TICK is a terrific book, which more than stands its ground in a crowded field of dystopian fiction featuring awesome, if “wrett” female heroes.
…Author Allison Rose kept the essence of thrill and action all the way till the end. This is one of those novels that will keep your heart beating and make you live the life of the character. I was completely invested in the story from the first chapter. Jo is the type of character that you root for right to the very end. She was awesome and very reflective.
Thanks for those reviews!
On the subject of book two of The Tick Series, I can’t say for certain when it will be released. It’s a complicated story with a lot of elements involved, which makes editing tricky. I don’t, however, want to rush the process for the sake of a release date, but I assure you, it is coming. Patience, grasshoppers.
March 20, 2016 March 21, 2016 2 Comments
Last March, I published my first novel, Tick, the first in a YA Science Fiction series. To be more specific, I self-published. I knew full well the challenges of being a self-pubber (I’d done my research), and while I was certain I could get an agent to bite, I was determined to have full control over my work and that it was good enough to sell on its own, dammit.
A year later, I had serious doubts about my decision to not take the traditional route. Sure, I had some awesome reviews on Goodreads, and the people who read it continuously ask when #2 is coming out (it’s coming, but slowly… more on that in another post). But, I wasn’t selling many books. In fact, it has been a struggle to get any return on my investments. Several bloggers reviewed Tick, and some even asked me to do guest posts, but it didn’t sell any books. I participated in a couple Facebook Author Bashes, but I didn’t sell any books. People in my personal life shared the info with their friends; still didn’t sell any books.
A few people encouraged me to keep writing, saying that many new authors don’t hit their stride until their series is complete; although I am still a ways from that. Keep on truckin’, they said. Truth is, the problem began with me. As hard as I initially to tried to have a strong social media game, I still couldn’t get myself to keep up with it as much as I should have. When it was going great, I had things to talk about. When confidence waned, I didn’t want to even mention it. It’s hard to respond enthusiastically to fan inquiries when that damn elephant just won’t leave the room. After awhile, I stopped talking about my book so much. I stopped asking people to write reviews, or even read it. Was I giving up? Not completely, but the train had lost some serious steam.
Then, with a last-minute decision, I decided to sign up for a Book of the Day promotion hosted by the lovely people at OnlineBookClub.org. It’s mostly a place for book nerds to chat literary, but it’s also a great resource for authors. Last June, I got a fantastic review from them, yet again, it didn’t sell any books. So I decided to try out The Book of the Day thing, but there was a catch. Since it was a special event, I either had to recede my price to $2.99 or make it free for the day. I had a decision to make; either I could try the price reduction and see if it would finally get people to bite, or make it entirely free. Continue reading →
May 11, 2015 Leave a comment
I am so pleased to bring you the Official Book Trailer for Tick!
I got to use my old (aka rusty) video editing skills on this. I hope you enjoy it!
5 Things I Learned From My First Book Signing
April 23, 2015 April 24, 2015 6 Comments
just sitting here selling myself … err, my books
Yesterday, I had the privilege of partaking in a Local Author Signing Day in South Pasadena. My fellow authors included Koji Steven Sakai and Dennis Sanchez (who is my dad, and also my writing inspiration). For my very first event, it went swimmingly. I sold a fair amount of books, got to hang out with some great people, and also received some valuable publishing advice.
But of course, there is always more going on behind the scenes than meets the eye. Every moment is a learning experience, is it not? Here are five things I learned from my first book signing, and I hope you can take something out of it too.
5. Selling yourself is as hard as it sounds
I had this plan to ride my bike to the South Pasadena Farmer’s Market and pass out fliers for the signing. I thought it would be easy, considering the city is populated by educated and eclectic residents, so of course they would want to support local authors. I thought it even might be fun because I would get to talk to people about my book. But when I pulled those fliers out of my bag … I froze. I am a social person for the most part, but not amongst hundreds of people I don’t know. My initial spiel included my introduction, who I was representing, and a run-down of the event. Most people sat politely while I interrupted their afternoon for that whopping 30 second lecture, but after the fifth group, I nearly gave up right there. Not only did I feel like an ass for jumping in the middle of their conversations, but I felt that I was wasting my time. After anxiously texting my husband that I was failing miserably, he suggested I shorten my spiel to “Support local authors!” and basically shove the fliers in unsuspecting hands. That was even less do-able. I am not one to take immediate rejection easily, and less people are willing to take anything from a peddler shoving things in their faces. Needless to say, I went home early.
As it turns out, I’m not as good at this self-promotion thing as I thought. I still have people telling me “I didn’t know you wrote a book!” because I’m just not that good at talking about myself. I am a writer and an artist, but I’m now also a salesman. It is a frightful combination. I’m still trying to figure that part out. Continue reading →
April 11, 2015 April 11, 2015 1 Comment
fuel for the mind, circa 2002
People often ask me, “Have you always been an artist?”
“Of course I’ve always been an artist,” I say with an undertone of resentment for the fact they didn’t already know this. “Just because this is the first time you’ve ever seen me paint something, doesn’t mean I’m making it up right here on the spot. I didn’t become an artist overnight.”
That last bit is never said out loud, of course, because I’m not an asshole, and it’s not really their fault they don’t know what I do when I’m not pretending to be a respectable citizen.
Even while I internally fume about how still — even in my adult age — so many people have a terrible misconception of who I am, I understand why. Outwardly, I don’t give off the “artist vibe”. I’m not covered in tattoos, I dress fairly conservatively, I don’t spend my days yammering about artsy things. Quite frankly, I don’t find most meetings to be appropriate for such conversations, but given the right time and place, and I’ll talk your ear off about music or books or movies or politics. I didn’t gain an interest in those topics overnight, either; I simply choose to not talk about them all the time.
Perhaps the reason why I don’t expose myself as an artist in my daily life is because I’ve learned to compartmentalize those versions of myself. Growing up, most people in my life didn’t understand that I had such an incredible need to express myself. I channeled my emotions through any medium I could — music, art, graphic design, poetry, storytelling, anything — because the real world did not offer me the platform to truly speak my mind. Both my parents have artistic backgrounds (my dad is a writer, my mom has done fine art for decades), yet both their lives followed a path that halted their progression as artists. You know … the real world. So when it came time for me to graduate high school and decide what the hell I was going to do with my life, the voices of family members and friends alike resonated through my head: “You won’t make money as an artist. Pick something else.” Continue reading →
March 6, 2015 April 3, 2015 1 Comment
They do exist!
My debut novel has been a year in the making, which I suppose isn’t too bad considering some writers have spent a decade writing one novel. If someone had warned me of the hours I’d spend preparing my book for self-publication that did not include writing, I’d have …
Who am I kidding, I’d do exactly what I’ve done, a hundred times over. I’ll be honest, I’ve always been a fan of tactile things (vinyl, Polaroid photos, and, of course, books), and there is something especially satisfying about holding a real, solid representation of the book you’ve spent so much time and effort writing. And on top of that, there’s even more to admire if that very book was designed and organized by you. That font, that position of design element, that color scheme … It all becomes more amazing when you are part of the process from start to finish. Continue reading →
Reaching the Light at the End of the Tunnel
February 28, 2015 Leave a comment
My book is finally here. Like, d one. After so much time, and effort, and blood, and sweat, and tears, and long days and sleepless nights … it’s finally here. A journey to say the least. I’ll post my post-event thoughts when I’ve had the chance to actually think about my thoughts.
Until then, for those who have been waiting for it, here it is.
January 31, 2015 April 3, 2015 Leave a comment
F*** is a four-letter word.
Writing a sequel is harder than it sounds. Or maybe it sounds as hard as it is. Yes, I know, “Silly newb, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. It was always this hard, you just drank the Kool-Aid too early.” But still. I know where the second book in my series is going. (Well, technically, there have been about three versions of where I thought the second book was going.) I’ve written two books now. The settings are already created. The characters already living entities. The conflicts are present and waiting. This book shouldn’t be this hard. And yet, it is.
Many people don’t believe in writer’s block. They know it for what it is: Fear. Fear of producing a lesser product. Fear of missing the magic of the first piece of work. Fear of going in the exact opposite direction from where everyone else was hoping you’d go. And then, *poof*. Curtain pulled back, magician exposed, the writer is seen for what she is: a one-hit wonder. This isn’t a mythical creation, this is some bimbo fumbling around in the dark trying to put one word after another to form a story that some people somewhere might actually want to read.
Continue reading →
September 12, 2014 January 20, 2015 9 Comments
If my parents thought this was my life in a public high school, I’d have been home schooled.
Remember when you first heard that song on the radio? I do. Very specifically. I was in my best friend’s bedroom, somewhere in the early hours of a summer sleep-over. Previously that night, there had been nail-polish, a pillowcase contest, and reruns of Step By Step.
Sex? On the radio? They’re talking about sex? No freaking way.
Oh, and I was nine years old.
What did I know about sex at nine? Well, not a whole lot, and that song and all it’s talking about it did nothing to provide me a glimpse as to what it was. I knew it existed. I knew adults loved it. I knew my schoolmates made jokes about it. Imagine the amount of information ABOUT SEX I learned in the following eight years until my high school graduation. No, that’s not a hint as to when I really learned about sex, that’s just about the point when the reality of sex really hit home. I mean, high school.
Who reads Young Adult fiction? High schoolers! *shudders* (Chuck Wendig wrote a fabulous article about how teenage characters should suffer teenage problems in novels.) I’m writing a Young Adult Fiction series. There will possibly be a point after my novel is published that those young adult readers will find my blog and read through these posts (and then find one with the word ‘sex’ in it and go all bat-shit because ohmygodshesaidsex shealsosaidbatshit adultsgonewild). And you know what? I want these young adults to read this post for some insight as to why I’m choosing to write sex into my novel.
Yes. You read that right. I am writing sex in a Young Adult novel.
Continue reading →
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Hi there. I'm Allison. I write young adult science fiction. Science geeks are one of my favorite kinds of people, as are book nerds, word smiths and tech junkies. Basically, all of you quirky people on the Planet Earth. Welcome! Have a look around! Stay for the punch and pie!
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This page will help you make a color scheme, profile or palette for your project. You can start with one or two colors, and we will help you to find colors that match. If you don't specifiy any colors, we will select some colors at random instead.
First, do you allready have a color you want to include in your color scheme?
Which color do you need in your scheme?
If you have also have second color you want to have in your scheme, we can try to find a profile with this color too. We might not be able to find a scheme with exactly this color, though. But we will try to replace it with a color which is as close to it as possible.
Do you allready have a second color you want to have in your color scheme?
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If you see a color you like, click on the color to see more schemes with that color.
You should remember that the less number of colors there are in the scheme, the easier it is to make it look good. We therefore show you the scemes with the least number of colors first.
The schemes are created using harmony rules on the real color circle, where cyan, magenta and yellow are primary colors.
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Charlie Epstein brings a unique and human mix of comedy & financial advice in his podcast"Yield of Dreams." The basic idea - be present and don't wait until it's too late to live your life (and spend your money.) I was a guest on his show and we talk about life and the decisions we make and how those chart your course. We also talked about what makes great content and what I learned about it from a position behind the lense for so many years. Thanks for having me on the show.
The episode is called"Remaining True to Your Promise - With Guest Marion Abrams"
"How to Evaluate Your Creative Content" with Marion Abrams
Rich Cardona shares tons of useful insights on his show Leadership Locker. It was a pleasure to be on his show and to share fun stories and talk about what makes great content. I'm looking forward to sharing some of his wisdom soon on the Grounded Content podcast .
Podcast Coaching & Consulting
On March 27th I was envious of the "pause" to reassess and learn I kept hearing about. I was fortunate enough to still be working, so I committed to a more active blog. This is my chance to think out loud about podcasting, messaging, story, nature, family and life.
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Using co-creation and engaging citizens, businesses, and government entities in a market systems approach is essential to designing better projects.
Not all projects are created equal. And not all projects are co-created equal. Miguel Cabal had witnessed the sub-par results from a project that had, at best, an average level of co-creation in the past. It was a was a hard reality he was determined to correct.
Miguel Cabal, a Deputy Chief of Party at Dexis, was involved in a migration management program several years ago. “The activities were effectively pre-defined by partners, based on input derived from limited sources and formulated without real involvement of local stakeholders in the design.” The result? There was no clear connection between activities and target results. Worse yet, there was no sense on how, exactly, local actors would implement the activities. “When beneficiaries are disappointed by the project, don’t value the results, and don’t engage, it defeats the whole purpose,” Miguel says.
Miguel had an opportunity to support co-creation under the USAID/Honduras funded MESCLA (Monitoring and Evaluation Support for Collaborative Learning and Adapting) project. The objective was to support a local development organization (LDO) effort called Local Works, comprised of multiple stakeholders working to solve a serious issue around community-level waste management.
“The first thing I did was to prioritize trust-building among stakeholders who had not worked together before. Rather than jumping directly into the system analysis work, I ensured they stepped back and instead kicked things off by having participants first share their expectations of the co-creation workshop, itself.” The responses, posted to a Google Jamboard in the virtual session, were then used to have a conversation about co-creation before moving on to substantive project-specific work. “The beneficiaries were the best guides. We were simply the enablers.”
It did not take much to see the excitement in the early stages. Participants continued the co-creation process through a series of sessions where they “got very deep into the whole system, from waste production, sorting and collection, recycling and transportation, and final disposal.” Stakeholders set expectations among themselves and among different actors involved in the system.
Importantly, they focused on what to measure. “The results framework reflected the shared goals and priorities of the group and provided a template for monitoring outputs. This co-created set of indicators invited the actors to help drive results under those indicators and provided a basis for regular collaboration, reflection, and adaptation to improve results,” said Miguel.
Kristin Lobron, a senior director at Dexis, offers insight into how this approach might impact the project’s success: “Resilience is about networks. If you have a diverse group of people, whether co-located at the local level or part of a broader network or group, who have trust, who can talk to each other, who are brought together with common understandings of the problems they’re facing, they will be more successful in planning for both predictable and unpredictable things that will happen in and to their communities. The success of any development program – but especially in market system projects – is based on how well we are strengthening the network.”
“These lessons are not Honduras-specific; they can be generalized to any co-creation program,” advises Miguel. “When a project is designed with a market systems approach, with citizens, businesses, and government entities coming together to achieve a shared goal – in this case, it was to reduce solid waste in the environment and generate economic opportunities – using co-creation to engage the different stakeholders is not only recommended but essential to design better projects. The earlier you start this process in the project cycle, the more relevant the plans will be and the more likely that efforts will continue beyond the project.”
Learn more about the USAID/Honduras Monitoring and Evaluation Support for Collaborative Learning and Adapting) project.
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4 May 2022
When Emma Flores assumed her role as the Head Prosecutor in Guatemala’s newly established Office against Extortions, she faced an uphill battle. Guatemala has long suffered from the effects of pervasive blackmail, shakedowns, and other forms of financial coercion.
4 May 2022
In Guatemala, Dexis supports counterpart efforts to bring justice to women victims of femicide and other forms of gender-based violence through the USAID Justice and Transparency Project.
4 May 2022
In an era dubbed the “Disinformation Age” filled with bots, trolls, and politically charged accusations of fake news and conspiracy theories, the role of a fact-checker is a vital if sometimes thankless one. When elections approach, the need for verifying…
Our mission is to help solve today’s most pressing global political, social, and economic challenges and create a world where all people are safe and prosperous.
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Let’s hope the water subsided in Texas and Louisiana so people and pets can begin putting their lives back together. Mother Nature can certainly unleash a storm with a vengeance.
For readers in the U.S., I hope your Labor Day weekend is off to a good start. Considered the official end of summer, children will be heading back to school next week if they didn’t already start during the past few days.
We had excellent weather yesterday, with more promised for today. Bright skies, temperatures in the low 70s, and just the occasional hint of a breeze–a great way to begin September. Hope the forecasters have it right as we plan to hold another garage sale.
My writing has slowed over the past couple of weeks due to unavoidable external circumstances. Therefore, chapter 23 of Dangerous Alliance isn’t quite ready to post for my reviewers to critique. Perhaps over the next few days.
“Move.” The man pointed to his left, away from the crowds.
A hand grabbed his shoulder.
Soo gasped and swung at the unknown assailant.
The man caught Soo’s arm in mid-swing. “Ambassador Soo. What are you doing?”
“I-It’s you.”
“Yes. We were supposed to meet fifteen minutes ago.” Kim gave Soo a glance from head to toe. “Did something happen?”
“No. Yes.” Soo’s shoulders sagged. “T-The men who kidnapped me. They’re here.”
Kim glanced around. “Where?
“We must put our story together. Sung will ask why we stayed out of contact for several days. He might ask both of us.”
“I can understand him asking me, Kim, but why you? You’re my aide, nothing more.”
“True, but Sung is devious when he suspects anyone.” If you realized the truth, you’d require more than tea. When do you meet with our leader?”
“In two days.”
Perhaps a bit more next time.
As promised a couple of posts ago, here are my thoughts regarding Neptune Island by Tony Reed. This is a fast-paced adventure, with Mr. Reed’s Lincoln Monk leading the way throughout the adventure. Set on an Asian island, Monk, a former police officer, is embroiled in a billionaire’s plot to lull the world into his way of thinking until it’s too late.
Neptune Island is an easy read, with plenty of action from the first page until the finale. While sometimes, things might seem to be turning worse for Monk and his associates, it’s hard to put this one down.
I also read Cool Blue Tomb by Paul Kemprecos. I’ve already read some of his work when he collaborated with Clive Cussler, but this was the first time I’ve read a novel solely written by Paul. I can certainly understand by Mr. Cussler decided to work his him!
A college dropout, former marine, ex-cop turned private eye, Aristotle Socarides stumbles from one precarious situation to another. Unlike some main characters who never get a scratch, Aristotle is frequently on the wrong end of an altercation. Despite this, he takes us on a journey through Cape Cod as he puts aside his day job as a fisherman to search for buried treasure to uphold his family’s honor. I enjoyed this story so much I’ve already read the sequel!
Blogs/Author Pages/Writing Sites I’d Like to Share
I’ve expanded this section from being only about blogs that I follow but also introduce you to some new authors and a few writing sites.
Readers Abode – Our second collection of short stories and poetry has now been released. Drop by for a read–there’s bound to be a genre of interest for you!
I’m afraid that’s all the time I have today. Hope you’ve found something of interest or at least useful for your own writing. If you have any suggestions for a topic you’d like to read about, please let me know. Until the next time, thank you for reading!
© Copyright 2017 Randall Krzak. All rights reserved
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Forged in the Fires of a Dying Sun
September 1, 2020 · Fr. Stephen Freeman
Today I stood at the altar and marveled at the gold of the chalice. It is, of course, supremely blessed, holding (as it does) the very Blood of God. But I was simply thinking of its journey to that altar, its transformation, indeed, its transmutation. If the science of cosmology is followed, then heavy elements such as gold have a very unique origin. The free elements of the universe such as simple hydrogen don’t simply become something else without help. The other, heavier elements, are forged in the gravitational fusion furnaces of stars. This is true for the elements up through iron. Beyond that, even greater forces are required. For gold, a supernova is required, a single moment in the death of some stars in which collapsing forces become so great that it explodes, forging heavy metals such as gold and scattering them across the galaxy. They are relatively rare.
Some scientists suggest that for gold to be part of the earth requires that the materials of its formation included portions of an exploding supernova in the galaxy. The timing would have been extremely important. This simple “science fact” is only one of the vast multitude of such things in our daily lives. However, we’re more likely to think of gold in terms of “money.” Fr. Alexander Schmemann wrote:
Man has loved the world, but as an end in itself and not as transparent to God. He has done it so consistently that it has become something that is “in the air.” It seems natural for man to experience the world as opaque, and not shot through with the presence of God. It seems natural not to live a life of thanksgiving for God’s gift of a world. It seems natural not to be eucharistic. The world is a fallen world because it has fallen away from the awareness that God is all in all. The accumulation of this disregard for God is the original sin that blights the world. And even the religion of this fallen world cannot heal or redeem it, for it has accepted the reduction of God to an area called “sacred” (“spiritual,” “supernatural”)—as opposed to the world as “profane.” It has accepted the all-embracing secularism which attempts to steal the world away from God. (For the Life of the World)
This opacity of the world is born out of our habit of seeing things as though they existed in themselves, when, in fact, nothing does. Everything that exists does so only as the immediate gift of God, sustained in its existence solely by His good will. When we look at anything in all of creation, we see the good will of God.
I think we often fail in this seeing because we think the “good will of God” must be measured by some sort of benefit, something added to what is there. We do not understand that even mere existence is His good gift. The well-ordering of all things (which is a mark of all things that exist) is not a self-contained property, but a reflection of the Logos through Whom all things exist. The well-ordered-ness of each thing and all things is an icon of the Logos.
I often think that sacramental Christians strain themselves, staring at the Bread of the Eucharist in a misguided effort to see that it is the Body of Christ. In truth, we fail to even see its truth as bread. That truth is a prerequisite of the other. Schmemann suggests that in the sacraments, God reveals things to be what they are. The whole universe is eucharistic. Consider Christ, who reveals what it truly means to be human (as well as what it means to be God). “Even the winds and the sea obey Him.” This is true because of who He is and of what they are. When Christ speaks to the winds and the sea, we see the truth of creation and our place within it. Both humanity and creation are revealed.
I have not found science to be problematic in thinking about these things. For, at its best, science still only speaks of the “surface” of things. That gold was formed in the furnace of a dying star says nothing that contradicts the providence of God, and can, indeed, simply serve to deepen our wonder. I have noticed, however, that there are Christians who can adamantly insist that the earth is but 7-8,000 years old and still be completely mired in a secular experience of creation. Indeed, a certain form of historical literalism is part-and-parcel of the secular world. It holds no attraction for me.
The emptiness of a secularly-constructed creation (which would not be a “creation” at all) spills into everything in our life. There are no secular solutions to anything – for, in truth, nothing is truly secular. We are experiencing the triumph of the merely moral, the attempt to “fix” the world by behaving differently, by imposing new rules and insisting on their inviolability. In all of human history, no application of “morality” (when conceived simply as rules) has created a just society or “changed” the world. The world is spiritually constructed. True “morality” can only be had when a life is “spiritually moral.” This comes when our lives are conformed to the Logos who is the logos of our existence. That conformity is the life of grace and cannot be obtained in any other manner. The imposition of the merely moral in our time will end in a blood bath. That is its inner logic [sic].
The agony of our time is the agony of all creation. St. Paul tells us that creation “groans like a woman in childbirth” as it cries out for the true liberty of the children of God. The groaning of a tree is audible to those with ears to hear. The groaning of humanity sounds like the screams of chaos, fierce, angry, violent, smothered in shame and sadness. At present it is the groaning of a child that will not be comforted. Unable to articulate its true need (for it has become blind) it reaches and snatches for whatever is at hand. This is the age of delusional solutions: none of them will work.
And yet, gold-forged-in-the-heart-of-a-dying-star stands on the altar holding the Blood of God. What love and intimate care directed all things such that such a wonder would appear. The same love and intimate care has directed every atom of creation, including those who groan in their agony to this present moment. The Chalice waits for their drinking, ready to slake a thirst older than the star itself. It is the Chalice at the end of the world and thus the Chalice that brings an end to our agony.
I think of George Herbert’s (1633) poem:
Philosophers have measured mountains,
Fathomed the depths of seas, of states, and kings,
Walked with a staff to heaven, and traced fountains,
But there are two vast, spacious things,
The which to measure it doth more behoove:
Yet few there are that sound them; Sin and Love.
Who would know Sin, let him repair
Unto Mount Olivet; there shall he see
A man, so wrung with pains, that all his hair,
His skin, his garments, bloody be.
Sin is that Press and Vice, which forceth pain
To hunt his cruel food through every vein.
Who knows not Love, let him assay,
And taste that juice, which on the cross a pike
Did set again abroach; then let him say
If ever he did taste the like.
Love is that liquor sweet and most divine,
Which my God feels as blood; but I, as wine.
Reddit
About Fr. Stephen Freeman
Fr. Stephen is a priest of the Orthodox Church in America, Pastor Emeritus of St. Anne Orthodox Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is also author of Everywhere Present and the Glory to God podcast series.
April 24, 2018
The Seat of Mercy and the End of the Legal View
August 11, 2016
March 31, 2008
September 1, 2020 at 10:20 am
Wow, I’ve never read that poem! Many thanks, Father!
September 1, 2020 at 10:21 am
Thank you, Father, as always.
Are there any books or longer writings that you’re aware of that meditate upon the creation as you’ve done in this article? Or that may help one in doing so?
I was raised to believe in a young earth (literal modern-historical reading of Genesis), and it nearly cost me my faith as I began to realize that the world we’ve come to know through science and learned through history, that we see with our eyes and touch with our hands, contradicted what I’d been taught growing up. “If Genesis 1 is not historically true, then neither can anything else the Bible says be true.” What a dangerous thing to tell children growing into adulthood.
I’m well beyond that now, but it seems too often that we (or I at least) fall into the other trap – seeing the world, including what we’ve learned about the origin of the universe and life in earth – in more secular and less wondrous terms.
Just curious if there’s any body of work (apart from your blog, which has truly been a blessing in this regard) that meditates on these things in this way? That is, specifically on the gold of stars being the chalice, the carbon of dying stars becoming life and man, etc.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 1, 2020 at 10:26 am
I think, sadly, that even those who are Young Earthers are (as I noted in the article) just as secular in their world view, in which it just becomes one of the man “modern” views of the world.
September 1, 2020 at 10:48 am
Father, “For The Life of World” touches on those things.
Gold has unique properties in the way it collects and transmits energy. It is a purifier and a super conductor. Both quite appropriate for the altar. It is not just its scarcity that has always led people to use gold in worship.
Randy Evans says:
September 1, 2020 at 11:05 am
September 1, 2020 at 11:17 am
My father, as a young man with his family, lived as a dry land farmer on the high plains of eastern New Mexico about 50 miles northeast of Roswell. Dry, flat and intimidating. Difficult to make fecund. Yet in that land, as many before him, my father experienced the presence of God and saw the absolute interconnectedness of all creation. The sacramental reality of all of creation in the midst of infinity. He and his family drew life from that everyday.
He was never quite able to connect to Jesus as the center of that but both his sons did. His stories of the beauty and wonder and life of those plains remain at the heart of my faith in significant ways. Late in his life the three of us made a pilgramage to his old homestead. There was a family still there. Giving and receiving life from the same ground. The same space — a particularity in the midst of vastness but not alone or isolated.
Wendell Berry has a great sense of this as well but only a little.
It may seem odd but the writings of the Hesyechasts get to the heart of the matter as well. And the Desert Fathers.
Indeed all Orthodox theology is an extended meditation on the wonder of creation in revealing the closeness of God in and through all things.
The key is to realize nothing exists separately from anything else especially we humans.
Deborah E. says:
September 1, 2020 at 12:57 pm
Fr. Stephen, I always read your blog, although I haven’t commented in a long time. But I have to say that I’m now re-reading a great book – YOURS – Every Where Present, which I bought and read shortly after it was published. This post stressing the sacramental nature of the universe is a perfect companion to Every Where Present.
Thank you for writing this book and for this wonderful blog!
Dee of St Hermans says:
September 1, 2020 at 1:19 pm
The reference to gold in the earth, how it came to be here, and in the Chalice is not something I have reflected on specifically. But I have perceived the Theotokos as the Chalice and the shape of the Higgs Field itself seems to shown in the form of a chalice (–to my eyes, although some refer to it as the shape of a Mexican hat). And I wear an old believer cross with an icon on the back depicting all of creation arising from the Chalice.–very reminiscent of how science depicts the Higgs field.
We are taught in secular culture to treat these as human-driven associations, a psychology of fantasy, having no basis “in reality”. However, since I first witnessed the resurrection in the Higgs field, I have attended to the reality of God and specifically of Christ underlying or inherent in all things. And that work of doing science, following and attending to what nature reveals, eventually led to my conversion to Christianity in the Orthodox Church. And now it is Orthodox theology and science that helps me to understand nature.
There are many, both scientist and non scientist who distort what science is. Awhile back (years before I became a Christian) I had a confrontation with a geologist who wanted to treat the “laws of physics” as if they were the 10 commandments. These equations, our words so to speak, help us understand nature. Would that we attended to God’s words when we write them!! Perhaps at some time we might discover that our theories or equations are not 100% correct. What we will do then, is what we normally do, go back to the drawing board and have a re-think.
I’ve never been a young earther. And the story that science tells of the formation of the earth and all that is in it, does not and has never challenged my faith in God (even before I became a Christian). I didn’t hold science as a contradicting perspective, even while there are atheists who abound inside and outside of science. I’m grateful father that you describe young earther concepts as secular. That seems to be true to me too.
For me, what Fr Stephen has done in this article is reveal what goes on in the mind of someone who assimilates the information from science into their theology, creating both a rich understanding and enriched life in Christ. Literalism only touches the surface and is often wrong.
There are several scientists who venture into theology. However few of them are Orthodox or have a firm foundation in Orthodox theology. Because they lack familiarity with Orthodox theology, too often I sense an unintentional ‘two story universe’ in their writing. (BTW I fall easily into this habit also) However, in one case a scientist recently wrote something that seemed to me to be an ‘Orthodox’ perspective (of a sort that had been written centuries before) but the scientist, himself, had the belief that he was inventing something radically new. Indeed their writing might be radical by this culture’s views, but they weren’t original.
I’ve deeply wished I had learned as much Orthodox theology as I have science. I’m working on it. But it is a slow process, an ever-going work of the heart and prayer.
Dee of St Hermans says:
September 1, 2020 at 1:35 pm
I apologize I’m not certain about capitalizing the word resurrection where I should. Not doing so may give an unfortunate perspective. There is Christ’s Resurrection, and there then there is the resurrection of all things, in Christ’s second coming. I mean to say that I saw the latter, the resurrection of all things in my studies of the Higgs field. But when I had realized what I was seeing, that there is a ‘resurrection’, I realized that there indeed must have been a “Resurrection”, an initialization of this (holy) process.
As a typical chemist would think, where’s there’s smoke, there’s Fire.
September 1, 2020 at 1:47 pm
A stimulating post, Fr. Stephen, thank you. I especially like the juxtaposing themes of blood and gold, both divine in their own way.
It would funny, I think, if the more simple-minded Bible readers were right about a young earth. I do wonder, isn’t old earth cosmology, in a way, just as literalist as young earth? One points to the plain, objective meaning of texts and the other to “objective” meanings of scientific theories. If I had to choose—which I never had to until I had children—I think I’d go with young earth. I mean, there’s the fossil record. But more important, the Church generally views history iconically not critically. The icon serves children quite well; but sophistication seeks literal, historical representation. The latter certainly isn’t worthless, but the former holds more value. And Scripture paints a picture (an icon) of a relatively infantile cosmos. Perhaps only a child could believe what some see as ancient “myths” in the face of modern science. I certainly do not know the scientific “truth” of it. And I do not mean to say that an old earther cannot be humble and childlike. I just think the young earth model aligns better with a sacramental sensibility in which Scripture and creation act as icons of reality. Seems more fitting. I’d be perfectly happy, however, to be corrected by the holy Fathers on this point. Thank you again.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 1, 2020 at 1:49 pm
I have just been finishing CS Lewis’ word, The Discarded Image, in which he writes about his academic topic – Medieval Literature. He explains how that period saw the world – the picture and relations it understood. In the epilogue he compares it to the modern view. The modern view, he notes, imagines itself to be giving a “literal” description, when, in fact, it is merely mathematical. The modern imagination is stunted in some ways and its literal imagination has managed to cut it off from the very thing it studies. (That is the essence of secularism) It’s a delightful book well-worth any effort.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 1, 2020 at 1:59 pm
I have no dog in the fight (young versus old) except for the fact that those engaging in that argument both imagine themselves to be on the same playing field, a field on which I do not care to play. That I see the universe and the earth as “old” is not to say that insist on modern science – only that I cannot turn-off such thoughts and re-imagine something to be other than what has come to make sense. But, having done so, doesn’t mean that a very old universe should be “dis-enchanted”.
As to the texts – I disagree that the texts teach a young earth – except to someone who has already drunk the modern kool-aid. I’ve written at length before that what we take to be “literalism” in the part of the Fathers is a serious misreading – anachronistic at the very least. Lewis’ The Discarded Image, which I just referenced, would be an interesting read in trying to enter the “thoughts” of many who went before us. My problem with modern literalists is they actually, usually, know virtually nothing about ancient culture – and, devoid of context, constantly quote things and use them to mean things which they do not and never did. When I’ve tried to engage a few folks in discussion, however, it goes nowhere. We need way more education and understanding than we have – very, very few in the modern world have anything like the education that marked Lewis and Tolkien and their appreciation of what went before.
But, when I read Genesis, for example, I feel no need to stick in the cosmology of a vastly ancient universe. I just read the story and let the story do the “thinking.” To leave the story and suddenly start doing modern science (young or old version) is, simply, to have left the story.
Dee of St Hermans says:
September 1, 2020 at 2:09 pm
Dee of St Hermans says:
September 1, 2020 at 2:14 pm
This is key:
“But, when I read Genesis, for example, I feel no need to stick in the cosmology of a vastly ancient universe. I just read the story and let the story do the “thinking.” To leave the story and suddenly start doing modern science (young or old version) is, simply, to have left the story.”
This is an important observation. Thank you Father.
September 1, 2020 at 2:53 pm
The statement about inserting a scientific cosmology into the Genesis creation account is well said, Father, and I agree. Thank you, Dee, for highlighting it.
I actually had in mind the biblical (and historical) chronology strongly implied by the genealogies. But I would neither die nor even arm wrestle on that hill. I share with you, Father, a dog-less entry in the fray. I merely have my druthers. Thank you for responding.
Xenia says:
September 1, 2020 at 3:04 pm
Beautiful! This one’s going to take some more rereading. Thank you!
Dee of St Hermans says:
September 1, 2020 at 3:27 pm
Owen, when in my catechism, my priest offered a way to think of the scriptures as liturgical texts, rather than to get caught up in the arguments of historical criticism. To this day his guidance is helpful for me. It continues to save me from getting stuck in my own, sometimes over analytical, mind. In Orthodoxy, I’ve been taught to let the mind sink into the heart. That’s not to say to suspend analysis, but to temper it. In this day and age, and with the form of education I’ve had, this isn’t trivial work for me. Sometimes it’s like trying to turn my head inside out, which reveals to me how much I’ve been affected by the modernist perspective.
Bud Graham says:
September 1, 2020 at 4:39 pm
Thank you for the gift of your writting:
God, everywhere present, is the only constant that matters for by that belief we have the hope of saints. God then was present at all times from creation onward infinitely. Not some artificial date we might conceive but infinitely long ago with that command, we can but imagine. When we allow one lie, despite our eyes and time improved study of the world and universe to enter into faith others follow. How God rendered and delved life is beyond us but thanks for the day of our birth. We are all but stardust given the spark of life by divine intervention. Our grasp of time is far more limited as we would hold the world still for our life as if we can stop the passing of days.
This results in us being unable to see the image of God in others for they shared the same creation, all born of a woman. There is no nationality, no skin color, no master race, no manifest destiny, no hierarchy or kingship greater than our individual witness that God is present in all things but for our lack of compassion, humility, and love. With these gifts, we may become the Gold of the chalice so treasured for then we may share the kinship most sought.
All worldly possessions, titles, and glory are not worth a grain of sand on the balance of our ultimate judgment. None know the end of their life, all will revert to dust. None who would seek to hasten the arrival of the Rapture are servants of God for the dimension of time is not of our possession. They are not prophets but harlots preying on our envy of others and our desire for control of time. Our souls carry little forward but our deeds in life. Find God every day in the simple wonder of life and love of its gift.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 1, 2020 at 5:14 pm
I do not see that use of the genealogies to be particularly legitimate – even though it’s been done plenty of times. It is a path, I think that creates an unnecessary conflict with both science and an approach to experience in scientific thinking. As in, asking someone to look at fairly obvious things (an old earth) and declare it to be false – or created to appear as though it’s much older. I grew up both in and around a Christianity that did this – it produced some very weird science as well as bad theology. Orthodoxy, I think, should not require such thinking.
M E says:
September 1, 2020 at 6:07 pm
Gold is a metal which does not corrode. In ancient times it was first found as “native” gold and used to gild objects because it can be hammered into very thin sheets. That is why the metal became a precious one to societies and suitable for decorating gods’images and for kingly ornaments , those things which should never become tarnished .
September 2, 2020 at 8:55 am
Thank you Father. I am very grateful for this article, as it speaks of things I have thought for a long time. It is nice to hear such a nicer articulation.
As I don’t get to talk about it much, I hope you’ll indulge the comments here. I hope it’s not too abstruse, or suck eggs, or both. If it is too much or too tedious then, as usual, feel free to cut.
Athanasios, one recommendation for further reading is the first two chapters of philosopher David Bentley Hart’s excellent, if dense, “The Experience of God – Being, Consciousness, Bliss”. Despite the slightly new-agey title it actually does a rigorous, and vigorous, and just plain good job of explaining the philosophical category issues and errors and why they matter.
The described content of Father’s gold cup reveries are entirely shared – and of course just touch the surface. Yes, the contemplation of the cup is a deeply sacramental. In order for the such wonder to be happening now, an entire star system had to have come into being and die and seed the dust cloud that became ours (before 4 billion years ago). The nature of creation had to be such that the atoms then had to become incorporated into the crust of the planetary surface unchanged during that time (even if the molecular structures sometimes did – unchanging atoms while molecular forms change is itself a wondrous sacramental idea?), not to mention that sensate and highly intentional humans had to come into being and our senses and sensibilities have to interact with all of the aspects of the object through the reflection of light (which is mysteriously both particle and wave and many layered form of electromagnetic radiation). If that does not ALL sound completely wondrous and sacramental I don’t know what would.
I did wonder, Father, at your comment to Dee at 9/1 1:49 pm where you said the modern view was “merely mathematical”. For me, the mathematical nature of the created order is sacramental in nature. While (DBH-wise) it is NOT a “proof” of God, it is nevertheless pointing to some deep truths about the way things are, and the glory of God. All those “laws” are in fact nothing more than the uncovering of some important relationships. And isn’t it completely remarkable that by pretty much nothing other than some mathematical manipulations and by assuming that the speed of light is fixed, that Einstein could deduce (via special relativity) in a way that has since proved to be overwhelmingly consistent (including the creation of atomic weapons!) that matter and energy are essentially interchangeable – they are both aspects of the same thing. There are loads of other sacramental sounding examples. I sometimes chuckle at the irony that many physicists who would shake their heads at the (wonderful) paradoxical description of the Trinity as three hyposteses but one essence are quite happy simply to live with the idea that the quantum and classical descriptions of reality are both valid, and must be referring to the same reality, and that at some stage someone will come along and show how. Schrödinger’s equation is a thing of great beauty, but deeply bizarre, as Schrödinger himself and many of those early quantum physicists recognized.
I can’t help but feel that pretty much all of reality ‘out there’ when observed carefully and closely has a weirdly “fractal” quality, in the sense that as you stop and look, and look, the depth and complexity just keeps opening up as we go in ever deeper. The layered (in all directions) nature of things is truly astonishing and marvellous. I can see why many scientists become so enamored (or is it overwhelmed?) by this that some of them kind of decide they don’t need to go any further. That nature has this quality to it, and that humans can do this, tells us something very profound. It’s a pity we don’t just stop and enter into the mystery of it more often.
In all of this reflecting on nature and what it points to re spiritual truths, I find myself reminded of St Paul’s observation at 1 Corinthians 46 “But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual.” The gold (and this history of the universe), the cup, the chalice, and the telos of what it contains and signifies ….
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 2, 2020 at 9:01 am
By “merely” mathematical, I do not mean to diminish the wonder of math. It is, as you say. However, it is also only scratching the surface. But, I cannot say more at the moment. DBH is always an interesting read – not everyone’s cup of tea, however, and occasionally just plain problematic.
September 2, 2020 at 9:44 am
Ziton, as powerful descriptor of reality as math is, it is not sufficient. Our observations, even the deepest ones are still “seeing through s glass, darkly”.
My father for all the wonder he encountered on the high plains of eastern New Mexico which later led to a wonderful career in medicine and community health, was forever stymied by the vastness. Because he could never get to the Theanthropos of Jesus Christ, he just stopped. Perhaps like your mathemeticians?
September 2, 2020 at 10:27 am
My mother too was led toward God through fractals. In her case it was what she called the dynamic spiral. She discovered it in Native American art and dance and inculcated it into the jewelry she made and in her dance and history.
She was even able to use it to discover the innate rythmns of autistic children and give them patterns of movement that helped them communicate better.
Still, like my father she was never quite able to make the connection to Jesus Christ.
My parents filled my soul with longing and possibilities. My brother and I were pointed toward the Orthodox Church from the moment of our conception. It just took awhile to get here.
God is indeed everywhere present and filling all things. I have to remind myself frequently not to settle for the various containers, as beautiful and as entrancing as they often are.
Kassiani says:
September 2, 2020 at 11:56 am
I am homeschooling my children and we’ e joined a local Christian co-op for some core classes. The co-op statement of faith is one we can sign on to as Orthodox, but they do teach from a new earth perspective. My kids are coming out of the public school, which teaches from an atheist (even anti-Christian) perspective. Neither exactly jibes with our Orthodox understanding, but if I’m really honest about it, I find the new earth POV to be much less detrimental to their faith (even though I don’t agree with it). Their science classes are talking about the history of science, how what is accepted in one era can be disproved in the next, that science is a method and not a set of beliefs, that science is one tool of many for learning about God’s creation, that science should not replace religion, that there are debates ongoing in science right now about many things the public is led to believe are “settled”– that we should have humility as God’s creatures and that humility should inform how we do science, or approach any pursuit. They also teach about the reasoning and evidence behind evolution (they just don’t say it’s true). Honestly much more humble and faithful of an approach than the secular neo-Darwinist approach of the public schools. Yes I cringe a little at some of what I see as desperate distortions of rock strata data etc., but I just discuss that with my kids at home and we look into the Orthodox approach (like I had to also discuss the atheist teaching of the public schools). This experience is teaching me to confront my own prejudices against “new earthers”–I was taught growing up by my secular educated parents that they were the stupidest most pathetic people–and to check my judgement. They’re very nice, faithful people pouring their hearts into raising Christian children. I just disagree on their theology and how that influences some of their approach to science and early history. But I’d obviously rather have my children educated among them than in our public schools. (Unfortunately, there’s no Orthodox school or homeschool co-op where we are!)
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 2, 2020 at 12:16 pm
Many are indeed good Christians and well-intentioned. After a fashion, however, they create an unnecessary tension for believers. As Athansios noted below, having grown up in it, he also came to a place where it nearly cost him his faith. It sets up a “package deal” that invites just a few confirmed, scientific facts to bring down the whole house of cards. It also takes Scripture and theology into a sort of place of modernity-defined notion of knowledge that will eventually create conflicts with the Orthodox faith (I believe).
It is not our fight. I found an interesting quote from none other than Fr. Seraphim Rose today: “I should state an elementary truth: modern science, when it deals with scientific facts, does indeed usually know more than the holy Fathers, and the holy Fathers can easily make mistakes of scientific facts; it is not scientific facts which we look for in the holy Fathers, but true theology and the true philosophy which is based on theology.”
I am not a proponent of any particular scientific theory – some of them have become married to ideologies and therefore create problems. Also, science alone is insufficient in giving a full account of reality and the nature of creation. It’s useful and very suggestive, but still far too small. But, having said that, what we have in the Young Earth version is a Christianity that necessitates a particular scientific version – generally requiring an accompanying conspiracy theory.
Parenting is difficult.
I will add that I discuss the topic with a bit of fear and trembling. The fiercest and most bizarre attacks that I have ever experienced have come from that small sector of Orthodoxy that believes all of this stuff is synonymous with the Orthodox faith. I do not like being attacked – I am badly wired for dealing with controversy. But, I would be less than honest if I did not say what I think to be the truth and consistent with the fullness of Orthodoxy.
It is highly problematic when any aspect of science (or theology) becomes enmeshed in politics. This stuff is rife with it.
September 2, 2020 at 12:50 pm
Well Father, the very act of attacking you proves they are wrong. They have unfortunately made their faith into an ideology. That is a big part of the modern delusion and is a constant temptation. Adherence to ideology forbids mercy and provides a strong justification for almost anything in its defense. That is in part because once an ideology is examined rationally, it always falls apart.
The Orthodox faith encompasses both the seen snd the unseen. Once the premise of the faith, a loving incarnate God who died for us and rose, is accepted either by faith or experience, everything else fits together in joy.
September 2, 2020 at 12:58 pm
Ah, Science! As someone who taught science courses (mostly biological/ecological, and indeed evolutionary – hoo boy!) to non-science majors for 10 years, I feel compelled to chime in. Indeed, I can’t seem to help myself
In all my courses, I spent a class or two simply explaining what science is. There’s science, the verb – that which scientists do, including all the human drama that is involved (competing teams, obtaining grants, cheating sometimes, delight when things work out, despair when they don’t, etc., etc.)
Then there is science, the noun – the body of ‘facts’ that many people think of when they think of science. Then, of course, there is technology, which a surprising number of people confuse with ‘science’. But technology is the application of scientifically derived principals to ‘solving’ ‘problems’ (and of course, creating more ‘problems’), and is a big driver of and funder of science, the verb. Because $$$.
Scientists know (or ought to know) that the ‘facts’ are provisional. Some hold up to decades of investigation and critique better than others. Others merely need elaboration and tweaking. Some end up in the dustbin of history. Scientists also know (or ought to know) that they are developing/working with models, and that in the immortal words of the good Count Korzybski, ‘the map is not the territory’.
What I have come to believe after decades of practicing and teaching science is that what science really does is describe things, rather than truly explain things. The laws of gravity are a good example. Knowing the math of gravitational workings can navigate you to the Moon, etc. But nobody has a clue as to how gravity ‘works’. Forget about ‘why’.
So in my judgement, science provides really close descriptions of certain phenomena, some that might be ‘useful’, some of a more intellectual interest. Tolkien talked about the difference between the botanist and the agronomist. People think that science ‘explains’ this and that, but what’s really going on is a really close description. It has never felt to me like a threat to religion.
And then you have Scientism, the religion. Part and parcel of modernity and progress, myth of. This also feeds off of science, the noun, but is a perversion of science, the verb. Or something – I’ve blithered on long enough. Please forgive all of ‘this’ business, but sometimes you’ve just got to put things in quotes…
September 2, 2020 at 1:36 pm
Steve, you are right. Thank you for putting it the way you did.
September 2, 2020 at 1:38 pm
Also, Father I hope you know that their are a lot of people here plus a few angels and saints who have your back. Your front too if necessary.
Dean says:
September 2, 2020 at 2:15 pm
adage comes to my mind often these days…with all that’s going on around us…”Do not react, do not resent, keep inner stillness.” Just about all the “news” we hear is passion driven. It prompts us to react, usually with anger, fear, etc. When you are attacked, Father, by others, they are reacting also with their passions. They want to “fence in” the faith. Yet what they want to fence in often has nothing to do with the Orthodox faith…once for all given to the saints…whether it be literal days of creation, mode of administering the Eucharist, etc. Thank you for your willingness to take flak. May God keep all of us during these stressful days in His stillness. “You shall hide them in the secret of your presence.” Psm 30:21
September 2, 2020 at 7:36 pm
Thank you Dee, Father, and Ziton for the replies! I’ve read “The Experience of God” – he helps to some extent with thinking about these things and our framing of them, but I suppose I was looking more for “meditation” (poetic, maybe, is a better word?) than quite how to frame them.
Dee, I thought your comments on the Higg’s field were cool. Thank you for sharing that.
Coincidentally, I haven’t read Lewis’ Space Trilogy since college, so I just started reading it again as I was interested in his framing of modernity. He has this gem from Out of the Silent Planet:
A nightmare, long engendered in the modern mind by the mythology that follows in the wake of science, was falling off him. He had read of “Space”: at the back of his thinking for years had lurked the dismal fancy of the black, cold vacuity, the utter deadness, which was supposed to separate the worlds. He had not known how much it affected him till now – now that the very name “Space” seemed a blasphemous libel for this empyrion ocean of radiance in which they swam. He could not call it “dead”; he felt life pouring into him from it every moment. How indeed should it be otherwise, since out of this ocean the worlds and all their life had come? He had thought it barren: he saw now that it was the womb of worlds, whose blazing and innumerable offspring looked down nightly even upon the earth with so many eyes – and here, with how many more! No: space was the wrong name. Older thinkers had been wiser when they named it simply the heavens – the heavens which declared the glory – the
“happy climes that ly
Where day never shuts his eye
Up in the broad fields of the sky.”
I think I’ll just go read more Lewis.
September 2, 2020 at 7:41 pm
Also maybe worth noting in the context of the above article: the name for gold used by the pfifltriggi is sun’s blood.”
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 2, 2020 at 8:24 pm
Recently, I reread Lewis’ The Discarded Image, a work on the world view of medieval literature. I started reading it as a companion read to Planet Narnia, a book that looks at Lewis’ use of planetary imagery in the Narnia Chronicles – a fascinating read in and of itself.
There’s not many examples of the sort of thing I was doing in this article, in that the use of “modern” science would not have been possible in the Fathers (they have a different way of thinking on such things). It is, however, an example of what the Fathers called “natural contemplation” (theoria physike) where nature is considered from the point of view of God’s providence, or in contemplating the “logoi” of created things.
Lewis’ book on medieval thought would be largely applicable to the patristic world-view or cosmology. They were more sophisticated than most modern people realize. They knew that the earth was round, and that it was roughly 28,000 miles around. They also knew the distance to the moon and the sun (roughly). However, that was largely seen in a universe of concentric spheres (following Aristotle and others). They did not, however, realize the number and nature of the stars – or the vastness of the universe – neither of which would have been of any consequence.
The “stuff” of nature, regardless of the science used to study it – is able to be contemplated in the manner of the Fathers and to yield a lot of insight.
September 2, 2020 at 9:02 pm
‘The “stuff” of nature, regardless of the science used to study it – is able to be contemplated in the manner of the Fathers and to yield a lot of insight.’
Oh, how true this is, Father ! That’s my ‘science’ these days, as I wander my woods, and watch the sky, day and night. It always comes up… Glory to God!
Kassiani says:
September 3, 2020 at 1:03 am
Father, thank you for your reply. Yes I agree, the young earth debate is not our fight. I have an MFA in poetry and have always loved St. Porohyrios’s statement that he who wants to become a Christian must first become a poet. It’s how I naturally read scripture, and it’s what I teach my children. My oldest is taking a class at an online Orthodox school, looking at how the Fathers interpret the scriptures, and we’ve already talked about how we have differences with some of the co-op’s teachings. Make no mistake—I’m no proponent of young earth creationism. But I’ve realized I’m not particularly threatened by it, either. I mostly just feel sad for the people who can see only the top-most, flat, literal surface of scripture and miss out on all the layers and depth—and, as you said, they can end up feeling defensive or afraid that God might suddenly not be real if a certain fossil turns up. It sounds like some here have more experience with the damaging effects of the new earth mindset (including you!), which is a shame. I myself have more experience with the damaging effects of the atheist mindset that argues not about whether God created everything in love some thousands vs some billions of years ago, but argues rather that everything and everyone are random meaningless accidents. Yes, I’m apt to believe the physicists over the fathers on the age of the universe. But if I’m honest, to my very limited human brain, six thousand years “feels” the same to me as six billion or six hundred billion. It’s all just “a very long time ago” and shrouded in mystery, so I’m not particularly concerned with hammering out the details. In any case, I loved the meditation on gold. Something I will share with my chemistry obsessed youngest! Thank you!
Dino says:
September 3, 2020 at 4:35 am
Regardless of any particular details concerning cosmology, cosmogony, etc, I can’t help noticing the vastly different overarching worldview of the classical mindset vs the modern one. I also can’t help noticing it everywhere these days. Even within some of the the Church’s occasionally ‘modern’ stances on modern issues.
We can say it is a sacramental mindset vs a secular one, but it is worth looking at how many particular details are actually affected by this secularised mindset.
This corrosive mindset is also continuously ‘progressing’ into further “secularity” and an unspoken acceptance of such, even within circles one would expect to be mindfully opposed to such corrosion.
I think if classical thinking would instinctively sacrifice rationalistic sophistry for faith-fortified wisdom whenever required, modern thinking would seem to invariably do the opposite.
The repercussions of this are clearly wide ranging: if classical heroism would sacrifice life for freedom (and we thankfully still largely recognise this as a greatness) , modern thinking (as witnessed these days) might try and present the sacrifice of freedom for the sake of life as heroic. (I am thinking of the modern arguments placing health above sacramental union these days and other such sophistries we now come across)
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 3, 2020 at 8:00 am
I think this is confusing things a bit. There are some things that, once they are seen, cannot be unseen. In that manner, there are things that are “modern” (such as the size of the universe, the picture of how the solar system works, atoms, viruses, etc.) that are now how we see the world and there’s no going back to a “classical” worldview. We do not and cannot see the human body in terms of humors, for example, even though that language still shows up (“temperament,” “good humor,” etc.). None of that, of course, is secular, or, it need not be.
Secularism is simply an offshoot of late Protestantism of a sort. Its marriage to science and technology has given it a persuasive power that has slowly been conquering the world. It is, however, deeply empty and unable to satisfy the soul – perhaps because it is a “soul-less” account of existence.
There are heroes in every age. The challenge of faith in our time differs from that of earlier periods. And, we are told that before the end, faith will be more difficult than ever. That said, I am not personally aware (within the Church) of anyone placing health above sacramental union – other than taking some precautions that are, at most, inconvenient. I am far more troubled by the rogue priest, here and there, who appoints himself the guardian of “faith” while rebuking bishops left and right as they seek to carry out reasonable care for their flock.
Our present trial, while not unprecedented, is encompassed by a period of deep political instability and cultural collapse. Strident voices within the Church are, to my mind, more harmful than helpful. There is a heroism of quiet and faithful obedience, patiently enduring temptation while allowing difficult times to pass. It is mature. Its fruit will be long-lasting. I have already seen many cases of those, young in the faith, who have been crushed on the rocks, left the Church, or fallen into terrible confusion led by the strident voices of the guardians of a heroic faith – whose claims to authority are all “charismatic” in nature. Its fruit is proof of its lack of authenticity.
Mostly, it seems to me, that, to a great extent, a fairly practical crisis is being magnified unnecessarily by voices pushing it to imaginary extremes. That happened plenty in classical times as well. Crazy is timeless.
Dean says:
September 3, 2020 at 9:08 am
I needed these calming words from you this morning…”There is a heroism of quiet and faithful obedience, patiently enduring temptation while allowing difficult times to pass. It is mature. Its fruit will be long lasting.”
Thank you so much in these days of shrill voices.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 3, 2020 at 9:14 am
Readers will, thankfully, never see the comments that do not get posted. Some are mild with minor things that I would prefer not be part of the conversation for one reason or another. Then, there are shrill things, way beyond the pale, that would stagger my mind. Occasionally, in a mood of frustration, I am tempted to allow such nonsense to be posted so that people can see what insanity looks like. Fortunately, I avoided that level of insanity within myself and just mashed the delete button. Each morning, while having my coffee, I check what has appeared overnight. It is often accompanied by a slight bit of trepidation – most days followed by a sigh of relief.
Dino says:
September 3, 2020 at 11:07 am
Your expression, ‘a “soul-less” account of existence’, feels closer to the point than the term “secularism”, (as religious expressions kept buried away in sequestered corners of one’s week).
More to the point still is the expression “world without a God”, as this is the key assumption we are bombarded with and which is underlying every single newscast, briefing, statement etc (because the classical Christian “Providential” way of expressing such communications would, of course, be considered unimaginably inappropriate nowadays.)
It is, however, this very worldview (of a “world without a God”) that has started dynamically creeping in, even in religious homilies, even if its influence is conveyed as some kind of world-wise, balanced judgement in some ‘homilies’.
What I have in mind, which ought to be shocking to the faithful, but sadly passes unnoticed, is when many current homilies become steeped in the spirit of reverence of secular ideals, instead of singularly focused on the Lord and His power, or piled with the use of trendy secular expressions, such as: ‘health is the highest good’ or ‘health above all’, something I heard back in Greece quite a bit this summer. (Let us remind ourselves that classical Christian thinking would sacrifice health, and even one’s head[!], for Christ – the ctual highest Good).
However, this ‘erosion’ of the worldly mind-set (infiltrating the ecclesiastical one), has been increasing for a very, very long time now. Well before the current crisis. Whether it is for the sake of trendy notions of ‘rights’, of ‘diversity’, of ‘environmentalism’, or lately of ‘health’ and ‘safety’, the explicit infiltration of such notions (in their “worldly-wisdom over Church-wisdom” versions to various extents) in homilies (and beyond) is like hearing some bi-tonal jazz synth solo over Bach’s St John’s Passion’s opening, at least to the ears of the faithful.
Upon hearing again some traditional, Spirit-filled, homilies (after those others), I understandably encountered a welcome heart-warming and spirit-nourishing contrast. Hearing of the ‘eternal’ again (rather than of the ‘temporal’ – packed with Godless fears, whether these are health-related fears or conspiratorial fears, whether well-founded or not so much) was a real breath of fresh air, but I found that this occurred notably less than usual this time round.
Of course, the current epidemic crisis (especially considering some of the actually uncalled-for, and quite unprecedented precautions taken in some parts of the world) makes some recent instances of such ‘worldly influence’ all the more conspicuous. I particularly have in mind the Divine Liturgy’s temporary ‘criminalization’ for a short while in some places five months ago (from 16.3.20 to 11.4.20 in Greece, with a less-than-hoped-for balanced “opposition” -from a few select ‘prophetically fired-up’ Bishops). A provision of law only twice before occurring in Europe, in 311 (Diocletian’s death), and in Albania (1967-1990) –something even Mohamed the Conqueror or Lenin/Stalin dared not legislate.
It was understandable then that many remembered the words of the prophet Micah (3:9-10) or words to that effect:
“Hear this, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; …her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money.”
There certainly exist the awful extremes you warn against too. Indeed, I do note those dangers you mention, but it is a difficult balance that is undeniably needed here. Veering too much either way can become disastrous for different reasons. Your own cautious balance between both extremes has been appreciated again and again for example, having a way that is intensely congruent with tradition.
Secularisation, it has been pointed out by many, is something none of us are immune to, (from the lowest ranks to the highest), but, as you warn, shrill rebuking of bishops from rogue voices ignoring canonical processes and procedures are also very alarming. But it is a kind of equilibrium that is essential now and desired more and more with the passing of time.
I suspect it is likely that the passing of time might even increasingly start favouring one of the two sides of such a balance. I believe that, which of the two sides becomes favoured, will have a lot to do with whether there is a return to ‘normality’ or whether there is greater establishing of the opposite in the days to come.
Dino says:
September 3, 2020 at 11:10 am
Don’t hesitate to delete Father if you so judge!
September 3, 2020 at 11:27 am
Dino these times are difficult. One of the leaders of BLM recently confessed to she and others in her group summoning spirits of the dead. Reminding me that our battle within and without is against demonic powers. The immersion in the passions which we see on every screen and in consumerism have made the real battle difficult to remember and it is easy to feel alone amd abandoned. We are not.
The Divine Liturgy is not magic, i. e, it is not dependent on the individual or collective faith of the human beings present. It is indeed a small piece of the Kingdom.
It seems to me, at times, that I almost have to shoulder my way into the temple because it is so FULL even when, visibly, it is sparse. Scripture is read even if the homily is deficient. Outlawed or not, the Divine Liturgy is still being celebrated.
No doubt we are becoming much like the prisoners in Communist jails but even so, Jesus Christ is with us. .
“Let not your heart be troubled.” ..and the rest of John 14 speaks as much to our time as to the Apostles.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 3, 2020 at 11:32 am
A couple of thoughts: first – preaching is frequently abysmal and misguided. I’m not terribly surprised. Second – neither am I surprised by incompetence in managing a crisis.
As I’ve noted many times – everybody in the world today thinks they are in management. We therefore know everything and are experts on everything and judge everyone and all things. It’s a spiritual sickness – about which almost no one complains.
Again, we are still so much mired in the middle of the mess that drawing any conclusions that apply to more than the short term is premature. Thus, we do well to bite our lips (as we say), not devour our brothers, and let this thing run its course.
September 3, 2020 at 11:34 am
The end of the Troparia to the Holy Trinity is an apt prayer in these times: “Suddenly the Judge shall come and the deeds of each will be revealed: but with fear we cry out in the middle of the night: Holy, Holy, Holy art thou O God. Through the Theotokos have mercy on us.”
September 3, 2020 at 11:44 am
Father, “we all think we are managers.” Priceless. It is the spiritual sickness born of the so-called “Enlightenment”. As codified in the US Declaration of Independence we each have “inalienable rights”. Given us by a creator God, but not an Incarnate one.
The two story universe in writing. Now, in a world without God we are at each other’s throats demanding our rights. It is like starving dogs tearing at each other over a scrap of imaginary food.
September 3, 2020 at 12:10 pm
No doubt we are becoming much like the prisoners in Communist jails but even so, Jesus Christ is with us.
An interesting bit from Pastor Wurmbrand, on his time in Communist prisons.
It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners, as it is in captive nations today…. A number of us decided to pay the price fro the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their terms. It was a deal: we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching; they were happy beating us–so everyone was happy.
Perhaps all we need to do is be “happy”, regardless of the terms….
Nicole from VA says:
September 3, 2020 at 2:05 pm
I like St. John Chrysostome’s quote on greed, and that some people could have fountains gushing gold and still want more.
When I purchased my husband’s wedding ring I was disappointed at the price, it cost less than $500 and possibly around $400, and I was ready to spend much more on something he would wear for (hopefully) many years. I was ready to spend about $800.
There is that theme that there are only a few Olympic sized swimming pools of gold in the world. It is interesting that humans are so drawn to it. It is interesting that the gold alone without a sense of the Creator of the gold can lead only to insatiable hunger.
It is similar to the physicality of bread that doesn’t satisfy. I struggle to understand how Cheetos can be considered food. So many calories and so little nutrition. We are in a land of abundant bread, home of the ‘cheap wheat’ from the Downton Abby TB show. There is a Fr. George Calciu quote I have wanted to post for months about his recognition of the lie of the American Dream, and he cites bread in it.
Hunger is so primary, and the hunger for beauty.
I like this article. I fully agree it is not apparent that life is a gift. I feel like I am just seeing that it is now, over this summer and lots of work and lots of honesty with my husband and also some work with a mental health professional.
What do you do when the solution to a problem creates a bigger problem? So much of American culture is that.
I remember learning of St. Callista. I think that name means chalice. One of my home run events as a Sunday School teacher was making quick bookmarks with the kids: draw a Chalice. Write ‘Our heart is a Chalice’ add a ribbon at the top.
So in the American culture the bread is viewed as empty of God, the gold is beautiful but economic only and empty (let’s stoke fear and have elderly folks buy up gold coins as the bubble bursts) and the flesh of our neighbor is often, very often, dismissable and empty. On Psychology Today there is a set of interesting articles about dehumanization. This is news to me, the author cites at its core is the belief that the other person is a ‘counterfeit human.’ They accept the physical similarity, it is not the skin that is the issue, it has to do with the withinness.
Small extra note, the Hubble Heritage site is good
I have liked the theme that within Orthodoxy the elements of CBT are present. My yard was full of so many sparrows this morning, more than I have ever seen. I will consider them. ‘Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.’ Goulston’s theme of Triune Agility could not be better accomplished than simply what we are invited to in Christ with the Holy Spirit’s generous help
Sending a hello and best wishes. Michael B I have been reflecting on your comments this summer and appreciate them
Dee of St Hermans says:
September 3, 2020 at 2:28 pm
Nicole thank you so much for your edifying comment–pointing our attention to what lies in our own hearts. Again, thank you!
Dino says:
September 4, 2020 at 4:11 am
Father
I think a problem with the ‘viral’ increase of secular infiltration – whether in preaching or any other aspect of Church action – is that, as mentioned before, it sounds like a modernist off-note over a traditional chant. The reason I say this again is because the overtly critical voices, on the other hand, can sound (when not too extreme) as harmonious notes. They actually are. The first problem is easily noticed by all who know the music, and by many others perhaps. The second problem, not so much.
In fact if done according to canonical procedure (the criticism) it can be valuable.
However, it can certainly rob a believer, (this critical parsing of everything – even when done rightly and not disobediently) of the one thing needful:
We cannot allow worries about the future or about distant locations to rob us of the present ‘here and now’. It is the only place where we encounter God (who takes care of the present, the future, the close and the far.)
Greg says:
September 4, 2020 at 8:22 am
I find it difficult to see how mathematics is not in some sense a “proof” of God in that it seems irreducibly platonic. As strong a “proof” is the existence of anything, since it logically requires a ground of being. But then logic as such seems isomorphic to math…
Bud Graham says:
September 4, 2020 at 9:04 am
In reply to these thoughts:
“Our present trial, while not unprecedented, is encompassed by a period of deep political instability and cultural collapse. Strident voices within the Church are, to my mind, more harmful than helpful. There is a heroism of quiet and faithful obedience, patiently enduring temptation while allowing difficult times to pass. It is mature. Its fruit will be long-lasting. I have already seen many cases of those, young in the faith, who have been crushed on the rocks, left the Church, or fallen into terrible confusion led by the strident voices of the guardians of a heroic faith – whose claims to authority are all “charismatic” in nature. Its fruit is proof of its lack of authenticity.
Mostly, it seems to me, that, to a great extent, a fairly practical crisis is being magnified unnecessarily by voices pushing it to imaginary extremes. That happened plenty in classical times as well. Crazy is timeless.”
I was born a damp red clay from birth and thru life fired by sinfulness have become a brittle, cracked vessel. Chipped and worn by the journey, often repaired by love but still obdurate in my humanness. One day I will die and give up the shallow thoughts of this life. I pray, by the grace of Jesus Christ to be born again by repentance and made perfect by obedience.
My hope then is seen in “quiet and faithful obedience, patiently enduring temptation while allowing difficult times to pass.” But I still struggle with our fallen-away brothers and sisters for I feel it is we (“the religious ones”) who drive them away by our acceptance of twisted faith made to fit young earth bedrock, or by, as you note “guardians of a heroic faith – whose claims to authority are all “charismatic” in nature. Its fruit is proof of its lack of authenticity.” The Prosperity gospel preachers and the Manifest destiny proponents who would say none but they are destined for Christ redemption all at work in the upheaval now pushing for even more tumult – for power to control – (what an infantile thought?). It seems “Rome” is born again, or only left the world for short periods so we forget that the devil is real and indeed devious. I agree this is not Orthodoxy’s fight for it is beyond us to sway such a “force” before men. It is in our small but focused church to shelter the light and tend the flame of true faith.
I am 75 this year, married for 54 years, by the grace of God; still a sinner in thoughts and actions, quick to take offense but seeking to find God’s presence in all things and all peoples. I have traveled the world in my work and had the opportunity to meet many cultures. I was a construction brat growing up. My father was a foreman for a heavy concrete construction company out of St Louis, MO. We lived all over the US, Canada and Mexico; one job after the other, one school year split many times thus no real old friends until we finally settled in Buffalo, NY in my last year of junior high. There we became Presbyterian for a time before my parents separated, about my Senior year of high school. I joined the Catholic church at 19 and married my bride in a small Catholic church; Akron, NY August 20, 1966. We converted to Orthodoxy 18 years ago and attend a small OCA parish in Akron, OH.
My journey is not unique, just my struggle; we all have them and we seldom succeed without the kind assistance of events and people we have the good fortune to meet along the way. Yes, the parable is true, the Good Samaritan really exists! And in my humble opinion, it is often a surprise who those people are and how they affect our lives. Often in my life, it was more by the help of good atheist rather than the example of religious that helped me find peace. It is thru forgiveness we see the light and in humility find that knelling in prayer is like standing on a mountain high. In that journey, I have found the deep reference held by many for the presence of God (though they may say differently what is seen) in this world.
If we are honest, a recognizable symbol of our lives can be seen most like the Japanese art form of Kintsugi, a process of repairing old, chipped, broken pottery with gold joinery. The vessel is made new, by faith, by suffering, by obedience. The old becomes what God intended, useful, and more beautiful. This then is a simple hope and a more perfect symbol, we are all works of hand and heart by the grace of God. Not made whole by ourselves but thru the fire of life refined for the last journey.
Thank you, Father and fellow travelers for your shared thoughts and writing. Glory be to God.
September 4, 2020 at 9:12 am
The demons magnify our craziness and are always working to rile us up. One thing they hate is honest laughter. Honest laughter comes from and induces joy. I almost think laughter makes them explode. It is sort of like cosmic bubble wrap, part of the tinkling of laughter. Demons going pop all around me as I laugh. Pop, pop, pop.
Glory to God for All things.
September 4, 2020 at 10:02 am
Greg, like all logic the outcome depends on the truth of the premise. However unless one’s logic also allows for transcendent experience that both confirms it while at the same time is more and in some way confounding it is not sufficient or complete.
Matthew W. says:
September 4, 2020 at 8:57 pm
Kintsugi is an apt metaphor.
I can remember on more than one occasion as my pastor was waxing eloquently on Gods forgetfulness towards our sins, how I felt, dealing with the struggles in my heart.
I didn’t want my struggle to be forgotten. In many ways it was those struggles that have, and are continuing to make me, ‘me’.
When the end comes, all I’ll want to hear is, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful…”.
Bud Graham says:
September 5, 2020 at 9:41 am
Here is a link that may be a helps and further illustration for others to share:
Best wishes for Labor Day, may we all find some respite in it to share.
As a Veteran I also have thoughts for our lost brothers and sisters and their extended families:
Bud Graham says:
September 5, 2020 at 10:05 am
Father, if permitted, another link for George Herbert’s poetry to expand on the thought offered. Thank you for your writting and shared journey.
ScottTX says:
September 5, 2020 at 10:53 am
“Kintsugi is an apt metaphor.”
I don’t know if the God of “be ye perfect” and “white as snow” is keen on a patina of past sins like an Antiques Roadshow judge.
September 5, 2020 at 11:39 am
ScottTX, but the fact that we are made whole despite our sins and more beautiful because of His golden mercy is apt. In time with patience and diligence the gold will become more, not because of sin but because grace abounds. Every sin repented does however add more gold. Here is where the fractal nature of our life in Christ is on display. The inward dynamic spiral of repentance which often seems repetitive is not. As we go deeper find what appears to be old sins again, but merely a deeper fracture that the gold had not yet reached. It can be discouraging but we should rejoice because it means we are to God and more golden than we know as the George Herbert poem linked above clearly shows.
Perhaps the greatest of saints has become all gold but many of their writings would suggest not.
We are clay after all. Quite fragile when fired.
September 5, 2020 at 12:20 pm
For those who brought fractals into our conversation–thank you. I have neither a scientific nor mathematic understanding of them but I do see the historical/spiritual applications at least a little. The discussion here has renewed and deepened my appreciation for the fractal nature of our life in Christ and has buoyed my heart.
September 5, 2020 at 12:29 pm
For those who brought fractals into our conversation–thank you. I have neither a scientific nor mathematic understanding of them but I do see the historical/spiritual applications at least a little. The discussion here has renewed and deepened my appreciation for the fractal nature of our life in Christ and has buoyed my heart.
God is good!
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 5, 2020 at 3:04 pm
Forgive me, but you seem determined to cherry-pick the verses to make God as adamantine as possible. I think it’s off-balance and doesn’t serve you very well. I suspect the pressure comes from within yourself, and not from God. You’re in my prayers.
September 5, 2020 at 4:04 pm
Matthew, it is not that our sins are forgotten in a human sense. They do cease to be a detriment so that we “have no further care” of them. A bit like the bag of sand that St. Moses used to demonstrate the futility of judging our brothers. The sand that leaked from his bag, a symbol of his own struggle with sin, did not cease to exist or be unremembered, it ceased to be a burden and was allowed to become a natural part of existence. All of which will be glorified.
ScottTX says:
September 5, 2020 at 4:13 pm
“You’re in my prayers.”
Thank you. Maybe you’ll hear back where I haven’t.
September 5, 2020 at 7:51 pm
God bless you and keep you.
ScottTX says:
September 5, 2020 at 10:03 pm
Maybe I’ve been trying to approach God as a coping scheme. That having failed, I see God as unapproachable.
But it’s no good to have a one-way conversation, just to wait for a coincidence I can crown as providence. Prayer to me has been a failed attempt to invest meaning in lifeless brute facts, like laying a doll in a cradle and treating it as a baby.
But there is only silence back, dead as a doll.
Matthew W. says:
September 5, 2020 at 10:52 pm
“it is not that our sins are forgotten in a human sense. They do cease to be a detriment so that we “have no further care” of them.”
I understand that. There is still much of a “before-and-after” that takes place in my thinking, and consequently within some of my posts. You will note the recoil I said I had with what I perceived was an earnest attempt to express God’s love in some form, that when thought through, seemed to not make a whole lot of sense to me. I believe cognitive dissonance on my part is a good term for it. It’s one of the many things that helped lead me to the discovery of Orthodoxy.
William says:
September 5, 2020 at 10:57 pm
I’ve spent much of my life doing the opposite: crowning providence as coincidence. It’s strangely comforting, though in a very sad and boring grey sort of way.
Your comment also made me think of this prayer by Macarius of Optina: “Thou, Who by Thy unspeakable goodness hast created us, tell us, why didst Thou fill our lives with grief? Dost not Thy mercy make Thee pity our sufferings? Why dost Thou grant me being and later take it away through a painful death?”
The rest of the prayer is worth looking up and praying, too, if you can bring yourself to it.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 6, 2020 at 7:58 am
I think I could not survive very well at all if I was looking for a sign or waiting to be convinced or for “lifeless brute facts” to somehow seem otherwise. In short, my own subjectivity cannot bear such weight. First, my subjectivity is burdened by the cultural habits that revel in brute facts, and second, it is formed and shaped by the experience of my own brokenness such that every piece of evidence could easily be reverted into brute fact.
As a believer, I return again and again to Jesus Himself – as made known in the gospels and epistles. The one brute fact of His resurrection. I was trained in higher critical studies and techniques – (which lives in me like a festering wound). Thus, I’m able to doubt, to dismiss, to question with the best of them. That said, without tracing the entire process, I remain convinced of the brute fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and of the apostolic witness. It is a rock. I add to it the lives and witnesses of the saints – particularly a fairly select few whose examples echo that same brute fact.
The “logic” of the resurrection, for me, proceeds from there. Living, day-to-day, within that logic, love triumphs over evil, kindness over meanness, generosity over selfishness, sacrifice over preservation, providence over mere chance.
Some days, such as the one described at the beginning of this article’s post, everything around me seems charged with the resurrection. I could fight back and insist on reducing it to the dead stare of a doll’s eyes. But then, I notice that my own eyes begin to take on a death-like glaze and even the most obvious living things around me start to be reduced to dullness. There are days that the dullness threatens to crush me. I know what it is to be depressed – I was once hospitalized with clinical depression – some near 50 years ago. I take it seriously.
On such days, I often return to the brute fact of the resurrection itself. I will sit in front of the mute icons and sigh (I don’t weep very easily or I would). On such days, I sigh and simply ask for help – to be comforted – for the dullness to be lifted. Sometimes I sing. And, there are times that the dullness lasts for days.
What I do not do is spend much time inferring from my dullness to the world beyond. Those many years ago, in the darkness of the hospital, I prayed. There was an answer – terribly faint – a point of light. I can only say that in the point of light I left the hospital and resumed my life, often doubting and sometimes crushed with the pain. But I put one foot in front of the other and kept walking. In time, the dullness lifted and the light disappeared but the world seemed brighter.
To be fair, there are moments and days that everything seems suffused with light and the providence of the most minute things seems obvious. Occasionally, my joy is an ecstasy. But – all those things are simply the ups and downs of a human life. What remains, good days and bad, is the brute fact of the resurrection. That is the point of my faith – that on its basis I will “risk” my life, risk the joy that comes with it.
When I say I will pray for you – I mean that. I will sit before the icons and sigh for you as I sigh for myself and ask God to lift the weight of dullness and give you joy but – more importantly – set you on the rock of the brute fact of His resurrection.
God give us grace. These are hard times.
September 6, 2020 at 9:26 am
Indeed Father these are hard times. My own son suffers much the same as you describe as did my late wife. It is the fruit of progress I think. I am reading a book by Anthony Esolen “Up From the Ashes” that does a great job of disecting the myth of progress. What our management culture has brought us.
For me the incredible bright spot in The Incarnation. Of course the Resurection is of a piece and the fulfillment. I am blessed Jesus showed me the joy and power of the Resurection in 2004 Pascha. My wife of 24 years had reposed about 40 days prior to that Pascha. I went to that Pascha service mostly out of duty. A lot of me dead.
Then, just as we began to sing the Paschal Troparian, I “saw” Him rising and somehow my wife was with Him. My deadness also.
Why was I given this gift? I have no idea. I was there? All I know is, a bit like Lasurus, I was dead but now I live. Still sinful and careless but I live. Still in pain physical and emotional, but I live in the sure and certain promise of the Resurection
Part of my renewed life was finding my way here.
Scott, the mere fact you are here is a proof of Providence. Despite the mass of sin and death all around and within us here is a point of light. God’s voice is within you, still and small and hidden. Indeed His continuing word is the connective tissue of all we are and do.
You have touched my heart and I too sigh for you and share your tears. As many here undoubtedly do. I am too selfish a person for that to be anything other than God telling you He loves you.
You are not alone brother.
September 6, 2020 at 10:11 am
Fr. has mentioned the book, The Ethics of Beauty (Timothy Patitsas). It came to mind after reading your post. It’s a very long tome, but I think its essence might offer a “way” forward. Others can correct me if I’m misstating his thesis. He speaks throughout the book of the “Beauty-first” path to a relationship with God. He says that in the West, in particular, the path has emphasized “Truth-first”. In other words, trying to figure out intellectually what is True as a prelude to belief. Only then can people be willing to follow the prescribed path to virtue and Goodness. Of course, one could spend a lifetime trying to figure out what’s True in an intellectual sense–or in lieu of figuring it all out–settling for a dead kind of morality as a substitute. The Beauty-first approach is pretty much the opposite. He says that when we fall in love with what is Beautiful, we pursue it like that lost pearl and are willing to give up everything (even our passions) to attain some measure of that Beauty. I hear what Father is saying about Jesus, the Resurrection and all the Beauty He calls us to as that first Love that draws us “further in and further up.” The Prayer of the Hours speaks to this at the end when it says, “that we may attain unto the unity of the faith and the apprehension of Your Glory.” When I first learned that prayer, I found my eyes lifted above the ordinary and given glimpses, as I allowed, of the Beauty that is always there. Maybe a spider web, maybe a sunset, a smile…those are elements of the universe that can draw us closer to all that God wants to give us. They are a foundation for Hope–and hope is a door to Joy. As I told one of my sons this past week, such hope and joy are “real” in this moment . But, having experienced them, we begin to know that they can be there in the next moment as well, despite the challenges that each moment has for us. It’s a treasure that is really only present in this present moment. But, string those together moment by moment and gratitude and love will flood our hearts.
ScottTX says:
September 6, 2020 at 11:10 am
Thank you everyone. I understand the error of projecting my depression on the world as if I’m wearing stone-colored glasses, but it’s hard to imagine the full spectrum beyond the lenses.
I’ll read The Ethics of Beauty since the only thing for me that penetrates from a better world is Bach.
September 6, 2020 at 1:33 pm
May you bathe in the sublime beauty of Bach.
Patitsas’ motivation in writing the book was to provide a different approach to Life for those suffering from PTSD. I hope that his insights and Bach’s language offer a glimpse of that mysterious world of the Kingdom that we can enter now.
September 6, 2020 at 2:31 pm
May you bathe in the sublime beauty of Bach.
Patitsas’ motivation in writing the book was to provide a different approach to Life for those suffering from PTSD. I hope that his insights and Bach’s language offer a glimpse of that mysterious world of the Kingdom that we can enter now. Thanks for the reminder about Bach–I’m off to practice his messages to us, so to speak.
September 6, 2020 at 4:04 pm
Bach is indeed beautiful. But it is too complex for me. I rely on three things a discipline:
3. The Hymn: Lord God of Hosts be with us for we have none other hope in times of trouble but thee. Lord of Hosts have mercy on us. Based on Psalm 46
The minor tone in which each of the hymns is set heals by itself. The words and depth and meaning, a particularity to my life and struggle. But then. my favorite icon is of St. Peter sinking as he tries to walk on the water and Jesus reaching out to save him. We sink, He reaches out when we call.
Dean says:
September 6, 2020 at 5:38 pm
Yes, Paula. Well, I had my comments on mute for 6 months. Maybe she does too. Praying she’s not sick.
Several have mentioned beauty. Yes, that has to be a large part of what keeps calling me to the liturgy. I love the liturgy. I long for the liturgy. Covid or not, it is better than life. And it is true.
I look at Hebrews or the Revelation, parts of Isaiah. They sure look like the liturgy to me. Yet it took God years to break through my obdurate heart to see its beauty and truth. But once the scales were off I knew I was home…bathed in the beauty of Christ and His glorious Church.
Ioana says:
September 6, 2020 at 5:57 pm
Me too. I will pray for you. Sending you a smile. I hope it will get to you as it is a fairly long distance.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 6, 2020 at 7:15 pm
A friend of the blog, Simon, sent these thoughts along for me to share with you. He has wrestled much himself.
I really and truly feel the concern for authenticity in your voice. What I hear in what you’ve written is an awareness of the mind’s staggering ability to delude itself. There is nothing more banal than the experience of one’s own ideas as truth. In many ways, the questions that you are raising are dangerous ones. They are dangerous because they demand an answer and if that demand is unresolved it can create ‘a hell in one’s heart.’ I think of Dostoevsky’s Ivan in The Brothers Karamazov and his exchange with Zosima:
“The question is still fretting your heart, and not answered. But the martyr likes sometimes to divert himself with his despair, as it were driven to it by despair itself. Meanwhile, in your despair, you, too, divert yourself with magazine articles, and discussions in society, though you don’t believe your own arguments, and with an aching heart mock at them inwardly…. That question you have not answered, and it is your great grief, for it clamors for an answer” “But can it be answered by me? Answered in the affirmative?” Ivan went on asking strangely, still looking at the elder with the same inexplicable smile. “If it can’t be decided in the affirmative, it will never be decided in the negative. You know that that is the peculiarity of your heart, and all its suffering is due to it. But thank the Creator who has given you a lofty heart capable of such suffering; of thinking and seeking higher things, for our dwelling is in the heavens. God grant that your heart will attain the answer on earth, and may God bless your path.”
What is the balm to our despair? Here is the “answer” Alyosha gives Ivan:
“I think everyone should love life above everything in the world.” [Ivan replies] “Love life more than the meaning of it?” “Certainly, love it, regardless of logic as you say, it must be regardless of logic, and it’s only then one will understand the meaning of it. I have thought so a long time. Half your work is done, Ivan, you love life, now you’ve only to try to do the second half and you are saved.”
Later Zosima says in conversations:
“Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.”
God is revealed in love. You cannot love the world and every grain of sand in it in the way Zosima describes without becoming the revealing that you are seeking. You will be transformed by love and you will know God for you will be like God.
All answers to hard questions are probably wrong answers. In fact, any answer that can be tap-tap-tappity-tapped out on a computer keyboard probably isn’t worth much in itself. But I think the kernel of “truth” is there in TBK and that you will discover yourself in it if you can relax to it.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 6, 2020 at 7:17 pm
Paula is taking a break from commenting for a while. I think she’s doing fine.
September 6, 2020 at 7:32 pm
Paula is fine.
September 6, 2020 at 7:37 pm
Despair of changing things of nothing being real especially God is a common affliction. Bach is real. Beauty is real.
September 6, 2020 at 10:00 pm
Thank you, Father Stephen, for this beautiful essay. I thought of it as a reflection, a modern one, on the story of Genesis, which has been interesting me as I made a project for myself to read very slowly through the Gospels using the ‘under-word’ translations of the Greek text – just to see how might the meanings and positioning of words (plus a little bit the sounds) enliven the texts. I’m only still early in Matthew, inching along, but I think my project would be very similar to the C.S.Lewis one you describe. A lovely simple thing I found is that John isn’t the only one referring so charismatically and boldly to Genesis in his opening verses. Matthew does it as well, since the Greek in the list of ‘begats’ is directly related to the word ‘Genesis’. So, the entire set of verses on that subject is really Genesis unfolding. He is saying the entirety of Scripture to the point of Christ’s birth is like revisiting those early days before man is created. Telling the story again in light of what has taken place. Just as John later does in a different way.
(I’m minded that you have said the Old Testament cradles Christ – not those words, that’s true, but how I understand what you have told us. ) So, that makes your opening thoughts on the Chalice so meaningful, and bless you for letting us know how a priest would see it!)
September 6, 2020 at 11:21 pm
I hope you won’t mind, Scott, if I add a bit to what others have said, and what Father Stephen has related about Dostoievski’s novel TBK. For me, the important moment in the novel was when Alyosha’s faith in Providence was tested – he and Ivan are the closest of the brothers, having the same mother. And undergoing his crisis, he really for a critical moment becomes his brother, experiencing that emptiness you describe, the lifeless doll his own prayer has become. And I think he has needed this experience, this hell. How does he survive it? In the most unlikely place – he’s not even praying; he’s in such emptiness, himself dead in spirit. But someone who is very aware of her own unworthiness takes pity, and that is the spark.
I’m sorry; it is so hard – I saw horses at the Kentucky Derby panic at the sight of their friends in masks. The announcer didn’t know why; that was why. But their friends were there. He’s there.
ScottTX says:
September 7, 2020 at 12:10 am
Please thank Simon for his reply.
Dee of St Hermans says:
September 7, 2020 at 4:08 pm
Please forgive my curiosity, but which Bach were you referring to? I think I might benefit from imbibing that wine you might be drinking, if you don’t mind sharing.
Also, I thank Simon for his wise words. I haven’t read TBK, but I do intend to do so. I also found the Ethics of Beauty to be very helpful.
And yes, our beloved sister Paula is taking a break from the comments.
Ivan says:
September 7, 2020 at 4:09 pm
I prayed for you for a while last night, to figure out what I could say that might be helpful. I wrote a lot, responding to your comments, because I have depression and study how to cope with and recover from it.
God is not keen on sin itself, but He is so forgiving that He accepts and loves sinners just as they are, and He knows we are not going to be perfectly neat and nice in this life. As Fr. Stephen recently wrote (if I recall correctly), salvation is messy, and so I would add that the character of a Christian person is messy too, as Jesus and St. Paul describe so well in the New Testament. But any human soul is primarily beautiful and virtuous, so let’s focus on the positive. To know God’s love, one must ask for it. A big next step in understanding God’s perspective on sin is to forgive oneself and others. Forgiveness, especially self-forgiveness, is not technically possible by ourselves, rather it is a work God does through us. The parts we contribute are patience and self-compassion, which can be very difficult for Americans, especially when we are under perfectionistic pressure. Self-compassion is critical to recover from depression, as the tendency to beat oneself up is dangerous, while respecting oneself leads to happiness and good spiritual health.
The common tendency to assume our spiritual experiences determine our outcomes of faith, which determine our salvation, level of virtue, and relationship with God and His Church, tends to compress a lot of complex, good things into a seeming lack of grace. It actually takes years, even many years, to develop the advanced grace required for the mystical experiences we typically want, so Orthodoxy requires patience. Everyone wants to see the Uncreated Light, as Fr. Stephen also wrote about recently – but it’s a powerful, dangerous blessing, so we aren’t ready for it for a long time, perhaps even decades. And that’s ok – we can be good, holy Christians without having visions. The grace of faith is not about supernatural gifts, rather about seeing Christ in everyday life and enjoying His presence.
For someone seeking a full spectrum from a better world (to paraphrase your words), it can be frustrating to hear that the liturgical services are the main performance and mystical, sacramental event of the Church. But this is really a terrific opportunity, and we don’t need “more cowbell” as the saying goes. Instead, we need to appreciate this wonderful world as it is, and learn to enjoy all of our lives, not wait for another, better world. When Fr. Stephen says we must give “glory to God for all things,” which is the name of this blog, I think that means sincerely wanting to thank God for all things – not a hymnographic idea. We can live in Paradise in this life, as one retired priest in my area often says during his homilies, by repenting and serving Christ.
The best book I know of that teaches the Orthodox version of ‘positive thinking’ is Our Thoughts Determine Our lives, by Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica. It is very popular and easy to read. The main point is to resist negative thoughts, and gradually reform our minds and hearts to perceive our lives with gratitude, joy, and hope. Part of depression is pessimism, so optimism can be part of the cure for it. Elder Thaddeus makes these lessons fun and charming with his charismatic personality and love. It’s not entirely like Western ‘positive thinking,’ but there are some important similarities.
God guides us even when He is distant. I think it’s normal to not sense God’s presence in a living, vibrant way for a while, but that does not mean He is missing. Abbot Tryphon is a great preacher and blogger on this topic – as he quotes Fr. Thomas Hopko, we need to take steps towards God when He steps away, like a child learning how to walk.
The dogmatic facts of Orthodoxy can seem lifeless until we see that they are all about God and His Body the Church. Then it becomes a living reservoir of wisdom and truth that we are eager to learn and implement.
Depression is not all bad – I think it is meant to be healed and untwisted, not eliminated like an enemy. Fr. Michael Gillis has written about how his monk friends, elders in his life I guess, teach him to transform his potentially sinful passions into love of God and healthy feelings. Here is his blog post about it:
The specific passion Fr. Michael wrote about is sexual desire, but I would add that depression is formally a passion (as one of the eight vices St. John Cassian wrote about, leading to acedia or weariness of heart), so it can be transformed too. We can grieve what saddens us, and learn to channel depression into positive emotions. It’s not all bad – all sins merely twist creation and energy into patterns that go against God’s Will. But the roots of a person or community are still good.
Depression is a painful sickness, and healing from it involves entering grief to deal with loss. Often specific painful experiences come up repeatedly as traumatic memories, causing depression in a PTSD way, similar to what Dee wrote on this blog very recently. And many people feel complicit in what happened to them, but the important thing is to heal the toxic shame that restricts our hearts. I think the The Ethics of Beauty (I watched an interview about it) is great for teaching people about recovery from shame. It’s a therapeutic book.
Xenia says:
September 7, 2020 at 4:48 pm
Scott, I appreciate your thoughtful contribution to this good conversation. I would encourage anyone who wants to take a next step toward overcoming depression to read my late husband, Donald Sheehan’s, new book (from Ancient Faith) entitled *The Shield of Psalmic Prayer.* This title is half of one of the book’s chapter titles, “7. The Sword of Depression and the Shield of Psalmic Prayer,” which explores Psalm 101 (LXX; 102 MT). The chapter précis opens with this: “The sword of depression is the despondency that cuts off prayer, which in turn cuts off our living connection with the Creator. To combat it we must engage in spiritual (not psychological) warfare, meeting the sword of depression with the shield of psalmic prayer with such strength and personal presence that the enemy’s sword breaks against our shield. As penitents, we live on earth as guerrilla fighters in enemy territory.” Don ends the chapter with this: “As the lights flicker and threaten to go out completely, the psalmist suddenly seizes hold of (or, better, is seized by) the unceasing aliveness of God, an aliveness that brings with it the divine compassion that is the antidote to the poison of depression. And in so seizing hold, the psalmist instantly pushes back against the overwhelming condition ( the *how* he is) and calls forth the deeper reality of *who* he is in relation to *who* God is” (p. 120).
Xenia says:
September 7, 2020 at 4:52 pm
Sorry, a correction. It was Scott’s comment that Ivan was replying to, so this is actually directed to Ivan.
Dee of St Hermans says:
September 7, 2020 at 6:42 pm
I have to admit, if the Higgs field didn’t reveal the resurrection, I would have had a very difficult time holding on to faith. But similar to what Simon describes, if it wasn’t that, it might have been love of all things. That too, in itself, might be difficult depending on our life experiences. Ironically, it was when I almost lost my life, that a true appreciation of life began to form. Under those circumstances and with about 50 years of hindsight, that experience has shown itself to be providential.
I spent more time in my life as a believer, but non Christian. I had defined Christianity through my experiences with it, albeit at the hands of those who were self-righteous Protestants. And my experiences with it ended while I was quite young because those experiences were quite revolting and psychologically damaging. As a result, I have few positive words to describe Protestantism. Although I have met a few loving and God-inspired Protestants. I can’t help commiserating with Scott. Although our life experiences are likely quite different.
I’m not sure whether you have an interest to explore Orthodoxy, Scott. But if you are, this blog would be an appropriate place for questions about it.
Dee of St Hermans says:
September 7, 2020 at 7:44 pm
I’m not sure whether it is best to emphasize this at this point. But I believe I am reiterating what you have said in the past, and hopefully, will be of benefit.
Given the present circumstances in this culture, politics and pandemic, there is an ever increasing pressure toward separation and disengagement with others. And the effects of this can be seen with the rise in suicide and suicide attempts.
I sincerely honor the ‘spiritual way’ of healing. But this must be paired with cognitive therapy of the sort that has been proven to support psychological disfunction, just as we have seen in the Wisdom of Sirac (a biblical reference escapes me at the moment). We are human. Physical body and spiritual soul. Both need appropriate and healthy means of healing.
This is to Xenia and to Fr Stephen:
If I hear (or interpret) someone saying “not psychological help”, positioning a spiritual path only in cases in which someone is severely suffering from psychological damage/trauma, my radar goes up and, well, all I can say is ‘I’m not so sure about that’.
ScottTX says:
September 7, 2020 at 7:56 pm
“Please forgive my curiosity, but which Bach were you referring to?“
Dee, J.S. Bach. His music sounds to me like it couldn’t have been born of this world, like Jesus’ call to love your enemies.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 7, 2020 at 8:50 pm
I very much share your thoughts/experience on Back. Indeed, transcendent beauty (when we encounter it on those rare occasions) is probably one of the clearest gateways to God – it simply defies explanation.
ScottTX says:
September 7, 2020 at 9:43 pm
“Self-compassion is critical to recover from depression, as the tendency to beat oneself up is dangerous, while respecting oneself leads to happiness and good spiritual health.”
I’ve always found self-forgiveness to be troubling since you can never be sure if God’s forgiven you. Without that, self-forgiveness is unmoored. Maybe this is perfectionism, but a final Japanese sword-across-the-belly repentance has always appealed to me rather than petty cycles of sin and repentance, which seem to lack gravity and certainty.
Or is it that self-annihilation appeals because it feels like the ultimate trade to expiate all sin, and it also guarantees that feelings of blame and guilt go away? As in, “God, if I cease to be, will you stop blaming me?”
That is, it’s better to feel nothing than to feel bad. Some people find temporary self-annihilation in a pill bottle or flask, though I’ve avoided that so far.
September 7, 2020 at 9:56 pm
You can ALWAYS be sure that God has forgiven you. That is the point. That seems to me to be almost the entire point.
September 7, 2020 at 10:59 pm
ScottTX, indeed the forgiveness jas already bern given. We just need to enter into it. I make it difficult on myself. What I could have had 50 odd years ago took me a long time to accept. Jesus does not force us or really demand much from us. That is perhaps why it is so difficult because, fundamentally simple. Not easy.
September 8, 2020 at 9:30 am
ScottTX, Thank you for this entire latest discussion on the thread. I relate to it all.
Personally, I find that I have little trouble these days with the idea that God has ‘forgiven’ all my manifest and multilayered sins and inadequacies. The inverted commas are partly because I do wonder whether God actually ever had a problem as such, and because the word can sometimes seem to carry judicial overtones that are unhelpful. The idea of God’s forgiveness is deeply connection to mercy, and rescue. I keep on coming back to the parable of the two sons and wondering at the very non-judicial image of “forgiveness” in it.
Rather, I currently feel that my real problem is that at a fairly deep level I just don’t (can’t?) forgive myself for them, or let them go, or think they should be let go of. Which means that while I may word “God forgive me”, another part of me does not want God to forgive me, because he “shouldn’t” and if he did that is a cop out. That may sound a bit bizarre, but alas I think it’s the psychological truth of much of my own existential and religious angst. Not really God’s problem, it’s about me and my projections. I am not entirely sure what to do about it, because seeing it in this way does not make the feel of it go away. I did say “currently” though, above. No doubt the problems will later reveal themselves to be something different – if I survive this round!
I think (hope?) part of dealing with all of this is just sticking with it, and trying to stay kind, hard though that often is.
One thing I have found helpful is to just to sit with the story of the dark stranger in Genesis 32 who appears from nowhere and starts trying to wrestle Jacob, and indeed spends all of what must have been a very long night trying to throw him. (That image by itself is a total icon.) At daybreak, having not prevailed, the stranger even successfully wounds Jacob that leaves a lasting mark. But the key turning point in the story comes as the stranger tries to leave at this point. Surely most people in such a situation might say “good riddance”. But Jacob’s insight was at that point to hold on to the stranger until it gave him a blessing. By doing that the stranger reveals that Jacob had been struggling with God and prevailed and gives him a new name (i.e. tranformation).
I can’t help but feel that one way of relating to long dark suffering (inner) times is knowing when to wrestle (most of the time!), then when to hold on until the suffering offers up a blessing. Suffering that is just interminably suffered then run away from is just useless suffering. If it can be made to offer a blessing, then it may reveal God’s presence in a very unexpected way and lead to transformation.
At least that’s the way it feels to me.
I still often feel I am wrestling in the dark though, if that’s any consolation.
ScottTX says:
September 8, 2020 at 10:48 am
“ I just don’t (can’t?) forgive myself for them, or let them go, or think they should be let go of. Which means that while I may word “God forgive me”, another part of me does not want God to forgive me, because he “shouldn’t” and if he did that is a cop out. That may sound a bit bizarre, but alas I think it’s the psychological truth of much of my own existential and religious angst.”
It is not bizarre because that’s what I think too. It doesn’t sound right for God to forgive my sins. I want some stripes on my back I can point to and tell the accusers inside and outside my head, “Buzz off, I paid!”
My own personal accuser wants me to pay. Blame heaped on blame heaped on blame until my forehead gets tight and I take a daytime nap to check out of consciousness.
Dee of St Hermans says:
September 8, 2020 at 2:00 pm
The god you’re describing is certainly the one we have been inundated with in this culture. That god doesn’t like people of color either, or so my mother was told. That psychological damage you describe (wanting to be punished) was/is intentional by the adversary. That same voice once told me that I don’t deserve good things in my life such as a loving husband or healthy and happy children.
I emphasize this point. This is the voice of the adversary and not the voice of God.
God does love you and wants good things for you, body and soul.
September 8, 2020 at 4:31 pm
Another thought. I mentioned the parable of the two sons. Most people seem to identify it with the younger (prodigal) one who behaved appallingly including in his treatment of his father, and is (seemingly self-interestedly mainly) looking to return to his true home because of the mess he is in. The description of the father rejoicing and sacrificing his own dignity to make that happen out of love is a remarkable and powerful story of overwhelming mercy. In the end, the problem with healing and reconciliation taking place is neither the prodigal nor the father, it’s the !%$#* elder son, who ends up scorning his father (“Listen!” is his first word to his father (!) and pointing out how he feels wronged by the father’s mercy towards his brother) out of contempt for his wayward brother. It is he who will not come to the party of mercy being shown.
I definitely have a prodigal that needs to come home, and keeps on needing to come home. I have little doubt that I have a very merciful father. My great stumbling block is this huge inner elder brother who is as stubborn as all heck. One thing I really like about the parable is that we don’t hear how it ends. Although the father’s mercy was being extended to him despite his outrageous impertinence did he ever become capable of being softened by it? Did the elder son ever come into the house? Was there ever any reconciliation between the three of them, and if not what happened to the house, the house not healed because of the elder son.
That’s a maybe roundabout way of suggesting that when your “personal accuser” pops up (and will, like Jacob’s dark stranger keep on popping up, alas), maybe think of him as your inner elder brother per the parable. Remember the father’s words and invitation to him to., and that he is loved, and if the household is ever to be made whole again he will need to come to the party and become reconciled, recognizing that there is a kind of eternal pattern in all of this.
That’s one of the things I try to do, anyway, when engaging in the ongoing wrestle until daybreak when hopefully I can get this elder brother to give me a blessing.
Godspeed with you in your struggle my fellow traveller.
ScottTX says:
September 8, 2020 at 5:21 pm
Thanks, Ziton. I had never looked at the parable that way.
Ivan says:
September 8, 2020 at 10:12 pm
Thank you for recommending your late husband Donald’s book! I read the book’s description and the online sample pages’ foreword and introduction right away, and it sounds very interesting and beautiful. I plan to keep reading the sample pages, and I appreciate the reminder to pray the Psalms more often. I am not sure when I might buy Donald’s book, but I have been looking for an Orthodox commentary on the Psalms for a while. I will keep the Psalms and the need to study them in mind.
In my response to Scott, I focused on the Orthodox relational principles and theological truths that can help someone who has depression but is not yet ready for a traditional prayer rule. Of course praying the Psalms and studying them is very helpful for recovery from any vice and disease – but not everyone reads them, and many people seeking God are not comfortable with rigorous prayer and lack a spiritual father to guide them in learning how to do it. It can take a long time to get ready for daily, disciplined prayer – and I’m sure that’s fine with Christ, Who is patient and wants people to grow in a calm, unhurried way. I think the book of Donald’s journals that you edited is an advanced text, not so accessible for seekers who are at an earlier phase of Orthodox life or not yet catechumens. To approach the Psalms from an Orthodox perspective is difficult for those coming from another religious background.
Spiritual warfare often overlaps with one’s psychological issues and skills. My parish priest encourages me to participate in psychological therapy, and both Orthodoxy and the scientific consensus validate the benefits of counseling for treating depression and other mental or emotional diseases. All diseases are also spiritual, but that does not make therapy worldly or ineffective, as Dee eloquently wrote. I know the psychological community is struggling with an ethics crisis, as they lack training or a consensus foundation of faith in counseling on moral issues, and made a big mistake in turning to Westernized Buddhism for their postmodern methods of treatment. But many psychologists are Christians, and we had better not reject their professional work, considering that it mostly serves God and works well.
While Dee wrote about the very popular, scientifically rigorous and broadly effective kind of therapy called CBT, it is not a catch-all. Rather, many professionals say, and I I agree, that each disease is better treated by different methods, from ACT to psychoanalysis, depending on each patient or client’s unique needs and personality. There is a wide range of approaches, which can involve poetry or literature. Sometimes I read passages from the Psalms with my psychologist for insight into my experiences and inspiration for how to cope and live well – therapy can absolutely be Christian and spiritual.
Few Christians realize that depression is technically a sin, studied by St. John Cassian and other Church Fathers. St. John wrote that depression proceeds from anger and causes acedia, in a chain of moral and emotional events. That idea is difficult to understand for people living in a modern, Western society, but shows that psychology is an integral part of Orthodox patristic science. The process of therapy is meant to aid in self-understanding and repentance, just like prayer. I don’t think we need to disagree about how depression is overcome – the different approaches are mostly compatible and each person finds a unique path ordained by Christ.
I really like this part of the end of chapter 7 that you quoted – “divine compassion … is the antidote to the poison of depression.” That thought is well put and very Orthodox. I think psychological warfare is part of God’s compassion for humanity – He provides many tools and treatments, not just the Psalms or prayer. I do not like to separate spirituality from psychology too much – the human psyche is made in Christ’s image, and our battle with sin is multifaceted.
Ivan says:
September 8, 2020 at 10:32 pm
A blog cannot provide pastoral care the way only an ordained priest can. I hesitate to fully reply to your newest comments, because it sounds like I can’t and shouldn’t try to persuade you of God’s right and desire to forgive everyone “by the Light of His Resurrection.” I can only offer a few thoughts.
According to St. John Cassian, the eight deadly or cardinal sins happen in a chain of events – gluttony, unchastity, avarice, anger, dejection, restlessness, and separately, self-esteem and pride. Dejection means depression, and so the battle with depression always involves preceding anger. That is why I wrote on self-forgiveness – it is ideal for dealing with the self-anger that usually causes depression. It is usually painful at first and can seem fake, it is actually a deeply Christian thing to do. It typically leads to a discovery that we are angry with other people too, perhaps with God Himself, and need to work on forgiveness a lot more than we thought.
Forgiveness is one of Fr. Stephen’s most controversial blog post topics. Forgiveness is almost socially forbidden – it goes against the culture where we are “addicted to outrage” and demand punishment of enemies, especially in politics. But this is one of the biggest ascetic trials in human life, so of course it’s difficult. I have spent thousands of hours working on forgiveness and studying it for more than a decade – but I am relatively new to Orthodoxy and very young, so I don’t have much experience to share. Loving my former enemies and respecting myself is good and feels authentic. I can’t prove the transformation of heart that happens through forgiveness is real, but I can continue to practice it.
Here is the relevant essay from St. John Cassian:
These quotes might be helpful:
“The Lord’s intention is that we should remove the root of anger, its spark, so to speak, in whatever way we can, and not keep even a single pretext for anger in our hearts. Otherwise we will be stirred to anger initially for what appears to be a good reason and then find that our incensive power is totally out of control.”
“The only form of dejection we should cultivate is the sorrow which goes with repentance for sin and is accompanied by hope in God. It was of this form of dejection that the Apostle said: ‘Godly sorrow produces a saving repentance which is not to be repented of (2 Corinthians 7:10). This ‘godly sorrow’ nourishes the soul through the hope engendered by repentance, and it is mingled with joy.”
ScottTX says:
September 9, 2020 at 12:36 am
Thank you Ivan, your few thoughts were very thorough.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 9, 2020 at 8:16 am
Ivan, et al
Just a quick note on depression (acedia) as a sin. Our Western mindset has a very moralistic understanding of sin and so to say that depression is a sin can be easily misheard. The modern mind thinks “sin” means a “wrong action that I choose.” Very voluntaristic. Therefore, saying to someone that “depression is a sin” is heard as “and it’s your fault.” Which is just the sort of thing that can crush a soul. It would me.
In Orthodox thought, sin and death are pretty synonymous. “Death” is the disease at work in us, separating us from God, alienating us even from our own selves, slowly working to destroy soul and body. “Sin” is, more or less, the various ways that work of death is manifest. In that sense, “sin” is a symptom rather than the disease. As such, just like physical symptoms, a particular sin can even be helpful as a signal of something deeper going on.
Depression has many causes. Very few of them are affected by choices, other than a choice to seek help. Medication can assist in a process of healing. Some people, for a variety of reasons, are simply “prone” to depression. Those, for example, who are prone to anxiety are frequently prone to depression – they go together. Shame, I think, particularly toxic forms of shame, are a frequent source of recurring depression. Healing its death-dealing wounds can be a long, slow process that needs therapeutic assistance. This is particularly true when the shame wound begins in early life.
What fascinates me, is the general soundness of patristic thought on much of this stuff – when it is properly understood and translated. The reason is that they were working largely from experience. The framework was largely drawn from earlier, philosophical sources, and honed in Christian experience. In the same manner, we should not be hesitant to draw from frameworks that have a clinical/medical basis.
The other caveat is this: we read the texts of the fathers, but often have only our imagination to help us understand what they mean. For example, the use of “godly sorrow” (penthos) in the quote from St. John Cassian. We think we know what it means, but can actually only know what it means because we seen or encountered in an authentic form in someone, or stumbled upon it ourselves. The same is true of much else. Thus, it’s good to read with a healthy ignorance – realizing how much we don’t know.
Pray, and when you do “know” something, use it. Be patient. None of us are being judged on how well we do any of this – except in the sense of God’s judgment finally healing us.
September 9, 2020 at 9:16 am
While much can be gained focusing on our sins specifically as we each need to, we should always be gentle with ourselves and each other. I have been in the Church awhile, but am still young in the work in many ways. What has helped me recently is to recognize, as Father says, that sin, whatever its specific form, is the death of separation from God. As I strengthen my longing for God and turn to Him in repentance (sorrow for being separated from Him) forgiveness of myself and others is much easier. How can I forgive someone who has hurt me deeply? It can turn into an effort of will. More death.
Scott is right, none of us deserve grace but that is just it, earning and deserving it are not part of what God does. So, I rarely ask for forgiveness, just mercy. Mercy is always a gift.
If I can come to the point where I want to punish myself a little bit less, that is a aspect of mercy. As Shakespeare says: “The quality of mercy is not strained, it droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven upon the earth beneath.” Dew forms out of the very air around us. So does mercy. Indeed, mercy is everywhere.
Asking for mercy, I am acknowledging that I am unworthy and deserve to be punished and all of that. None of the facts of the case, so to speak, change. And yet, everything changes.
“I have no wedding garment to worthily enter”. Yeah true, really true but so what? “Make radiant the garment of me soul oh giver of Light” and save me anyway.
Is it presumption to ask God to save me even when I am totally unworthy? It would be except for one thing, Jesus words on the Cross: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
All of our sins are done in ignorance. Only the evil one and his minions sin in full knowledge of what they are doing. But when they approach us they always use subterfuge. They like to trick us into thinking that their temptations, no matter what they are, come from our own knowledge and motivation. Mostly they do not, The evil one is quite good at mimicking our our inner voice. Most of us do not want to sin, our own inner voice is just too weak for us to hear. It is masked by the tempters. One big one they use is worthy/not worthy dichotomy. That is a false dichotomy. Only the lamb that was slain is worthy. Rev. 5:12 If I focus on my unworthiness, I have closed and locked the door of my own prison from the inside. But the key I still have.
My late wife once worked in a liquor store late at night alone.. One night, a young man came in in a mask and and tried to rob the place, threatening her with harm. She looked him in the eye and simply said, “You don’t want to do that”. He came to himself and turned around and left. She was able to recognize who he really was and speak to him. She had seen him earlier in the week casing the place.
God does the same thing but much more easily. He can do that fully because He created us and then became incarnate. He literally knows us from the inside out.
Scott, if you have not, you might want to read St. Athanasius “On the Incarnation” the version with the forward by C.S. Lewis.
September 9, 2020 at 9:23 am
I really wish there was a way to mark comments so they could be categorized and returned to with ease. I have tried copying discussions/comments to save but it is too much to track. Ah well.
Andrew says:
September 9, 2020 at 8:59 pm
An interesting detail it reminded me of is in C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy, he refers to gold as “sun’s blood.”
Ivan says:
September 10, 2020 at 1:46 am
Fr. Stephen,
I appreciate your constructive criticism very much, and try to agree with you. Thank you for explaining my mistake so patiently. As I wrote earlier, a priest or clinician is needed when someone is depressed – because trained professionals are more polite and helpful, especially with the sacraments and spiritual questions. My approach to my own healing, which I share rarely because I recognize my ignorance, is less educated. Frankly I have concluded that discussing depression or many other normally pastoral topics is unlikely to help someone outside of formal counseling or close friendship. It is tempting to discuss how I approach repentance because I enjoy the process of theosis so much.
My understanding of sin is not very Western like it was when I was younger and misled by American popular culture. I don’t believe God gets angry about sin, and am sure everyone will eventually be saved, perhaps after some undetermined length of time in further repentance after death. And I see sin as a sad thing to be healed, not a reason to feel guilty. Once while visiting a local prison as part of a college class, I learned a lot about guilt. I already felt that it was not useful in repentance, and rather believed in contrition or compunction. We were warmly welcomed in the prison, but the guilt common among the inmates seemed like America’s popular version of repentance that does not really work well. So I see a conflict between the guilt-focused culture and Orthodoxy’s heart-centered approach to how one should feel about one’s sins.
The scientific approach to depression can be disempowering or even unethical, which is why some Christians express anti-psychological sentiments. That is a big part of the comments I was responding to, but not what I normally think. Some people feel a need to understand their condition in a moral way, which can be moralistic. I think morality can heal us, if we understand and apply it well. I don’t want to give up on things that trigger shame, because that goes against St. John Chrysostom’s teaching that we need healthy shame, as it provides awareness of boundaries and reality. I think I missed how it can be hurtful to cite that ‘dejection’ (not acedia, that’s the next one in the text) or depression is a sin because I find this knowledge so precious and healing (as I explain further below). If sins are diseases of death, then I conclude that all diseases are caused by someone’s sin (not necessarily that of the sufferer himself). This is another view of Providence, where nothing happens without a cause.
I love St. John of Kronstadt’s teaching about “being forced into sin,” as it goes well with the modern idea of a cycle of violence where “hurt people hurt people.” Nobody would sin if they knew what they were doing and had a clear vision of God’s Will with the ability to obey Him. I agree that much sin is involuntary – but if we only counted ‘culpable’ sins, we would have nothing to confess. “God does not punish,” as Abbot Tryphon writes, so I do not mean that sin is a reason for guilt, rather I find it useful to keep the passions in mind for identification and proactive response. I feel deeply motivated by knowing what to call my sins and how to interpret them, which helps in planning a course of treatment and recovery. The virtues are used to resist the vices, and this moral knowledge provides guidance.
When I discovered St. John Cassian’s writings on the passions, I felt relieved of shame about my diseases and inspired to repent comfortably. It felt like a theological Christmas present, as I found it online around that time of year. I don’t find St. John’s writing more moralistic than that of St. Paul or some words of Jesus Christ – in fact Jesus is harsher, so it can be painful to read the Gospel. I trust that they all intend to help people heal and grow, not feel bad about themselves.
Because modern science is Darwinistic (perhaps unnatural competitiveness is inherent to evolutionary theory, but I don’t know – my concern is with “survival of the fittest” being exclusionary and inhumane), and attaches hypocritically worse stigma to mentally ill people while claiming to reduce stigma by de-moralizing conditions such as alcoholism. It feels worse to be ‘evolutionarily unfit’ according to a dehumanizing, atheistic ideology than to be a sinner battling my sins by God’s loving grace. I see morality as a reliable part of the way Christ leads people and nations out of Darwinism and eugenics.
If sins are only diseases, then people will restore the stigma around sin in clinical or scientific ways. We can’t avoid stigma by using a disease model in a secular, harsh world – the stigma just goes somewhere else and returns again. The psychological community promises humanistic acceptance, but only God can make us accepting people – the ability to not judge others, whether they are mentally ill or not, is a gift only Christ can give. Christ’s love, patience, and forgiveness defeat stigma. I seek a balanced therapeutic approach that sees the paradox of morality and uses it to transform shame into joy. All negative emotions, including shame and guilt, can be healed into positive ones. Studying morality can be crushing or liberating, so I’ll try to err on the side of caution in mentioning it.
I was depressed for a long time but feel usually happy these days. The guidance and support of an elder abbess I visited on a brief pilgrimage last year made a huge difference in my self-image, behavior, and hope for the future. I think many people need to hear the kind of wisdom and clairvoyant insight that only elders have, but few people know where to find a monastery. By the way, the abbess said humanity was created much later (9,000 years ago) than the cosmos was (billions of years ago), so the age of the Earth is independent of human history. I think that timeline allows for peace between different factions in the cosmology debates – young humanity, old Earth and universe.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 10, 2020 at 7:50 am
Thank you for your patience, as well. I also suspect that we have a different understanding of the word(s) moral, morality. Healthy shame is absolutely essential in life – and little understood. The abuse of the morality model that I have in mind is far more geared towards toxic shame. But, that is something that I’ve written about elsewhere.
My “corrections” were simply the concern for how someone might have misconstrued what you were saying. There is very little that can be said in these matters of the inner life without some hesitancy as to how it is being heard. I have seen very innocent remarks send someone into a psychological tailspin of devastation. I add to that the daily reality that readers here come from the full range of cultures and cultural experience across the globe. I am amazed that together we do not step all over each other all the time. That, I take it, is a work of grace.
God keep you in your journey.
September 10, 2020 at 9:17 am
If sins are only diseases, then people will restore the stigma around sin in clinical or scientific ways. We can’t avoid stigma by using a disease model in a secular, harsh world – the stigma just goes somewhere else and returns again.
I think that the world does not repent of its sin. Rather, it repackages it. As has been pointed out on this blog many times, the human heart has not changed throughout time. What was once “just a negro/chinaman/woman/fetus” is now “just a disease” (or some other identification). This is not “progress”, but rather a refocus of the same, sinful heart on a more socially acceptable victim. It is, sadly, how a heart steeped in the world, works. A never ending culture of death.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 10, 2020 at 9:27 am
My reason for using a “disease” model for talking about sin is not really so much about removing the stigma associated with it. It’s that the moral/voluntaristic model is inaccurate and does not adequately describe what is going on inside us. If you read Romans 7, you will see this clearly described by St. Paul. “The good that I would do, I do not do, while the thing I do not want to do is the thing that I do…” etc., and he describes this as a “body of death.” “Sin is at work in my members.” It’s not my imagery – it’s St. Paul’s.
The moralistic approach’s failures are well-illustrated by their near total ineffectiveness in treating things like addictions. You can “will” to quit and fail again and again. The “disease” model is simply more accurate.
Now, we have responsibilities in dealing with our diseases. Some, indeed, are “our fault.” But, frankly, figuring out whose fault something might be still doesn’t fix anything other than if you’re trying to figure out who to punish. Punishment is also among the most ineffective things ever devised.
Understanding the nature of sin and its ways of working in us – is foundational for its healing. Christ makes healing and forgiveness synonymous in his healing of the paralytic. If someone finds a moralistic approach to be helpful, well and good. But it has a very nasty history.
It is worth noting that moralistic thinking is extremely popular among atheists and the radical left. They are perhaps the most moralistic people of our time. It makes me suspicious.
September 10, 2020 at 9:59 am
The photograph at the beginning of your post is so beautiful, I nearly wept.
September 10, 2020 at 1:15 pm
Being very quick to judge myself, it is too rare that I step back from the habit and trust God to be my only judge. Ironically, I have to remind myself that He’s perfectly capable of getting my attention.
Ivan says:
September 11, 2020 at 2:46 am
Fr. Stephen,
You are welcome for my patience; I like your perspective a lot. My love of morality is probably much more unusual than I knew about. I am very grateful for the context you provide about how people often experience moral and moralistic ideas. I forget how much toxic shame happens through moralism, especially in cases of bullying. It took me a long time to find a way to enjoy morality in a way that feels authentic and comfortable. I will consider why in our society and world so many people are struggling with toxic shame. I think it means there are multiple steps to the process of repentance, first seeking God’s love and then changing behavior based on His commandments.
I read Romans 7 to see what you refer to, and I think what St. Paul says is more complex, but he is difficult to understand without a commentary. In 7:12-14, he seems to say that the moral law is holy, not wrong, but sin takes advantage of the law and human weakness. To me that means we can’t avoid the law by using another model – moral problems are not going away except through healing that “delights in the law of God” (7:22). I now think a healthy use of God’s law, with comfortable shame, is very rare, so I should thank God for giving me such grace.
St. Paul develops an advanced idea in the end of this chapter, one I have contemplated many times over the years. I think he is saying he follows God’s law in his mind, but continues to struggle with addiction in his flesh. He doesn’t seem to ever let go of moralism, or he would not be so moralistic throughout his epistles in general.
In my experience studying and praying with God’s law does help with addiction, but not in a conventional way. My method is to cultivate authentic, ‘intrinsic’ motivation to obey God and respect everyone involved in the moral situation, so I commit to the law in a bright, cheerful way. It feels liberating, not judgmental. Fr. Michael Gillis’ method, as described in his blog article that I linked to earlier, is the most similar account I’ve seen, but it’s also a successful application of morality. Compassion for oneself and others, together with loving attachment to one’s family and all humanity, are critical aspects of how I see morality integrated in the cosmos and human communities. In other words, the fact that people repeat habitual sins many times for me is not a reason to set moralism aside – rather I seek a creative way to use the law for healing, not judgment. As long as it is framed supportively, the law probably won’t hurt anyone’s feelings.
A disease model can be theological or secular, and include morality to various degrees. I am concerned by how secular models are usually less merciful, even if they are not moralistic. In fact I find God’s law itself merciful, so leaving it out feels unfair to people with moral challenges. Perhaps my perspective is different because I had big moral questions for many years, and felt undereducated about what is right and wrong. So now that I am aware of Christ’s commandments, I find Him telling me how to behave comforting and beautiful. Though I struggled with toxic shame, I figured out that it was not of God, so there had to be another way.
I find the ‘chemical dependency’ model of addiction materialistic, as it focuses on the brain’s pathology, not the heart’s shame wounds or a person’s inner pain. I don’t like how the disease model is usually presented, but it can probably be used pleasantly too.
I have felt healed by Confession and when forgiving others, but I don’t think we can rely on God granting healing simultaneously with forgiveness. I am sure my sins are fully forgiven, and bear little resentment, but am still sick.
I agree that moralistic thinking is popular among radicals, but the radical right is moralistic too, not just the left. I suspect, based on experience, that radicals have heavy shame wounds that motivate their activism and outrage. Perhaps it’s not really sincere how they blame opposing politicians for their suffering and dissatisfaction with society, rather a cry for help. I feel a lot of compassion for those caught up in radicalism, as it took me years to recover from that kind of despair, fear, and idolatry. However radicals are not committed to traditional morals, rather to political ethics, which is more about scandals, power, and winning arguments. So I see them using judgment and anger as rhetorical weapons against their opponents, not in truly moral ways. Political correctness is a shallow substitute for God’s law.
Atheists tend to accuse the Church and/or God of moralistic judgment and hypocrisy, while seeking an alternative form of justice. Failure to morally thrive is a big reason people leave the Church – I think it’s one of the biggest reasons youth tend to leave. People need ways to repent that are comfortable and based in Christ’s love – and a lot of that means needing role models to imitate. The lives of saints are very helpful for inspiring repentance by example. I guess that’s what I need to read next.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 11, 2020 at 9:03 am
You’re obviously working through all of this quite carefully. You’re also quite committed to the term “moral” and “moralistic,” etc. Along with a number of other Orthodox writers, I prefer to use that term to describe a particular way of seeing the Law and rules, etc., and therefore do not use the term in very positive manner. It is worth noting that it is not a Biblical term, and is therefore imported into the Scriptures when we choose to use it to describe what we’re reading. I do not think St. Paul is describing a “moral” approach except when he was describing his failure.
I would define “moral,” in terms of “moralistic” as the effort, by the will, to follow a set of prescriptions imposed from outside. That’s why it can be attributed to atheists and non-believers. Anybody can “try” to follow a set of rules, regardless of whether the rules are good or bad. Worse still, following the rules can make you “moral” but mean nothing more. The Pharisees (including St. Paul before his conversion) kept the rules of the Law very well (or so they thought) and Jesus described them well: “You are white-washed tombs, but inside you are filled with dead men’s bones.”
It is not our failure to keep rules – no matter how good the rules – that is our problem. The Law never could have given life.
What is required and needed by us is an inner change – an inner resurrection. I choose to use the term “healing” and associated terms to describe that process. Rules, rightly understood, can be of some assistance, but they are not the primary means of that healing. That healing comes through union with Jesus Christ – something that is rooted in the sacraments and the life associated with it. In this new life, God uses even our weakness to save us: “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
The terms “moral” and associated words have a long history in English. They have been part of theological and ethical systems that were not grounded in Orthodox thought – usually in Catholic and Protestant thought and then borrowed into secular ideas. In my writing, I am trying to separate some things out for the purpose of better understanding – so people can begin to see clearly the teaching of the Orthodox faith without confusion and mixing it up with all of the various mistaken and misguided things they have heard through the years from these other sources. It requires me to be careful with words, but is a ministry that I think has borne good fruit in helping people to understand the faith.
If you find it helpful – well and good. If not – then just lay it aside. I don’t mean to argue with those who find it less than helpful, but I need to continue to be clear in how and why I use the words I do for the sake of those who do find it helpful.
Blessings.
September 11, 2020 at 12:28 pm
It helps me to remember that everything about our will, thoughts, attitudes, actions, and so on, is ultimately about our relationships with God and others. Nothing of importance – in the end – is about our performance relative to a code of conduct. A static moral standard can push loving others right out of our heart; It can become an idol. “Love God with all your … and your neighbor as yourself.” Moralism fixes our attention us on our own performance instead of others. The very purpose and fulfillment of our life is to embody and give Christ’s love. I believe that moralism feeds an insidious form of pride because it encourages us to look at and judge ourselves. Since Christ is our standard and judge we’re better off looking into his eyes for approval.
September 11, 2020 at 2:35 pm
In more practical, simplistic terms, I have begun praying daily to not be a stumbling block for anyone else. It provides a focus that keeps me grounded, I think, and helps me to not impose myself on anyone else.
September 11, 2020 at 2:50 pm
Xenia says:
September 11, 2020 at 7:46 pm
Great response. Thank you for that clear formulation.
Ivan says:
September 12, 2020 at 12:29 am
Fr. Stephen,
I think we agree more than it seems, due to our different language usage and cultural backgrounds. I don’t want to argue either, so I will simply share two prayers below that I think show a non-moralistic unity of righteousness energized by God’s love.
I just finished rereading your book, and liked the last two chapters the best. Those chapters reminded me to focus on relationships and reconciliation to see God in others. I appreciate the encouragement to forgive generously.
Come, O Lord and perform Thy will in me. Thy commandments find no place in my cramped heart, and my poor mind cannot discern their content. For if Thou wilt not come and abide in me, I perish. I know that thou dost not coerce but I pray Thee, in power enter into my house and give me new life. Transform my benighted pride into Thy humble love. By Thy light transfigure my all perverted nature, that not a single passion posses me to prevent the coming of Thy Father and Thee, to make me a holy abode for the life which Thou Thyself has vouchsafed me to behold. Yeah O Lord, I beseech Thee, perform in me this token of Thy kindness.
Fr. Stephen Freeman says:
September 12, 2020 at 7:21 am
Thank you, Ivan. St. Sophrony has been an important influence in my thinking.
ScottTX says:
October 9, 2020 at 1:36 pm
I mentioned J.S. Bach above, but forgot to mention that if you too love Bach, there’s an online video project to record all his works by the Netherlands Bach Society at http://www.allofbach.com. One of the most wholesome things on the internet.
Dee of St Hermans says:
October 9, 2020 at 3:34 pm
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Our parents want their independence and want to live their own lives as they see fit, yet they may need a little help to remain as independent as possible. If your elderly parent is in relatively good health and doesn't need a lot of assistance with every day tasks, an assisted living facility is a terrific option. The Laurelhurst House lifestyle offers an actively engaging atmosphere that offers everyone opportunities to participate in a variety of life enriching activities to stimulate the mind, body and soul.
No matter how slow our elders go, they are still lapping everybody on the couch. Our life enrichment managers will get your loved ones in shape with exercise, fitness and wellness programs. We believe health is much more dependent on our habits and nutrition than on medicine.
social activities
every day
It's hard not to have a great time when you're surrounded by enthusiastic loving people. Our assisted living community offers daily social, cultural and recreational activities to motivate and inspire our elderly residents. Promoting an active and healthy life is one of our everyday goals
their vote is their
Every resident at Laurelhurst House has a say in what food they're eating, what activities they're doing and what entertainment they're enjoying inside and outside the facility. Our senior care residents formed a resident council that votes on these and many other popular topics.
Living at home alone can often be lonely and isolating. Being stuck at home without frequent visits from a family member or a caretaker will often make an elderly parent feel trapped and can burden them with daily responsibilities. A good assisted living community like Laurelhurst House will give your senior parent much more freedom than they have in their own home because many of their day to day responsibilities are taken care of by the facility. There is no perfect plan for all elders, but we can work with you to come up with a plan that builds trust and can give your parent that freedom they desire.
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The last 18 months changed what many buyers are looking for in a home. Recently, the American Institute of Architects released their AIA Home Design Trends Survey results for Q3 2021. The survey reveals the following:
70% of respondents want more outdoor living space
69% of respondents want a home office (48% wanted multiple offices)
46% of respondents want a multi-function room/flexible space
39% of respondents want an exercise room/yoga space
If you’re a homeowner who wants to add any of the above, you have two options: renovate your current house or buy a home that already has the spaces you desire. The decision you make could be determined by factors like:
The difference in the cost of a renovation versus a purchase
Finding an existing home or designing a new home that has exactly what you want (versus trying to restructure the layout of your current house)
In either case, you’ll need access to capital: the funds for the renovation or the down payment your next home would require. The great news is that the money you need probably already exists in your current home in the form of equity.
The record-setting increases in home prices over the last two years dramatically improved homeowners’ equity. The graph below uses data from CoreLogic to show the average home equity gain in the first quarter of the last nine years:Odeta Kushi, Deputy Chief Economist at First American, quantifies the amount of equity homeowners gained recently:
“Remember U.S. households own nearly $35 trillion in owner-occupied real estate, just over $11 trillion in debt, and the remaining ~$24 trillion in equity. In inflation adjusted terms, homeowners in Q2 had an average of $280,000 in equity- a historic high.”
As a homeowner, the money you need to purchase the perfect home or renovate your current house may be right at your fingertips. However, waiting to make your decision may increase the cost of tapping that equity.
If you decide to renovate, you’ll need to refinance (or take out an equity loan) to access the equity. If you decide to move instead and use your equity as a down payment, you’ll still need to mortgage the remaining difference between the down payment and the cost of your next home.
Mortgage rates are forecast to increase over the next year. Waiting to leverage your equity will probably mean you’ll pay more to do so. According to the latest data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), almost 57% of current mortgage holders have a mortgage rate of 4% or below. If you’re one of those homeowners, you can keep your mortgage rate under 4% by doing it now. If you’re one of the 43% of homeowners with a mortgage rate over 4%, you may be able to do a cash-out refinance or buy a more expensive home without significantly increasing your monthly payment.
First Step: Determine the Amount of Equity in Your Home
If you’re ready to either redesign your current house or find an existing or newly constructed home that has everything you want, the first thing you need to do is determine how much equity you have in your current home. To do that, you’ll need two things:
The current mortgage balance on your home
The current value of your home
You can probably find the mortgage balance on your monthly mortgage statement. To find the current market value of your house, you can pay several hundreds of dollars for an appraisal, or you can contact a local real estate professional who will be able to present to you, at no charge, a professional equity assessment report.
If the past 18 months have refocused your thoughts on what you want from your house, now may be the time to either renovate or make a move to the perfect home.
Recent Posts
If you’re a homeowner, odds are your equity has grown significantly over the last few years as home prices skyrocketed and you made your monthly mortgage payments. Home equity builds
Your House Could Be the #1 Item on a Homebuyer’s Wish List During the Holidays
Each year, homeowners planning to make a move are faced with a decision: sell their house during the holidays or wait. And others who have already listed their homes
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Today on the blog, I welcome fellow author Deborah Court, spinner of paranormal romance tales. She’s here to tell us about her awesome new novel, Bound to the Prince.
“Bound to the Prince” by Deborah Court (Elven Warrior Trilogy #1)
A mortal woman without hope, stolen from her own world to fulfill his every desire.
A choice of love and death that could bind them together forever.
Some people believe that beneath our own world, separated only by a thin veil of human disbelief, there is another one – an ancient land of myths and legends, a place where magical creatures dwell. What would happen if one of them walked the streets of London at night?
Once a proud warrior, elven prince Elathan was living in exile, fallen from grace and separated from his own people. He wanted the mortal woman the moment he saw her standing on Blackfriars Bridge, staring down into the darkness with unbearable pain in her eyes. This strangely compelling female also happened to have luscious curves that made his body ache with desire. Naturally, he decided to hunt the woman down, drag her to his lair and command her to become his slave of pleasure. But would her frail human body survive a night of untamed passion in the arms of a Fae?
After a devastating breakup with her fiancé, Igraine Chandler was spending her honeymoon in England all by herself, her life utterly bereft of meaning. For who could ever love a plain, slightly overweight nurse from New Jersey with nothing left but a broken heart and her lost dreams of a home and a family? But she never imagined that she would soon set out into a world beyond her wildest dreams, and help a prince reclaim his throne …
EXCERPT from Bound to the Prince
Elathan stood at the edge of the lake, waiting for Igraine to serve him. “What do you want me to do, my Lord?” she asked, still avoiding looking at his private parts.
“Don’t you filthy humans even know how to wash?” he hissed impatiently. He gestured to the ornate table. “These vials contain soaps and oils. Use them to bathe my body, slave.” The prince stepped under the waterfall, rinsing off part of the mud, but it stuck to his skin and hair. Igraine sniffed at some of the bottles, inhaling their wonderful, unknown scents. Some of them were fresh, others musky, but clearly intended for use on the gorgeous body of the male who was showering right in front of her, naked. Water droplets glistened on his skin, running down from his chest to his flat, rippling stomach and still further down, gathering at … “Why do I feel like I’m in midst of a Cool Water commercial now?” she nervously murmured, wincing when the elf threw her a glance that clearly declared her a lunatic.
Sighing, Igraine took a small green bottle containing a soapy liquid and followed the prince. Elathan stepped out of his natural shower without even looking at her. Closing his eyes, he turned his broad back to Igraine, with the unspoken order to wash him. She poured some of the aromatic soap into the palm of her hand. The mud was diluted by the water, but it still ran in dark streams over the elf’s body, down over his hips and his muscular backside, dripping over his thighs. It collected in a puddle at his feet.
Igraine’s hands trembled when she reached out to touch him. “May I …?” she said softly. “What are you waiting for?” Elathan replied. Despite the harsh words, his voice was low and hoarse. She couldn’t see the expression of his face from behind, but she noticed his rigid posture. His contempt for her was obvious.
Taking a deep breath, she fought back her tears and started with his dirty hair, lathering it with the luxurious soap. Black, muddy water ran through her fingers and down her arms. When she had worked the soap into the whole silken length, she reached up to massage his scalp. Elathan stiffened before tilting his head back so she could reach him more easily. After she had washed all the mud out of his hair, she reached out to touch his shoulders, covering his pale skin with the soap.
Elathan stiffened even more, looking like a statue of stone now. Her hands wandered to the sides of his neck to wash the dirt away, then moved down over his shoulders, rubbing him in circles. His skin was smooth and soft as velvet over his rock-hard muscles. She longed to touch him, ferociously. No man had ever affected her so much. Just being close to him made her a weak creature, driven by the most primitive desire to mate.
Now that he couldn’t see her shamelessly staring at him, she was safe to admire his muscular back. It was built like an artist’s masterpiece. The scars marring his alabaster skin only enhanced his beauty. Without them, the sight would be too perfect for human eyes to endure. They were old, faint scars, diagonally crisscrossing all over his back. Igraine suddenly realized that the prince had been whipped, even if it had obviously happened long ago. Tears stinging in her eyes, she lightly traced the scars with her fingers while she washed his back. Although she didn’t dare, she longed to touch those reminders of his torment with her lips, kissing the ancient pain away.
Continuing with his waist, she found some very nasty grime there, sticking to the prince’s skin. As she rubbed his sides to get them clean, Elathan seemed to wince. She paused, but when he said nothing, she rubbed some more. He winced again, apparently trying to escape her touch. At first she stared at his back, baffled for a moment. Maybe he didn’t like her to touch him anymore. But then she understood.
The merciless, battle-hardened elven prince was ticklish.
Amazed by her discovery, she pondered about tickling him some more, but decided against it. She should not tempt her fate too much. Instead she reached around his waist and began to wash his wide chest, feeling his strong heartbeat and the heat of his skin. He was so tall that she had to press her body against his back to reach him with her arms. Moving down, she soaped his flat stomach, feeling the tense muscles under her fingertips. Elathan seemed to breathe more heavily now. For a moment, she asked herself what would happen if she dared to go even deeper, washing him … there. When she had finished and withdrew her arms, she glanced down at his butt. Heavens, this was too good to be true – so smooth, perfectly rounded and tight. She wondered if he would allow her to wash him there, too.
Suddenly a mischievous grin spread across her face. Well, even if he would kill her afterwards, this princely backside would be worth it. Now your ass is mine, Your Royal Highness, she thought. She just couldn’t help it. Then her hands touched his muscular buttocks, lathering the soap in small circles over the skin. Maybe being an elven prince’s slave wasn’t going to be so bad, after all. When Elathan moaned ever so softly, she couldn’t hold herself back anymore. A small giggle escaped her lips.
Strong hands grabbed her upper arms. Igraine was whirled around until she stared directly into Elathan’s furious face, his golden eyes burning with anger. Before she could move or utter a sound, he picked her up like a weightless doll and threw her into the lake.
All of this happened so quickly that she didn’t even have time to hold her breath. She sank into the dark water and struggled for a moment in panic. Then she managed to reach the surface and came up, coughing and gasping for air. Bewildered, she was still wondering what had happened when Elathan was suddenly in there with her, wading through the lake and quickly rinsing off the soap from his hair and body. His pitiless grin let her know that he found her distress entertaining.
“You!” she shouted angrily, shoving against his chest with both hands. The fact that his eyes widened with surprise gave her a certain amount of satisfaction, but not enough. “Prince or not, who the hell do you think you are? First you abduct and enslave me, threatening to kill me if I don’t obey your every wish and whim. You hate humans, and still you don’t bother to kill me. Instead, you seem to enjoy your little game of humiliating me. Why don’t you finally get it over with, elf? You incredibly arrogant, insufferable…”
He grabbed her wrists and bent her arms behind her back with a swift movement. Simultaneously, he silenced her with a hard, passionate kiss.
Many thanks to Deborah, who featured me on her blog a few days ago. Be sure to drop by her site and say hi!
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In the United States, a person must be at least 30 years old in order to serve as a Senator. Due to this rule, the average age of currently serving Senators is 64 years old with most Senators taking office at the age of 51.
With such high average ages, it’s no surprise that several Senators have served in their 80s and beyond. In fact, the oldest person to ever serve as a Senator was 100 years old!
In addition to being some of the oldest U.S. Senators ever, several people on this list are also the longest-serving Senators in U.S. history.
As of March 2022, this list is as accurate as possible and will be updated as needed.
10. Richard Shelby (May 6, 1934 – Present)
Oldest Age While Serving: currently 87 years, 10 months, 24 days
State: Alabama
Party: Republican (was Democratic until 1994)
Years Served: January 3, 1987 – Present (35 years, 2 months, 27 days and counting)
Richard Shelby is the third oldest member of the current U.S. Senate at nearly 87 years of age. Shelby is the longest-serving Senator from Alabama, having surpassed John Sparkman’s previous record back in March 2019.
Shelby first became a Senator in 1987, winning a tight race as a Democrat (he was one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress). He was re-elected again in 1992 although Bill Clinton did not win the state of Alabama in the Presidential Election.
However, in 1994, following the Republican Revolution, Shelby switched his party affiliation and has remained a Republican since then.
Prior to serving as a U.S. Senator, Shelby was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for a decade and before that, he was a member of the Alabama Senate.
Did You Know?
As a very conservative Democrat, Richard Shelby a member of the boll weevils, a group of moderate to conservative-leaning Democrats who often worked with Republican President Ronald Reagan on defense issues.
9. Andrew Houston (June 21, 1854 – June 26, 1941)
State: Texas
Party: Democratic
Years Served: April 21, 1941 – June 26, 1941 (3 months, 5 days)
Andrew Houston is best known as the son of the famous Texas hero and statesman Sam Houston, who was the President of the Republic of Texas. Houston studied law and had various careers including serving as a clerk of the Dallas federal court, a colonel in the Texas National Guard, and U.S. Marshal for the eastern district of Texas.
Houston unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Texas in 1892 as a Republican candidate and was also a Prohibition Part candidate for Governor in 1910 and 1918.
In 1941, Houston was appointed by Texas Governor W. Lee O’Daniel to temporarily serve as Senator after John Morris Sheppard died in office. Houston joined the Senate as a Democrat, making him the oldest man to enter the Senate.
He filled the seat from April 1941 until his death a few months later – his 87th birthday took place a few days before he died.
Did You Know?
Andrew Houston’s middle name is Jackson and he was named for his father’s mentor President Andrew Jackson.
8. Chuck Grassley (September 7, 1933 – Present)
Oldest Age While Serving: currently 88 years, 6 months, 13 days
State: Iowa
Party: Republican
Years Served: January 3, 1981 – Present (41 years, 2 months, 27 days and counting)
Chuck Grassley is currently the second oldest sitting member of the Senate, having been born a few months after Dianne Feinstein. In addition to being one of the oldest living senators, Grassley is one of the longest-serving at over 39 years.
Before becoming a Senator, Grassley served in the Iowa House of Representatives and then the U.S. House of Representatives. He has been in government since 1959 (61 years)! After Orrin Hatch retired in 2019, Grassley became the most senior Republican in the Senate.
Did You Know?
Chuck Grassley has served as the president pro tempore of the Senate since 2019 and is currently third in the line of presidential selection (after the vice president and speaker of the House).
7. Rebecca Felton (June 10, 1835 – January 24, 1930)
State: Georgia
Party: Democratic
Years Served: November 21, 1922 – November 22, 1922 (1 day)
Rebecca Felton is being included on this list as she was 87 years old during her one day tenure as the U.S. Senator of Georgia. Although Felton only served for one day, she was officially sworn in, which makes her the first woman to be seated in the Senate.
Felton was appointed to fill the vacant senatorial seat when Senator Thomas E. Watson prematurely died. Governor Thomas W. Hardwick, who was a candidate for the next general election to the Senate, wanted someone who was not a threat to him in the upcoming special election to temporarily fill the seat.
Hardwick’s plan did not work and Walter F. George won the special election and he allowed her to be sworn in rather than take his Senate seat immediately – George was officially sworn in the next day.
Felton was a prominent society woman who advocated for prison reform, women’s suffrage, and educational modernization.
Did You Know?
Despite advocating for women’s rights, Rebecca Felton was a slave owner who openly supported lynching.
6. Dianne Feinstein (June 22, 1933 – Present)
Oldest Age While Serving: currently 88 years, 9 months, 8 days
State: California
Party: Democratic
Years Served: November 4, 1992 – Present (29 years, 4 months, 26 days and counting)
Dianne Feinstein is the U.S. Senator of California and currently the oldest woman currently serving in Congress at nearly 89 years old. Feinstein is known for being a liberal, left-leaning politician who has dedicated her life to serving the people of California.
Prior to serving as Senator, Feinstein was elected as the mayor of San Francisco after the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978.
Upon her appointment, Feinstein became San Francisco’s first female mayor – she ran for mayor the following year and won and then went on to hold the position until 1988. In 1992, Feinstein along with Barbara Boxer became California’s first two female Senators.
Feinstein is also the first and currently only woman to have chaired the Senate Rules Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence. Following the retirement of Barbara Mikulski in January 2017, Feinstein became the longest-serving female U.S. Senator still serving in the Senate.
Did You Know?
Currently, Dianne Feinstein is the only woman to have presided over a U.S. presidential inauguration (President Barack Obama’s in 2009).
5. Daniel Inouye (September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012)
State: Hawaii
Party: Democratic
Years Served: January 3, 1963 – December 17, 2012 (49 years, 11 months, 15 days)
Daniel Inouye is the second longest-serving senator in U.S. history, serving for nearly 50 years before he died while in office in 2012. Inouye had continuously been re-elected as the Senator of Hawaii since he first entered office in 1963.
At the time of his death, Inouye was serving as the Senate’s President Pro Tempore, a position he first held in 2010.
Inouye was Japanese American and was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Although he was only in high school at the time, Inouye enlisted in U.S. Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team in late 1942 following the attacks on Pearl Harbor.
Inouye’s unit was segregated and only created after Army lifted its ban on Japanese-Americans. Following World War II, Inouye attended college to study political science. Inouye began his political career in 1953 when he was elected to the Hawaii territorial House of Representatives.
Did You Know?
Daniel Inouye lost his right arm to a grenade during World War II. For his service and bravery, Inouye received the Medal of Honor, which was only awarded to him in 2000.
4. Carl Hayden (October 2, 1877 – January 25, 1972)
State: Arizona
Party: Democratic
Years Served: March 4, 1927 – January 3, 1969 (41 years, 9 months, 30 days)
Carl Hayden was Arizona’s first U.S. Representative, serving for eight terms before becoming the Senator of Arizona. Hayden was the first Senator to serve seven terms and at one point, he was the longest-serving member of Congress – he is now the third longest-serving member.
Hayden was known for backing legislation dealing with public lands, mining, reclamation, and other projects affecting the Western United States; he also payed a key part in creating the funding formula for the federal highway system. Hayden was highly regard by other members of Congress as he assisted many projects for other senators.
Did You Know?
Carl Hayden was known as the “Silent Senator” as he did not speak much on the Senate floor, but had great influence in committee meetings and Senate cloakroom discussions.
3. Robert Byrd (November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010)
State: West Virginia
Party: Democratic
Years Served: January 3, 1959 – June 28, 2010 (51 years, 5 months, 26 days)
Robert Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.) is best known as the longest-serving U.S. Senator, he served for 51 years in the Senate until his death in 2010 at age 92. At the time of his death, Byrd was also the longest-serving member of the U.S. Congress.
He also served in the House of Representatives – with a combined total tenure in Congress of 57 years. Byrd’s record was later broken by John Dingell who served for 59 years.
Although Byrd was a Democrat, early on in his career he was a part of the wing of the Democratic Party that opposed desegregation and civil rights. He joined in a filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and voted against the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but he voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Byrd eventually rose to a prominent position within Congress – he served as secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus, Senate Majority Whip, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, and President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate.
Did You Know?
During the 1940s, Robert Byrd was briefly a member of the Ku Klux Klan, but he eventually left the group and later in his life, Byrd said that joining the KKK was his greatest mistake.
2. Theodore F. Green (October 2, 1867 – May 19, 1966)
State: Rhode Island
Party: Democratic
Years Served: January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1961 (24 years)
Theodore F. Green was a Democrat who served as the Senator of Rhode Island for over 20 years. Until Strom Thurmond broke his record, Green was the oldest U.S. senator ever, retiring at age 93. Before he became Senator in 1937, Green served as the 57th Governor of Rhode Island from 1933 – 1937.
Green was known for being very loyal to the Democratic presidents he served under, but he was also one of the few northern Democrats to show loyalty to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican.
He was also a strong supporter of internationalism and opposed the Nazi expansion in Europe. Throughout his career as a senator, Green supported civil rights legislation.
Did You Know?
Unlike most politicians, Theodore Green was a lifelong bachelor and never had any kids.
1. Strom Thurmond (December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003)
State: South Carolina
Party: Democratic (before 1964) and Republican (from 1964 – 2003)
Years Served: December 24, 1954 – April 4, 1956; and November 7, 1956 – January 3, 2003 (47 years, 5 months, 8 days)
Strom Thurmond is known for being the oldest United States Senator ever, serving until he was 100 years old. Thurmond died a few months after he retired. Early in his political career, when he served as Governor of South Carolina (as a Democrat), Thurmond was fairly progressive.
Thurmond supported fair wages for women, aid for black educational institutions, and rent control. However, he opposed the Democratic Party’s Civil Rights program.
Thurmond initially served as a Democrat during his first term as Senator, but switched to the Republican Party in 1956. After that, he continued to be re-elected for several decades and emerged as a prominent leader of a more conservative Republican Party – he is known for his pro-segregation policies.
After his death, it was revealed that he had secret biracial who was born in 1925, she was 78 when she revealed that Thurmond was her father.
Did You Know?
At the 1948 convention, Strom Thurmond led the walkout of Southern Democrats in opposition of the Democrat’s Civil Rights program.
10 Youngest Current U.S. Senators
10 Oldest Members of Current U.S. Congress
8 Youngest Congresswomen in U.S. History
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Baa Camp was pretty good again. I have to admit I'm a cynic about a lot of Web companies so I'm not the most sympathetic attendee, but it's good to see what people are doing and of course there are a lot of interesting people there who aren't doing Web stuff.
I went to a talk on AIR by John Ballinger. The pitch seems to be "The best of Flash and Web apps, on the desktop". That's confusing because there are a bunch of different and mostly orthogonal features that tend to distinguish Web apps from desktop apps, and AIR addresses several of them at once and kind of conflates them. For example, we heard about offline usage, persistent local storage, users dragging files into the application window, client-side image compression, giving applications their own dock/taskbar icon, and handling local file types --- all features that can and should be provided by browsers too, possibly via extensions like Gears for the laggards, ideally via standard APIs like HTML5. There are few philosophical differences between AIR and the browser. The biggest one is that AIR doesn't sandbox apps, so users have to make a trust decision to use an AIR app. I don't know how high a barrier that is to AIR app adoption; I hope it's a high one, because users should be reluctant to let applications abuse them! Another, related difference is that AIR lets apps escape browser chrome such as the forward/back buttons and the address bar. I can see that app designers would love that --- yay for integrity of artistic vision! --- but I'm not sure users would. Browser navigation (back, forward, bookmarks, addresses and autocomplete) is a powerful mental model that is not only deeply entrenched but is actually very useful. Some people have suggested this issue is one reason why Flash Central didn't work out. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out this time.
One thing that came up a few times independently was that people really want vector graphics they can print out nicely --- so Flash currently doesn't cut it. Thanks to cairo our SVG printing is really nice in FF3. (It sucked on Mac for beta2 --- we took an image surface path for SVG on Mac to handle some edge cases --- but I mostly fixed that for beta3 by taking an optimistic approach and recovering with the image surface path only if we actually hit the edge case.) Of course recommending SVG is hard as long as IE ignores it. I just encourage people to ignore IE if they can get away with it and yell at Microsoft loudly if they can't (or even if they can).
At the camp I heard about Microsoft and Yahoo. It seems crazy to me; merging two losing operations isn't going to produce something that can beat Google. The infighting and integration difficulties will most likely push them even further backwards. Who knows how the technology chasm will be bridged; either Yahoo's FreeBSD/PHP/Hadoop etc stack gets replaced by MS infrastructure, at unbelievable disruption and cost, or it doesn't and they eat the cost of supporting dual architectures, leaving a lot of the putative cost savings on the table and in fact adding additional complexity. Lots of good Yahoo employees are bound to quit. I can hardly believe this, Steve Ballmer must be truly desperate.
On Friday night, before I arrived at the camp, a certain Ross Howard had "volunteered" me and Nigel Parker for a "WWF Smackdown" over the IE8 meta mode switch on Sunday morning. Of course I was up for that! It was a lot of fun ... for me at least. Most of the Web developers were pretty upset about the idea, more so than me actually, and Microsoft hasn't given Nigel much to work with. Anyway, I actually learned a few things, partly because we were able to question Nigel. I asked whether IE8 has an IE6 mode; the answer was no. That's as expected, but it's actually quite important because the motivation for the IE8 switch is the problems that prevent people from moving from IE6 to IE7. IE8 will actually do nothing to address those problems! The new mode switch will only help address any differences between IE7 and IE8. I'm not sure what giant IE7 standards-incompliance bugs IE8 will fix that require this big hammer.
I asked Nigel if IE8 will support any new CSS features. He said no, it's just CSS 2.1. That shocked me; I guess we'll have to wait and see.
I made it clear that non-IE browsers are just going to ignore the meta switch so it's really a Microsoft solution to a Microsoft problem, and as such, it doesn't bother me all that much. My biggest concern is that "IE8 mode" will actually be uniquely buggy while being nominally "more standards-compliant" --- i.e. that Microsoft will feel free to do random things where the standards are silent, instead of being careful about being backwards- and Web-compatible the way we and Webkit and Opera do.
Now I'm back at work grinding away at bugs again! I hope we can polish off FF3 soon so I can start working on and talking about new stuff. I also want to get FF3 into the hands of users because it's already quite excellent.
David Naylor 5 February 2008 at 15:42
It's interesting that new information about IE8 comes from all kinds of places *except* the IE blog...
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enefekt 5 February 2008 at 17:26
"yay for integrity of artistic vision! --- but I'm not sure users would."
You mean "yay" for interaction, experience, and user interface design right? Many things incorporate artistic elements (I would say even code), but are not done solely for artistic purposes.
I think AIR actually gives users more control over tasks which they need to spend more un-interrupted time doing, and not mixing it up with general web browsing tasks.
Not everything is "browsing".
"I hope it's a high one, because users should be reluctant to let applications abuse them!"
Yes, I routinely let applications abuse me too, I should be more reluctant about that. :)
The balance between ease of deployment, and alerting users to an application with more privileges is a delicate one indeed. I think Adobe is really doing some extremely important work here in exploring this. Getting this right is huge, and I think they're on the right track.
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Chris 5 February 2008 at 23:53
Robert, actually we have been working quite hard on resolving the ambiguities in the specifications (particularly in CSS2.1) - check with the Mozilla rep in the CSS WG. We realize that doing "random things where the standards are silent" on purpose would be incredibly stupid on our part.
I don't know where Nigel got that about CSS2.1 - we're not talking exact features quite yet.
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Robert O'Callahan 6 February 2008 at 00:01
I'm glad to hear that Chris, thanks.
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Nigel Praker 6 February 2008 at 00:03
Robert wrote: I asked Nigel if IE8 will support any new CSS features. He said no, it's just CSS 2.1. That shocked me; I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Here I responded that as Chris has previously stated (http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2007/12/06/ie8/) that the new IE8 rendering engine is focused on adhering to the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 2.1 specification. There may be work going on within the team implementing some CSS3 features but we’ll just have to wait and see what comes out in the beta.
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Don 6 February 2008 at 03:52
Robert, great to hear you again at foo. On the IE8 thing I have been pointed to this article in the UK Guardian.
The point made by the author is that the net is not as broken as MS might think. It only appears that way to IE users because web developers have been using the browser agent string for years to determine whether to send out buggy HTML or standards compliant HTML.
The solution, of course, is to change the IE8 browser agent string to something with a longer compliance track record. Perhaps Firefox could think of patch for IE8 users that would do this.
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Henry Blackman 6 February 2008 at 21:13
I think you miss the point regarding AIR. It isn't intended to put a web browsing experience into an app without chrome, a la Prism. It is intended to allow developers to create applications with a desktop experience, with familiar web technologies. I for one, am incredibly excited by this. It opens a whole new world of desktop application development (yes, desktop apps still have a place in the world) to web and Flash developers, lowering the entry requirements and ensuring they are still web enabled!
In other words, it's great stuff!
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Maxo 6 February 2008 at 22:39
Microsoft problems with IE are problems for all of us that provide content via web browsers. For example, if you want to include a .png image with transparency, you will be alienating a large portion of your users, making your page look like crap. The problem is that IE6 doesn't support transparency in pngs so you must use gifs for transparency, even though they don't look very good.
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Robert O'Callahan 7 February 2008 at 03:45
Henry, that's the problem: people talk about "a desktop experience" without defining what that means. And when you drill down into what makes a "desktop experience" better than a "Web experience", you get a list of mostly orthogonal features, most of which can be made available to Web apps pretty easily with some work in the browser --- work that we're doing.
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Mathieu 'p01' Henri 7 February 2008 at 11:49
Robert: I fully agree with your vision and concerns about AIR.
FF3b2 is indeed better than FF2.
Sorry to drop in, but I'm particularly interested in animations and rendering speed ( redraw and/vs reflow ), and in this area FF3b2 is still behind Safari 3b and Opera 9.5b.
Some CSS updates are not optimized/categorized properly in FF3 and reflows are triggered when only a redraw is necessary.
Who should I talk to to try and improve this ?
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Robert O'Callahan 7 February 2008 at 22:25
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Samantha 9 February 2008 at 04:15
Hi, I live in California but recently took a trip out to Auckland and loved it. I have extended family there and would love to work for Mozilla over there. Can you tell me what exactly is the location of the office there? I was looking for the address online but wasn't able to find it, and ended up finding your blog instead! If there's any help you can provide me, such as the name of and Auckland Mozilla recruiter, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!
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Robert O'Callahan 9 February 2008 at 10:03
I guess I'm the Auckland Mozilla recruiter. Email me, robert@ocallahan.org. Our office is in Newmarket, 8 Kent St to be precise.
| 10,818 |
Very soon, only the speed of light will limit our ability to communicate a thought, a picture, a sound or a sentence from one side of the world to the other, and beyond.
The meaning of the word "distance" has changed forever.
Just as the electron has shrunk our world, so has there been a quiet and maybe even more fundamental revolution in the way we look at traveling. We see nothing special in the fact that several hundred people can walk into a large metal room and find themselves on the other side of the world in a matter of hours. In fact, the major drawback in circling the earth in a jet-plane may be an aching back from sitting in a reclining chair that doesn't quite live up to its name. A little more than a hundred years ago, to circumnavigate the globe would have required months of arduous, dangerous and expensive effort, almost beyond our imagining.
We have breached the last frontier. Distance has become no more than a function of time spent in a chair.
In the Fast Line
The electron and the 747 have had their impact on our culture in other ways: Our cultural mindset mandates that speed is of the essence. Where am I going? is now less important than How fast can I get there? Immediacy has become a yardstick of worth. How fast is your car? Your computer? Our age has sought to devour distance and time, rendering everything in a constant and immediate present. Now this. Now this. Now this. (Interestingly the languages of the age - film and television, computer graphics - are languages which have trouble expressing the past and the future. They only have a present tense. Everything happens in a continuous present.)
All of which makes it very difficult for us to understand what it means to receive the Torah.
Why did G-d give the Torah to the Jewish People in the middle of a desert? Why didn't He give it on the other side of Yam Suf (the Sea of Reeds)? Once the Egyptian army had been safely dispatched and the Jewish People had finished singing the Song at the Sea, wouldn't that have been an appropriate time to give the Torah? And even if you'll say that the Jewish People weren't ready for the Torah at that point, that they were too steeped in the fleshpots of Egypt, that they needed time to purify themselves; fine, so why didn't they just camp there on the beach for seven weeks? On the beach, their biggest problem would have been sunburn. Why did they have to schlep hundreds of miles through an inhospitable desert to some small mountain in the middle of nowhere?
The Path of the Just
We talk of spirituality as being a path. The spiritual path. For, in truth, travel is no more than a physical paradigm of the spiritual road. The quest for spirituality demands that we travel; if not physically, then certainly in our soul we must notch up the miles. If we refuse this invitation to journey, the groove of our lives becomes a rut. We think we are traveling, but we are just wearing down the same circular path. The spiritual road requires us to forsake the comfortable, the familiar ever-repeating landmarks of our personalities, and set out with an open mind and a humble soul. We must divest ourselves of the fawning icons of our own egos by which we have defined and confined ourselves, and journey. Physical traveling is no more than the concretization of this internal process. The physical journey gives expression to the spiritual progress.
Journey to the Center
In Hebrew, the word for the imperative "Go!" is written with exactly the same two letters as the phrase "to yourself." When G-d took Avraham out of Ur Kasdim and sent him to the Land of Israel, He used those two identical words, Lech Lecha, which can be translated: "Go to yourself." The spiritual path is always a process of going. Of moving, of progressing. And inevitably, as in any journey, when we conquer the obstacles that lie in our path, we grow in stature. By overcoming the difficulties along the way, we connect with the fundamental purpose of the journey: To travel inward, to reach inside to our true selves. We "go to ourselves."
But the spiritual path is not just a journey inside. It is a path to a world beyond. Avraham traveled the length and breadth of Eretz Yisrael. There is an Eretz Yisrael of the body and there is an Eretz Yisrael of the soul. To experience that higher reality, Avraham had to travel throughout its physical counterpart. Similarly, when the Jews left Egypt, they needed to travel a spiritual road which would lead them not just to a physical place called Har Sinai, but to its spiritual doppelganger as well.
The Jewish People needed to travel through a desert because they needed to become like the desert, devoid of preconceptions, unencumbered by the spiritual baggage of Egypt. Sitting on the beach would never have brought them to that spiritual state.
The month of Sivan is associated with the planet Mercury. Mercury symbolizes communication. Thus it is that the Torah was given in the month of Sivan. Because The Torah is the Ultimate Communication. Every communication, every message must come from one place and arrive at another, from "there" to "here." The Torah is the Ultimate Message. Thus it can only be received by way of a journey. For a journey is always from "there" to "here." The seven weeks of journeying in the desert, from Egypt to Sinai, are a paradigm of the Ultimate Communication from There to here.
Our age seeks to devour distance. To make it into nothing. We live in a world which has no patience. A world which cannot wait. A world which has no time for physical travel and even less with its spiritual counterpart. We live in an era of "instant spirituality," a contradiction in terms. There is no such thing as instant spirituality. Spirituality is a path. A path contains a myriad of small individual steps. And if we are ever to reach our destination, each one of those steps must be guided by G-d's "Guidebook for the Human Race," the Holy Torah. It must be followed step by step.
If we want to travel the pathway of the soul, we must know that life is a journey, that we must move. If, however, we want to lie on the beach in a spiritual deckchair, reading a paperback "Kabbala in Four or Five Easy Lessons," we will never make it to our own individual rendezvous at Sinai
Articles may be distributed to another person intact without prior permission. We also encourage you to include this material in other publications, such as synagogue or school newsletters. Hardcopy or electronic. However, we ask that you contact us beforehand for permission in advance at [email protected] and credit for the source as Ohr Somayach Institutions www.ohr.edu
Ohr Somayach International is a 501c3 not-for-profit corporation (letter on file) EIN 13-3503155 and your donation is tax deductable.
| 7,105 |
It gives me immense pleasure and pride to find myself leading our club in the year 2022-23, The rotary year of women empowerment; when Jennifer Jones Rotary International’s first female president is eager to advance Rotary’s narrative and DG Sandhya Maini is off to a fantastic start with her fantastic vision.
I can never imagine myself not being a Rotarian. I started my rotary journey in 1999 in India and as I moved forward and gained more information, knowledge and insight about this wonderful service organization, I developed a strong bond with it. I enjoyed being part it and acting at club and district leadership positions. In addition, I was part of number of National and International global health care projects. I am a multiple PHF.
I came to Canada 5 years ago. Besides many other things, I missed my rotary friends and activities. After some research and interactions, I became part of rotary club of Brampton South in 2020. As we know, the year was marked with COVID19 outbreak, which brought everything under siege. Fighting back, we started to learn to live in digital world and continued doing whatever we were doing but with a different touch. Zoom meetings gave me an excellent opportunity, to get to know and interact with wonderful rotary leaders of district 7080 quickly. However, on the other side I missed in person interactions and activities.
Rotary to me is my extended family. I believe, Rotary has power to do and empowers us to do good in the world around and beyond us: by fighting disease, growing local economics, promoting peace, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, sporting education and by supporting the environment.
The current rotary theme” Imagine Rotary” by RI president Jennifer Jones gives wings to our imagination as to what we can do to be a voice of Rotary at individual and club level. Our DG Sandhya Maini envisions the same power and will support us take action in that direction.
Do not stop imagining; Imagine and expand that imagination to infinity; as to what we can do for others through Rotary. I imagine my club growing. While doing good to a community around us let us expand our boundaries to do good in the world by doing global international projects in field of health care, peace and conflict resolution, women empowerment or supporting environment. Each of these complement other.
“Help will be given to those who ask for it’ (Albas Dumbledore in Harry Potter). That help in Rotary is a fingertip. Join “My Rotary” and visit “Rotary.Org” get every possible help.
I request for your support and am looking forward to work with you all .
I never imagined becoming your President and certainly not in the middle of a world-wide pandemic. Regardless of what life has in store for us, some of it outside our control, I promise to make our Rotary year (2021-22) meaningful, both for members and for those we serve. For that, I humbly ask for your support … because I will need it.
As we begin the new Rotary Year, we have so much to look forward to that will be exciting and challenging, unique and perhaps unprecedented but as stalwart and dedicated Rotarians we will rise to the occasion.
As Rotarians, we look at these changes and challenges as a time of opportunity! It is a time for all of us to open ourselves up to learning new skills and doing projects in new ways. How disconnected our club would have become without the web-based video conferencing tool, Zoom, that allows us to meet on-line together, safely in the convenience of our home as we continue our work as the “People of Action” in our community and around the world.
This Rotary year I want to focus on the health of our club, our membership, and our families. Each have different needs to be met which we must understand to be able to tackle them head-on. In this, we can each serve in whatever capacity we are able.
This coming Rotary year will be no exception! As your President, I promise to lead this club, by always being mindful of Rotarian’s 4-Way Test concerning the things I think, say, or do –
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
The new Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta theme (2021-22) – “Serve to Change Lives” stated “Do More and Grow More”. I fully agree and believe that if you have bigger and impactful service projects and increase our membership and expanding the participation.
It is with great pride and gratitude that I am serving as President for the period 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. During 2019-20, the Rotary theme was: Rotary Connects the World. This resonated with me, it was powerful and impactful. With this in mind, I embarked on my presidential first term by upholding the club’s values, objectives, and making a difference in the lives of the citizens in our community. Hence, I was able to embrace my position with poise and grace.
Club Events
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| 5,253 |
When I recently received a delivery from Fancy Schmancy, it was certainly an out of the box surprise. La Boîte, The Farm and the Uncertainty Principle are proud to present to Brisbane audiences, The Mathematics of Longing by Suzie Miller. The Mathematics of Longing is...
7 reasons you must see Lady Beatle
by Anna McGhie | May 27, 2017 | Events
Lady Beatle smashed Brisbane last night with a world premiere performance packed with Beatles songs expertly executed by the sensational Naomi Price. With only 7 performances scheduled at La Boite Theatre Company, I give you 7 seasons you must see Lady Beatle. 1. The...
by Anna McGhie | Feb 25, 2017 | Events
See the hilarious and hugely popular local production, Single Asian Female, taking Brisbane by storm before it ends this week. Step into the after-hours of a suburban Chinese restaurant and meet a family of smart women who are definitely talking about you in...
| 937 |
Time Out Foods shows what is possible: Community support for Black-owned Businesses growing : Revive! Omaha
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Time Out Foods shows what is possible: Community support for Black-owned Businesses growing
Events
Past Events
Revive! Magazine Current Issue
Advertise with Revive Omaha!
Revive Black Business Summit – August
Local Business Resources
Featured Black Businesses
Revive Center Food
Revive Center Events
Revive Center Markets
Careers
Welcome to Omaha
Time Out Foods shows what is possible: Community support for Black-owned Businesses growing
After months of speculation, they are back. And, support for black-owned businesses is growing. It’s a beautiful thing.
The community came out in big numbers in May as hundreds of customers lined the streets from Evans, down Creighton Boulevard and Bedford and back to 30th Street to show respect and support for a North Omaha icon.
Even in the midst of a pandemic, loyal Time Out customers waited for hours to get their favorite meal. The incredible line up of cars brought out neighbors, media and customers from around the region. There’s nothing like Time Out.
Social media was blazing with videos of the cars lined up and down the street, around the corner and up Bedford close to 30th. People were going live of Facebook to chronicle the special event.
Neighbors watched through their windows and some came outside to enjoy and celebrate the reopening and the large and consistent crowd.
Many said it was like a community reunion. The environment was festive as customers waited patiently with smiles, laughter, joy and great anticipation.
The reopening of Time Out was, well, timely. It fell on the birthday of one of the world’s greatest and most influential civil rights leaders, Malcolm X, who was born in Omaha and lived just down the street on Evans.
It also comes at a time where there is a reawakening occurring regarding the importance of supporting black-owned businesses. We’ve known for years that in order for us as African Americans to become more economically self-sufficient, we must invest more of our spending in our own community and in our own businesses.
The re-opening of Time Out shows what’s possible when we support our own. Other black restaurants and businesses are reporting a measurable increase in their sales and customer traffic. Now is the time to make it happen. Supporting black businesses helps to create strong communities.
The timing couldn’t be more perfect. We have been working on the next edition of the Revive Black Business Directory. We launched the first print edition in 2017 followed by an online directory. It has been consistently updated and available online.
The 2020 update is on the reviveomaha.com website. An exciting new design of the online version is still being finalized and more businesses will be added as we go, but it currently lists over 200 black businesses in just about every category you can imagine.
Congratulations to the Time Out family! Congratulations to the African-American and North Omaha communities!
Now, let’s keep the momentum going by fully embracing and supporting black-owned businesses. Could you imagine what’s possible if we supported all black-owned businesses this way? We will control our own destiny.
To identify and support other black-owned businesses in Omaha, please check out the Revive 2020 Black Business Directory and join us on Facebook with the Revive Black Business Campaign and Buy Black/Support the Village Movement.
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Thousands attend 12th Annual Christmas in the Village at 24th and Lake
The sun made it better, but it was cold!
With weather making it feel as low as 0 degrees in the morning, thousands still made their way to historic 24th and Lake in North Omaha for the Empowerment Network’s 12th annual Christmas in the Village.
“When we started the event 12 years ago, we wanted to create a cultural community celebration and holiday tradition for kids and families that they look forward to every year,” said Willie Barney, CEO of the Empowerment Network. “The fact that thousands would come out in this weather and enjoy themselves with smiles, hugs and laughter shows us we are accomplishing that goal.”
Christmas in the Village at 24th and Lake is presented by the Empowerment Network and Omaha Economic Development Corporation. Major sponsors include: American National Bank, Mutual of Omaha, Douglas County Visitors Improvement Fund, Nebraska Arts Council, North Omaha Turnback Tax and Veridian Credit Union. Media sponsors include KETV and Revive! Omaha Magazine.
Braving the cold, kids were lined up to see and take a picture with Santa inside the Revive Center and Lake Point building.
Heaters stood next to the area where families could board the free carriage in front of OEDC.
Parents and community members packed Dreamland Park to watch the Burke High Drill Team, Pear Tree Performing Arts and the Hope Community Choir.
Throughout the day visitors could hear the beautiful sounds of Omaha’s top artists and musicians in the background as they walked through the district celebrating the holiday.
“It was a wonderful time,” said Vicki Quaites-Ferris, Vice President of Community Development and Operations for the Empowerment Network, and event manager. “So many families having a great time and enjoying all of the activities put on by our partners. Absolutely wonderful.”
The event started with the Bulldogs Drill team marching down 24th Street in front a horse drawn carriage holding Santa and Mrs Claus. Guests lined the street and followed along as families and cartoon characters followed next in the carriages.
“The Drill team did an amazing job,” said Quaites-Ferris. “They were excellent and brought great energy to kick off the day.”
From there kids, families and community members had dozens and dozens of options of where to go.
Face painting, Raku pottery, balloons, snacks, arts and crafts, letters to Santa, live nativity animals, free family photos, snack bags, hot cider, cookies, and hot chocolate all free for families.
The Omaha Police Department and Fire Department were both on hand. OPD handed out candy canes and stickers. The Fire Department had many youth excitedly sitting in the fire engine.
One of the most popular stops was the Black Votes Matter Toy Give Away sponsored by UNO Athletics.
“We gave out over 1,200 toys in less than an hour,” said Preston Love, Jr, Founder of Black Votes Matter and 4 Urban. “This is our third year for the partnership and it feels great to help families, many of which couldn’t afford to purchase toys for the kids even though some are working two and three jobs.”
Kids and parents could be seen walking throughout the district with large boxes and bags with gifts, toys, snacks, gloves, hats and other goodies.
Excitement was in the air as children caught a glimpse of Santa for the first time or had the opportunity to see and touch a donkey, camel and other animals.
The Fair Deal Village provided delicious snacks, cookies, goodie bags and included face painting.
Another popular spot was the Big Tent on the Northwest Corner of 24th and Lake. The Empowerment Network hosted the Holiday Boutique with over 20 small black businesses and entrepreneurs.
“It was our first time during the 12 years that we had the heated tent for the Boutique and it took some adjustments with the weather,” said Aisha Conner, Village Empowerment Center Manager and coordinator of the Boutique.
“But, our vendors did very well. Many of them selling out of merchandise or close to it.”
Local businesses like Styles of Evolution, Ital Vital Living and Fair Deal Marketplace attracted hundreds of visitors.
Styles of Evolution recently celebrated 18 years and a grand opening as they moved back into their restored, renovated and expanded spaced. Owners Don and Yvonne McPherson once again sponsored a free drawing to win a 40” big screen television.
“One of our main goals when we started was to connect families to small businesses for the holidays,” said Barney. “This is awesome to see over 70 businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, contractors, media companies and musicians generating income and recycling dollars in the community.”
Ital Vital Living always has a creative display and activity at their location for community festivals. For this year, they featured “Whoville” complete with the Grinch and some tasty smoothies and snacks.
The Elks gave out toys and provided food for kids. Next door, the Carver Legacy Center gave out reindeer antlers, pop its and other items for kids.
Arts and cultural venues also attracted some large crowds.
The Union for Contemporary Art featured an exhibit and housed the Empowerment Network community partners showcase that highlight their services and hosted interactive activities for kids.
NorthEnd TeleServices, a first-time partner, gave out stocking stuffers and hosted a Make a Wish Tree.
The Great Plains Black History Museum presented three exhibits and hosted a balloon artists.
“We want to thank all of the community partners that worked with us to put on the event,” said Quaites-Ferris. “We have families that have attended every year and a lot of new families this year as well.”
“Many of them said they had no idea all of these buildings, stores and venues were here. They look forward to coming back even beyond Christmas in the Village which is exactly what we wanted to see happen.”
Initial Photo Gallery: Christmas in the Village at 24th and Lake 2022
60+ Black Businesses and Entrepreneurs supported through Christmas in the Village
One of the direct and measurable outcomes from Christmas in the Village at 24th and Lake is the involvement and engagement of black businesses, artists and creatives.
Between the businesses located in the district and the vendors, food trucks, artists, musicians, contractors and service providers that take part, over 60 Black businesses generate income by being part of Christmas in the Village.
“It’s a great example of keeping money circulating in the community,” said Willie Barney, president of the Empowerment Network and owner of several businesses with his wife, Yolanda.
Many businesses have reported in the past that the event represents their highest day of sales for the year.
The sales were not as high this year, but even with the cold weather, thousands were in attendance at the 12th Annual Christmas in the Village at 24th and Lake. History shows that many of the visitors will come back once they realize the stores and businesses are in the community.
The Empowerment Network’s Holiday Boutique was held in a heated Big Tent on the northeast corner of 24th and Lake. It housed 20 businesses in a new setting that presented some challenges with the weather but served the need when the normal venue was not available.
“Most of the businesses did well and some sold out or nearly sold out of their merchandise,” said Aisha Conner, manager of the Village Empowerment Center and coordinator of the Boutique.
Styles of Evolution, Ital Vital Living, Revive Center, Omaha Star, Carver Legacy Center, 95.7 The Boss Radio Station and others located in the Village also benefit by creating awareness of their products and services and generating sales.
“We had a really great day of sales,” said Imani Murray, co-owner of Ital Vital Living. “We had over 400 come to our store.”
Eight additional businesses are located at the Fair Deal Marketplace. The innovative small business center made of shipping containers is now full including three new businesses that are currently undergoing grand openings.
Locally owned food trucks including SoCo Cafe, Boiling Claws, Haven Express Omaha and Smokin’ Guns served up wings, BBQ, seafood, soul foods and other tasty dishes.
“We had a good day,” said Devaute Nunn, co-owner of Haven Express. “We really appreciate the Empowerment Network creating this opportunity for us.”
Creatives, artists, musicians and sound engineers also benefit from Christmas in the Village through the Holiday Concert in Dreamland Park.
This year included another impressive line-up with the following artists: Big Wade and musicians, Gus McNair, The Arvies, Jarron Taylor, Millicent Crawford, Kathy Tyree and Eric and Doriette Jordan.
The artists receive honorariums for their dedication of time and using their gifts to provide beautiful holiday music for the event.
“The Holiday Concert has always been a major part of the event,” said Barney. “Not only is there amazing music, singing and dancing, we want to provide this platform for the artists and make sure they are compensated for their time and using their gifts.”
Dozens of other contractors, entrepreneurs and businesses ranging from photography, videography, branding, security, marketing, design, print media, radio and other industries are paid for their services as part of the event.
While the primary focus is bringing kids and families together for a cultural celebration and holiday tradition, creating opportunities for businesses to generate income, create jobs and recycle money in the community are also important goals.
Comments from some of the Holiday Boutique Vendors:
One of the best and most successful events I have attended in a while. I will definitely will be there next year. Thanks for the opportunity.
Owner of Kreative Ways
The event gave a great opportunity for my business to be highlighted and show the community that Kreative Ways exist. Everyone that came to the table loved it and I ran out of business card. Gave out 250 to people.
I was able to connect with all customers, first time customers that patronized me four years ago when I started and also met new ones that loved my products.
Owner of Yass Beautiful
The Holiday Boutique was amazing. This is a great way to get exposure for my local business. I was so grateful to be there because I didn’t know how to get myself out there for the community to know about my business. I want to thank you so much for doing this for the community.
Owner of Moss Lady
I feel it was great exposure…All and all it was definitely worth it.
Eric and Tawanna Black travel from Minneapolis to enjoy Christmas in the Village at 24th & Lake
“It was such a blessing,” said Tawanna Black, founder of the nationally recognized Center for Economic Inclusion based in the Twin Cities.
She and her husband, Eric, drove over six hours with their children, Traviata and Christian, to take part in the Empowerment Network’s 12th Annual Christmas in the Village at 24th and Lake in North Omaha.
“We have been wanting to come down the last few years, but it hadn’t worked out,” said Tawanna.
“Watching the videos and seeing all of the promotional materials on social media, we just knew it was something we wanted our kids to experience. There’s nothing like this in the Twin Cities.”
The family came early and stayed nearly the whole day as there were so many activities and they wanted to see them all.
“We loved, laughed, smiled, hugged and literally shopped til we dropped,” said Black.
“We rode the carriage ride, took family photos, shopped with the vendors, visited the live animals, walked through the exhibits, took pictures with Santa and sang and danced in Dreamland Park. We got it all in.”
Traviata and Christian also shared their perspectives about that event.
Christian shared his excitement:
Going to Christmas in the Village was so fun. Seeing everyone so happy made me happy.
Riding the horse and carriage was my dream. It was so good. The choirs sang very well. And there were so many places to shop!
Traviata added these comments:
Christmas in the Village was amazing. It was exciting to see my parents loved by so many and excited to see people they used to work with.
I loved seeing Santa and so many other kids who were excited to get a photo with Santa and I couldn’t believe that there were live animals there and that we could touch a donkey, camel, and goat.
I also loved being able to see a lot of people I could relate to, everyone was so happy to see other Black people and seeing them smile made me smile.
“Hearing those comments is so encouraging and makes everything we do worth it,” said Vicki Quaites-Ferris, Vice President of Community Development and Operations at the Empowerment Network and event manager for Christmas in the Village.
Eric and Tawanna once called Omaha home.
Tawanna is well known for her leadership and economic development work with Destination Midtown and was one of the first diversity and inclusion directors in the city working with Cox Communications.
After relocating to Minneapolis 12 years ago, she has led the Northside Funders Group, a collaborative of 12 foundations and then stepped out in faith to create and launch the Center for Economic Inclusion.
The mission of the Center for Economic Inclusion is closing racial employment, income, and wealth gaps, and building racially inclusive and equitable regional economies.
Eric worked for two decades serving in a number of global business Development and integrated marketing leadership capacities and rising to the level of executive with Cargill.
He has now ventured into the non-profit industry as an executive director for Minnesota Diversified Industries (MDI). MDI is a Minnesota manufacturer and nonprofit social enterprise with the mission to provide employment opportunities and services for people with disabilities.
“One of things I love about Omaha is the way people collaborate,” said Eric. “To see nearly 100 organizations, businesses and ministries work together to make something like this happen is inspiring.”
Both Eric and Tawanna are committed to equity, economic advancement and elevating the culture. They see events like Christmas in the Village as essential and vitally important.
“It is incredibly meaningful to have Tawanna, Eric, Traviata and Christian make the six hour trip to Omaha to join us for Christmas in the Village,” said Willie Barney, CEO and founder of the Empowerment Network.
“Hearing their heartfelt comments and the impact of the event on them and their children is inspiring and opens our eyes to even greater possibilities.”
“Thousands of kids and families attend each year and it is beginning to draw from a larger region. It reinforces the original vision we had for creating this event. 24th and Lake is the hub that can bring people from all over the country to celebrate our culture through music, food, arts, entertainment and business.”
“This is such an amazing cultural experience. Absolutely phenomenal,” said Tawanna. “Willie and Yolanda Barney, Vicki Quaites-Ferris and all of the partners who help make this happen have created a masterpiece.”
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The Good, the Bad and Nursing Theories Related to Patient Centered Care | Marketing With Beverly Lavers
The Good, the Bad and Nursing Theories Related to Patient Centered Care
Nursing Theories Related to Patient Centered Care
The arrival of diverse health-related technologies is providing unprecedented opportunities to help patients in maintaining charge of their well-being. Concept maps illustrate complex papernow.org patient care problems and the way they relate to one another. Hiring additional staff that provide expertise is important in offering quality care to the particular population.
The nursing issue and nursing treatment typologies are the fundamentals of nursing practice and constitute the exceptional body of knowledge that’s nursing. Hospitalized individuals may take part in their very own medical care in an effort to create shared decisions. Involve the individual from the very first therapy.
Those https://extension.umd.edu/dorchester-county nurses with a strong background in theory have a good platform to start their practice for a nurse. What’s more, the case study demonstrates the significance of the factors outlined in when considering whether to use a complicated intervention. Any nursing theory is suitable for testings its consequences on nursing practice, obviously.
The nursing procedure is regarded as an important tool. Nurses then have to realize that theory should offer the foundations of nursing practice, help to create more wisdom and indicate in which direction nursing should develop later on. She is seen as a co-participant in the human care approach.
Healthcare providers want to use effective wellness communication abilities. Introduction Nursing care can fluctuate from 1 hospital, community and from one nation to the other. Additional competencies Nursing competencies are framed by the normal board and nursing council in several of the developed in addition to developing nations.
Details of Nursing Theories Related to Patient Centered Care
Caring is extremely relational. write my papers They may be abstract or concrete. They can also be classified based on their goals, they can be descriptive or prescriptive.
Patient education should be comprehensive and easily understood. Conclusion Nursing theories have come to be an important portion of nursing and everyday practice. Nursing is concerned with the entire individual.
In the past couple of decades, healthcare organizations in the USA have begun addressing these barriers. Jobs are vanishing because of new technology. This evolution sparked the emergence of an array of definitions of the period, nursing informatics.
It is tough to discover diseases that may not appear as the result of distinct ailments. As a consequence, synergistic interventions that integrate all factors might be more effective. A longitudinal study may observe the attrition of participants as time passes.
There are a wide number of means to increase participation through using web-based and cellular applications. The demand for more inquiry is discussed. When safety is provided prime significance, everything else starts to fall into place.
This training course is a hybrid class. The training course content focuses on rise and development, holistic issues linked to the age groups including psychosocial troubles. The fundamental idea of genuineness is centered on being true to someone’s word.
The aim of the orientation phase is to construct trust and respect. In under 10 decades, over half of the country’s healthcare-related positions will probably be filled by the millennial generation. The very first big concept is the individual.
New Step by Step Roadmap for Nursing Theories Related to Patient Centered Care
Is an extensive service which combines art and science. A grade of C has to be achieved. The idea of nursing is an important element of her writing.
Another big concept included inside her theory is the idea of environment. Meta-theory is the highest degree of theory. Although it appears first, the abstract needs to be edited last, as a concise overview of the proposal.
Additional a sizable part of superior patient care is dependent on preventative measures. You truly do sense every option has a yes and a no and more often, the no is dictated by the total amount of pain you would like to feel, the total amount of pain you know you’re likely to feel and whether you wish to go through it. Person-centered care looks at behaviors as a means for the person who has dementia to communicate his requirements, and it understands that figuring out what unmet need is the reason for the behaviors is the secret.
Make sure that the patient is physically and emotionally comfortable so he or she is able to actively take part in patient-centered care. The results of the patient are contingent on the practice given by nurses. He does not wish to see any other doctors other than myself and does not want to take medications.
Communication to the patient and relatives ought to be open, honest and dependable. Family involvement is very important if a patient is in good pain or fearful of their situation, in addition to when they are being discharged or moved to a different facility. Hospitals that truly embrace patient-centered care encourage all their employees to set the patient first, even when employee isn’t in a direct care role.
This course also presents information related to numerous facets of chronic illness, and death and dying. ‘The huge change is the access to the nurse educator… She really took the opportunity to explain the issue of diabetes. Another typical theme of caring is to realize the context of an individual’s life and illness.
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Ryan and Ellen, one of the popular idioms for getting married is to “tie the knot.” The saying originates to a time when more things had to be tied, as to hold them together from getting loosed. Stringed packages, clothing, shoelaces, piles of books, and tents were things to be tied up, as well as one’s transportation vehicle needing a tying up—I am speaking of one’s horse (!)—it was tied up to the post. It’s an idiom phrase still around today—to tie the knot—that someone slid over to defining a marriage promise, as one “tied the knot” to stay together, it hopefully was not to unravel or loosen.
A wedding at this Navy Cathedral fits in with this old idiom. Many midshipmen here get taught about knot-making. Some of them can teach you a dozen various ways to tie a knot, depending on the need. There is the “midshipmen’s knot.” There is the near-simple cleat hitch, too, using a figure 8 wrap around a cleat. There is a running bowline, or the buntline hitch. If you have a large vessel, there are mooring lines, and knotty procedures for tying up a Navy craft or ship. Yachts in Annapolis have their way of doubling up a vessel, too, to keep them safe in port, and from drifting away across to the Eastern shore!
I feel like today we are witnessing you “double up” for marriage.
The importance of the strength or quality of the ropes or lines cannot be ignored with all of this tying up. You must have that aspect right with the needed might.
Let’s ‘tie’ all of this to marriage. The Scriptures tell you have to be tied together, to keep as one, so as to be strong against what might storm or wash into or slap into your relationship. Love that is of God is needed here for a marriage, the two-in-one, covenant relationship knot. 1st Corinthians 13 says “strive for the greater gifts… the love that is of God, to be in you, for holy kindness, for godly patience, for humility and for that other-centered attitude called servanthood.” What else does it say? It says how you you need lines of bearing things as one, and believing and trusting together, and in making a promise of love that “I will not fail you, relying on the Grace of God, of which I will keep praying for, which we will keep praying for, to make this relationship work out well. To God’s glory.
So here you are, Ryan and Ellen, in this Chapel of the Navy, petitioning God Almighty, Who is Strong to Save, to help you in this most noble vocation, of loving a spouse in marriage, and of being loved by them always, and of being one in family under God, Who is strong to save.
In the “knot” you tie, Christ the Son comes in Holy Sacrament to be in your bond, and His Spirit comes and blesses you, as you exchange vows. I have given you a foot of a three-ply strong line today. It is made of three lines joined tightly. See yourselves as two of them woven as one, and the third line as Christ. He is the secret love line to “grace” your union; He’s the eternal, holy line in your “tying the knot.” The Bible has a verse of wisdom that says “a three-ply cord is not easily broken.” (Ecclesiastes) You’ll see that the foot of rope I gave you is decently strong. Let it represent what you launched here today. Three to get married. Ryan. Ellen. And The Lord in your union. Keep this cord and Bible verse in the case I provide you today to remember this mystery of Sacrament in Holy Matrimony.
I am glad for your story, from mystery dating, to being from the same neighborhood, to having dads who knew one another several decades ago. It’s a great story and reality.
In knowing your stories a bit, I can add in here: Go Navy. Roll Tide. And Go Springbook. (‘Blue Demons, are you kidding me?!)
Here is hoping that your wedded love will be like a living poem, a sonnet of deep charity and mutual giving. Here is hoping that your wedded union will be like a great, rhyming song, that never grows old, and satisfies and fulfills in every play, always in concert, that is, you with one another, as an ever-pleasing tune.
I start with the image of poem and song, for I have realized that there are few and far-between rhyming ones that mention Holy Marriage or Holy Matrimony in them. I think the problem is that neither word has many good rhymes to it. Take marriage, for instance. What rhymes with marriage? Yes, carriage! It was five decades ago that Frank Sinatra recorded “Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage, go together like a horse and carriage.” So, carriage is the best word out there to rhyme with marriage. That certainly doesn’t help our poets out at all these days. We don’t use carriages much anymore!
Lightheartedly, I continue on about this rhyming deficiency for marriage poems and songs.
Porridge might be the next closest rhyme; as in, our marriage is like a fine porridge. Uh, again, this image and rhyme doesn’t really work. The only half-decent porridge I ever got was at Cracker Barrel, some years ago in Waldorf, Md. But that barley porridge didn’t conjure up (in my head) of any wedded bliss or love connections as I slurped it!
The next best word to pair with marriage is mirage, which is not a rhyme but a homophone, a similarly sounding word. Yet marriage is real, not a mirage nor fantasy. So, we throw out mirage! It won’t make it into any song about marriage.
So, what this means, Ryan and Ellen, is that the dearth of poetic lines in literature makes it all so necessary that your lives be that living, beautiful poem of marriage. Couple yourselves in phrases of trust and cooperation, and love, and in possibilities, dreams, and plans—-and you have a good marriage, like an edifying poem.
Take also the words of “Holy Matrimony” and tell me how many great rhyming songs has it spoken of? It’s none. Because Holy Matrimony rhymes with little. Little but macaroni. “I entered Holy Matrimony, then had a plate of macaroni.” ‘See, it doesn’t have the making of a hit song! What else does really rhyme with Matrimony? How about macrimony? It is defined as being in the act of great upset with one’s computer. Thus: “I knew that Holy Matrimony, would rest my Apple macrimony, or soothe my troubled acrimony, and so I give this testimony.” Nah, I’m sorry, but I don’t imagine Blake Shelton or Adele or Chance the Rapper getting a Grammy on that awful rhyme.
Therefore, again, you both, Ryan and Ellen, need to be a living song (!) that’s always playing and speaking about of how marriage is such a beautiful shared thing.
Let us have you exchange consent and vows for your living out Marriage in the Church, Holy Matrimony.
December 6, 2017 Fr. Barry's Blog
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"This post includes affiliate links for which I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you should you make a purchase."
Americans who order packages from places like Gamefly have no worries. They put in their address, and within the stipulated time frame, the package arrives.
Things are not as easy for America’s neighbor to the north, Canada. A number of American stores won’t ship internationally. This can be frustrating, especially if the stores are offering great deals.
If you have experienced this recently, do not get frustrated. There are options available that will allow you to ship items ordered from e-commerce stores like Gamefly to your house or office address in Canada.
Step #1. Enroll with a Shipping Forwarder
You checked the company’s website and are sure that Gamefly or the other e-commerce store you want to purchase from will not ship to Canada.
The best option for you is to ship your package to a package forwarder that will send the items you purchased in the United States to your home.
Obviously, you are paying a pretty penny for your items. You want to make sure that they arrive safely and in a timely manner.
That is why we think you should only work with a forwarder that has experience. Our pick is MyUS.com.
The reason why we like this option is because they don’t charge additional taxes, they have low rates, and their service is reliable.
We have worked with this shipping forwarder for some time and have shipped more than 1,000 packages from the US to Canada and feel that MyUS.com is unquestionably the best option for delivering your Gamefly order.
If you are planning on ordering something from a US-based e-commerce store that doesn’t ship to Canada, we recommend that you go through the sign-up process with MyUS.com.
Signing up is a breeze, and you will know how much it is going to cost to ship your Gamefly item to your home before checkout.
If you have any problems with your Gamefly package, talk to the concierge service offered by MyUS.com.
Once you have gone through the registration process and have set up your American address, you are ready for the next step, which is visiting Gamefly and grabbing all the amazing items you couldn’t order before.
As you go through the checkout process, use the American address you have set up with MyUS.com and your package will be on its way to Canada before you know it.
Affiliate Disclosure
www.securite-allergie.ca is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
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Former Senator Bob Dole, who died yesterday, was a decorated combat veteran and a masterful bipartisan dealmaker. But to people with disabilities, especially those who remember the days before wheelchair ramps and aids for the visually impaired, Dole was a bona fide hero. Frank Morris of member station KCUR explains.
FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE: Bob Dole lived 98 years, but he was very nearly killed at 21. A German machine gunner shot him fighting in Italy in World War II. Bullets tore through his shoulder and shattered his right arm. He never recovered the use of that arm, and his left arm wasn't fully functional, either. The injuries not only derailed his dream of being a doctor, it gave him a taste of what it meant to be looked down on. Dole Institute director Audrey Coleman says that after the war, Dole confronted a stark new difference in the way people treated him - first, when he was in uniform.
AUDREY COLEMAN: They recognized him to be a war hero. But if he were wearing civilian clothes, folks wouldn't treat him with the same - you know, not look him in the eye, not give him the same kind of respect. And clearly, their perception was that he, as an individual, did not have that same kind of value.
MORRIS: That made a mark. Coleman says that in 1969, Dole used his first speech on the floor of the Senate to talk about expanding opportunities for people with disabilities. Bob Dole was a staunch Republican but also a master dealmaker. And he got behind a massive effort pushed by Democrats called the Americans with Disabilities Act. Dole was crucial, Coleman says, because he knew how to frame the issue as a pragmatic win for the economy.
COLEMAN: This was not an entitlement program. It was not a welfare program. This was enabling people with disabilities to be participants in the workplace.
MORRIS: That eventually helped win Republican support. And when President George H. W. Bush signed the ADA in 1990, he singled out Bob Dole.
GEORGE H W BUSH: Very risky with all these members of Congress here who worked so hard, but I can say on a very personal basis, Bob Dole has inspired me.
MORRIS: And you can see the fruits of Bob Dole's effort all across the country.
MIKE OXFORD: So we see the grade of this curb cut being very shallow, and we see the rumble strips for people that are blind or visually impaired.
MORRIS: Disability rights advocate Mike Oxford is navigating downtown Topeka, Kan., in a motorized wheelchair, something that would have been almost impossible when he was young.
OXFORD: That comes right from the ADA. Thank you, Bob Dole, for helping get people out of institutions - thousands, tens of thousands.
MORRIS: Because before the ADA, Oxford says some people with disabilities found themselves almost completely shut out of society. Many couldn't ride public transit. Public buildings, even sidewalks tossed up serious obstacles that kept them from work and from friends.
OXFORD: But it's meant the world to so many people. Everyone knows Bob Dole in the disability community, and he is in the pantheon of our heroes.
MORRIS: But the ADA was passed more than 30 years ago, and Mike Oxford says that many people now living better because of Bob Dole's perseverance may not give him enough credit.
OXFORD: He can never know how many people he has really helped gain basic liberty and the right to be out and around and have a chance to live the life that you want. He can never know how far that's going to go worldwide, but I'm sure he'll be watching that from heaven.
MORRIS: So far, 163 countries have signed on to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a body of provisions based on what Bob Dole often called his proudest legislative accomplishment, the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Frank Morris has supervised the reporters in KCUR's newsroom since 1999. In addition to his managerial duties, Morris files regularly with National Public Radio. He’s covered everything from tornadoes to tax law for the network, in stories spanning eight states. His work has won dozens of awards, including four national Public Radio News Directors awards (PRNDIs) and several regional Edward R. Murrow awards. In 2012 he was honored to be named "Journalist of the Year" by the Heart of America Press Club.
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We’re a Netherlands-based foodtech startup founded by three friends determined to unlock the incredible power of microalgae, to make products that breathe life back into not just you but the world we live in.
Over the years, the nutritional benefits of Spirulina – and (micro) algae in general – have made it a staple ingredient in the vitamin and supplement aisle. But we wanted to make this rich source of natural plant-based nutrients more accessible to people, so we’ve focused on improving Spirulina’s taste and incorporating spirulina in convenient on-the-go products. We were also inspired by Spirulina’s potential to be produced in a way that positively benefits the planet, so we developed our own sustainable production process that efficiently recycles CO2 to grow our Spirulina. Since then we’ve developed a passion (bordering on obsession) for unleashing the climate and human health potential of the tiny superhero.
Living and breathing entrepreneurship since she was born (well, kind of) Sara helped run her family business outside Milan where she honed her skills in IP and financial strategy and in true Italian fashion, carried with her a deep passion for food over to the Lowlands.
Favourite algae fact: There are more algae in the oceans than stars in the Universe.
‘Valley hopping’ Julia made the move from Silicon Valley to Europe’s Food Valley bringing with her a love of innovation and launching startups.
Favourite algae fact: Less than 2.5 billion years ago, the ancestors of spirulina got so good at gobbling up CO2 and producing oxygen, that they “accidentally” cooled the earth so much that they caused a 300 million year-long ice age.
After building a global career leading large scale decarbonization projects in the energy world, Cristina decided to apply her chemical and industrial engineering expertise to unlocking the potential of a much greener gold.
Favourite algae fact: Most people think “algae” is pond scum. What they don’t know is that without algae, none of us would exist.
Meet Our First Board Member
No joke, we’ve appointed mother nature as our first board member as the first stakeholder to whom we hold ourselves accountable. She’s a real force, but helps steer us in the right direction.
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PSA: Packages failing to install with new, OpenRC-based stages: missing users and groups – Flameeyes's Weblog
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PSA: Packages failing to install with new, OpenRC-based stages: missing users and groups
English Technical
This month Gentoo finally marked stable baselayout2 and OpenRC, which is an outstanding accomplishment, even though it happens quite late in the game, given that OpenRC exists for a few years by now. Since now these packages are stable, they are also used to build the new stages that are provided for installing new copies of Gentoo.
This has had an unforeseen (but not totally unexpected) problem with users and groups handling, since the new version of baselayout dropped a few users and groups that were previously defined by default, in light of its more BSD-compatible nature. Unfortunately, some of these users and groups were referenced by ebuilds, like in the case of Asterisk, that set its user as part of both the asterisk and dialout groups — the latter is no longer part of the default set of users created by baselayout, so installing Asterisk before last on a new system created from the OpenRC-based stage would have failed.
Okay so this is a screw-up and one that we should fix it as soon as possible, but why did it happen in the first place? There are two things to consider here: the root cause of the problem and why it wasn’t caught before this happened. I’d start with the second one in my opinion.
When testing OpenRC, we all came to the conclusion that it worked fine. Not only my computers, but even my vservers, my customer’s servers, and most of the developers’ production boxes have been running OpenRC for years. I even stopped caring about providing non-OpenRC-compatible init scripts at some point. Why did none of us hit this problem before? Being a rolling distribution, our main testing process does not involve making a new install altogether: you upgrade to OpenRC and judge whether it works or not.
Turns out this is not such a great idea for what concern critical system packages (we have seen issues with Python before as well): when upgrading from Baselayout 1 to Baselayout 2, not all files are replaced; users and group added by baselayout 1 are kept around, which makes it impossible to identify this class of issues. We should probably document more stringent stable marking process for system components, and work with releng to find a way to test a stage so that it actually boots up with a given kernel and configuration (KVM should help a lot there).
As for the root cause of the problem, we have been fighting with this issue since I became a dev, and that’s why there is GLEP27 which is supposed to take care of managing users and groups and assigning them global IDs. Unfortunately this is one of those GLEPs that were defined, but never implemented.
To be honest there has been work on the issue, which was also funded by the Google Summer of Code program, but the end results didn’t make it to Gentoo, but rather to another project (which is why I always have doubts about Gentoo’s waste of GSoC funding).
So until we have a properly-implemented GLEP27, which is nothing glamorous, nothing that newcomers seem to feel like tackling, we’re just dancing around a huge number of problems with handling of users and groups, that is not going to get easier with time, at all.
What is my plan here? I’ll probably find some time tonight or so to set up a tinderbox that uses the OpenRC-based stage, and see what might not work out of the box; unfortunately even that is not going to be a complete solution: if two ebuilds use the same group, and they are independent one from the other, it is well possible that the group is added by one and not the other, so whether they install correctly depends on the order of installation. Which is simply a bad thing to have and a difficult to test for.
In the mean time, please do report any package that fails to build with the new stages. Thank you!
Reddit
2011-06-08 at 23:44
Just spent many hours trying to get openrc and baselayout2 to talk nicely with openvpn in a bridged network environment. br0 needed openven and openvpn needed br0. I went back to non bridged just on eth0 to get the customer working. It seems like once I removed the old rc config file in /etc/conf.d it worked. I was not impressed with the upgrade doc as it does not go near deep enough. i find all the “extra” run levels rather confusing. Don’t get me wrong though because I feel the openrc is a step forward and Roy has done a grand job. Just a poor docs are the problem!Ang
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Below is an overview of the players on a hockey team as well as a list of required equipment needed to play.
The goalie's primary task is simple - keep the puck out of his own net. Offensively, he might start his team down the ice with a pass, but seldom does he leave the net.
These players try to stop the incoming play at their own blue line. They try to break up passes, block shots, cover opposing forwards (center and wings) and clear the puck from in front of their own goal. Offensively, they get the puck to their forwards and follow the play into the attacking zone, positioning themselves just inside their opponent's blue line at the "points."
The quarterback on the ice, the center leads the attack by carrying the puck on offense. He exchanges passes with his wings to steer the play toward the opposing goal. On defence, he tries to disrupt a play before it gets on his team's side of the ice.
The wingers team with the center on the attack to set up shots on goal. Defensively, they attempt to break up plays by their counterparts and upset shot attempts.
The Player's Equipment
Used equipment is a great way to get started while keeping costs in check, especially when they are young and growing so fast! Also, some sports stores offer starter kits that include the essentials, less the Skates, Stick and Helmet.
The Goalie's Equipment
My child wants to be a goalie...now what?
Required goalie equipment is below. KMHA offers a goalie equipment rental program. You can arrange rental of goaltending equipment for the season. This way your child can get into goaltending and you can keep the costs down while they are deciding if that position is right for them or while they are growing. To learn more about this program, please contact the KMHA office.
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Elko Community Health Center is a brand new, state-of-the-art ASC in Elko, Nevada, with adjoining physician’s offices and medical imaging. With 17 beds, Elko CHC provides a range of specialty care, including general surgery, cardiology, orthopedics, podiatry, ENT and spinal surgery in a gorgeous frontier setting, and we are excited to hire a stellar team to deliver our patients the best quality of care.
Elko CHC is a subsidiary of Community Health Development Partners, a development company increasing access to health, wellness, and medical services to rural and underserved communities across the United States.
As a member of Environmental Services, you are responsible for providing a clean, safe environment for patients, visitors, and personnel throughout the ASC. This includes cleaning (dusting, vacuuming, wiping surfaces) offices, waiting areas, lounges, restrooms, and corridors, as well as clinical areas including surgery and procedure rooms, pre- and post-operative bays, and sterile processing areas.
Key Responsibilities:
· Follows established protocols to maintain a clean, safe environment for patients, personnel, and visitors.
· Follows safety precautions, IFU (instructions for use) recommendations, and industry standards for personal protective equipment during handling or cleaning of sensitive areas and equipment and when in contact with chemicals.
· Cleans (dust and vacuum) and disinfects assigned areas including furnishings and equipment.
· Cleans, disinfects, and stocks bathrooms in patient and public areas as assigned.
· Discards trash and hazardous waste following facility specific protocols.
· Stocks and replenishes supplies in assigned areas.
· Promotes and role models collegial, collaborative relationships with all members of the interprofessional team.
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Quiet the mind and calm the nerves with this deep relaxation, stretch and healing evening. Join Jennifer Goodman and Monique on the rooftop (weather permitting) for 60 minutes of glorious Yin yoga and meditation followed by a deliciously healing kitchari meal during this Evening Yoga, Meditation and Kitchari evening.
After yoga we’ll mingle in lounge and watch the sun set on the panoramic view of the city.
BYO: Mat, towel, water bottle and sunscreen.
Note: class is held on the 4th floor of a walk up building with no elevator access.
Location: West Town, Chicago, IL (address will be shared upon registration)
~2 hrs; all food allergies accepted; Please let Monique when you register if you have any food sensitivities to allow for proper planning.)Note: class is held on the 4th floor of a walk up building with no elevator access.
Location: West Town, Chicago, IL (address will be shared upon registration)
Cost: $50
Please arrive 10 minutes early
Happy Eats Healthy events are based on whole, clean food with a focus on anti-inflammatory ingredients.
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From the Publisher - The Mental Health Repercussions of the Current Economy and the Interrelationship Between Physical and Mental Health - Behavioral Health News
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From the Publisher – The Mental Health Repercussions of the Current Economy and the Interrelationship Between Physical and Mental Health
October 1st, 2008
This issue of Mental Health News explores the interrelationship between physical and mental health. For treatment professionals and service providers, this theme brings forth the knowledge that people with mental illness suffer from the ills of poor physical health to a much greater degree than the general population. Many of the articles in this issue address this troubling health crisis. As a consumer myself, I share this concern and have been affected by it since I became ill with depression in 1989. Before I comment on that aspect of our theme, I can’t help but touch upon the mental health repercussions of the current economic crisis.
As people in communities throughout our nation are feeling the extreme pinch of the economy, I find myself pausing to reflect upon the troubling mental health repercussions this is having on them. Here are just a few examples from recent evening news reports.
In one piece on the crisis in housing foreclosures, a well-dressed, educated, middle aged woman in Florida was sitting in her kitchen with fear written across her face. “I might be homeless in a few weeks,” she replied, “Nobody seems to be able to help me, and I don’t really think that anyone cares.”
Another piece reported on a woman from New York who managed the family’s finances and had not told her husband how badly they had fallen behind in their mortgage payments. Without warning and with the knowledge that their home was about to go into foreclosure, she called their mortgage company to tell them that she had no other choice but to kill herself so that her family could collect on the insurance and keep their home. Soon after her call, the mortgage company called police to report her disturbing call. By the time police arrived, she had already taken her own life.
How sad and so real this story seemed to me. I know from my own experience with mental illness that there is nothing worse than feeling you will be unable to financially support yourself and your family, or that you will lose your home and have no place to live. The cost of feeding oneself (not to mention a family of three or four kids) has reached record highs, and thousands of people every day are being laid off from their jobs or losing their businesses across all levels of employment. This has surely lead to increased feelings of fear, stress, and loss for many. These negative emotions act as triggers and can cause decay in both realms of our physical and mental health. A clear example of the cost of fear and stress can be seen in soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD). Unfortunately, we are likely to see a similar increase in cases of depression and suicide in people across the nation during these difficult economic times.
Cause and Effect
Economists analyze how the stock market responds to global fluctuations in the price of oil and how they are causing the price of bread and milk at the grocery store to rise. Similarly, treatment professionals and mental health service providers understand how people’s emotional state respond to traumatic events in their lives. When someone loses their home or their job this cause and effect situation triggers ripple effects in people’s physical and mental health. Some people will react with stomach upset and headaches while others will fall into depression.
As these ripple effects continue, we are now seeing other vital components of state budgets in crisis due to serious declines in revenues. Governors in many states are now calling for departments in all sectors to cut budgets. These dire situations are continuing to appear and are not likely to go away quietly. Talk and worry abounds within the mental health treatment and services community that already thin operational budgets will be cut even more and that many programs throughout the nation will suffer or have to be closed altogether. This does not bode well for individuals and families struggling with existing mental health problems, and for the ever-increasing ranks of people that will be in need of mental health care who are victims of the current economic crisis.
Because each of us has different levels of physical and psychological strengths, understanding how and why people may or may not react to the fear and stress brought on by traumatic external events can be difficult.
If you think of it as a delicate tower of blocks that little children have so much fun building, our mind and bodies make up our own delicate and critical infrastructure. When one part of this structure begins to weaken, it can affect the other parts as well. As resilience to crisis varies tremendously from one person to another, the stress that triggers one person’s headache or stomach upset may cause someone else to spiral into a deep depression. Many scientists believe it all comes down to genetics and body chemistry. We now understand that imbalances of serotonin in our brains are responsible for the onset of many forms of mental illness. These recent advances in our understanding of mental illness are leading to more efficacious and targeted medications used to treat mental illness. This is a plus for those who suffer and continues to lead us to understand that mental illness is a medical disease that can be treated.
Certainly, the tragic news reports I mentioned previously are troubling and should cause us to be more sensitive and vigilant to people going through tough economic times. As more and more people lose their homes, jobs, and fall closer to economic poverty, the mental health repercussions will surely continue to rise. Will we be able to meet their needs and provide the mental health services needed to help them survive?
The Decline in Physical Health for People with Serious Mental Illness
On the other side of this issues’ theme, the recent “Morbidity and Mortality in People with Serious Mental Illness” report published in 2006 by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), revealed a serious decline in the physical health of people with serious mental illness (SMI) across the United States. This report found that people with SMI are dying 25 years earlier than the general population. This alarming report determined that people with SMI are falling victim to modifiable risk factors such as smoking, obesity, substance abuse, and inadequate access to medical care.
As someone who survived a serious mental illness, I learned many things along the way. It is alarming to me when I think back on those years to the things I experienced personally and what I was able to witness firsthand within the ranks of my fellow consumers in treatment.
Before I fell ill to depression in my late 30’s, I was in relatively good health. I was a smoker, but not to the compulsive degree that did develop during the darkest days of my 10-year ordeal. I was much thinner, did not have cardio-pulmonary disease, and did not suffer from rapidly declining dental health that caused me to lose many of my teeth.
As a consumer, I participated in years of day-treatment programs and inpatient stays in the hospital. I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time, but looking back, I can recall that my fellow consumers and I were all smoking way too much, were not eating healthy foods, and we were certainly not involved in any regular exercise programs. Overweight and chain-smoking patients were the norm and what you would see when you were in these programs. Our psychiatric illnesses prevented most of us from working and earning a decent living. Because of this, most consumers only had a few dollars a week from entitlement programs such as SSI, SSDI, Medicaid, and Medicare. What resources we did have that wasn’t going to rent (even if you were in supportive housing), utilities and transportation, was spent on buying inexpensive and easy to prepare meals and cigarettes. In addition, few of us had good medical insurance plans and were continually short changed when it came to sufficient or preventive care. For example, few could afford or had insurance that covered dental health care. When a tooth became problematic, your only option was to have it pulled rather than having a more expensive reconstructive or cosmetic procedure. Losing your teeth this way is very humiliating to consumers and certainly adds to your already low self-esteem. These are all things that were brought out in the NASMHPD report.
One of the most important results of the NASMHPD report is that it has sounded a call to action in the mental health community. In this issue, we read about several promising programs that hope to assist consumers in controlling diabetes, or preventing it in the first place, by exercising, choosing a healthier diet and quitting smoking. These programs are beginning to sprout up in day-treatment programs and are also following consumers in residential settings. I think this a good start but needs to become a universal mind-set in mental health communities across the country.
Improving the assessment and treatment of SMI at the primary care level is becoming increasingly important. In addition, our inability to successfully house people with co-occurring serious mental and physical disorders has caused many to end up in nursing homes. More needs to be done to enable people to live in the community, and to improve access to medical and dental care. By increasing the levels of healthcare coverage now being provided to people with SMI, consumers who rely on government entitlement for their healthcare will have a better chance at fending off diabetes and cardiovascular disease and live healthier and longer lives.
We are eager to hear from you, so please write to us at iraminot@mhnews.org and let us know what you think.
Good Luck in Your Recovery!
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In a diesel or gasoline engine with direct fuel injection, the fuel is injected through a nozzle with up to 200 bar directly into the combustion chamber. This mixes with the air that was introduced through the inlet valve. In gasoline engines with direct injection gasoline is supplied mainly in the compression stroke. In diesel engines, however, this happens at the beginning of the power stroke.
BMW High Precision Injection (Source: Manufacturer)
The advantage of direct injection lies in the optimal turbulence and the improved internal cooling of the combustion chamber. This results in a higher compression, which in turn increases the efficiency. Furthermore it reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
Note: In the conventional injection the fuel is already mixed with air before entering the cylinder.
The first automotive direct injection system was produced by Bosch and was developed by Goliath and Gutbrod in 1952. The famous Mercedes 300 SL became the first production sports car with four-stroke engine to be equipped with a direct fuel injection system. The Bosch fuel injectors were placed into the bores on the cylinder wall, and the spark plugs were relocated to the cylinder head. The result was a boost in engine output and efficiency and would remain a signature feature of the 300 SL “Gullwing” for a long time.
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How has your congregation “Listened Up†to the needs of others on a local, national, or international level over the past year? Enter the 2019 Annual Gathering Photo Contest and share your stories with us! The LCMC staff is once again welcoming photo submissions from LCMC pastors, leaders, and church members that depict how their congregation has been "in Mission for Christ" over the past ye [...]
March 29, 2019 By Kristy Thomas - LCMC Read more...
Register Now for our 17th Annual Gathering
Online registration is now open for our 17th Annual Gathering and Convention, which takes place October 8-11, 2017 at the Hilton Minneapolis in downtown Minneapolis, MN. The theme of this year's event is “We Confess Our Faith”. Our format will be a bit different this year, hoping to engage those attending in the conversation of three of the fundamental teachings of the Reformation: Justification The ... [...]
May 16, 2017 By LCMC Read more...
We're Forming a Non-Geographic Hispanic Network!
We have a number of congregations and ministries that have a tremendous outreach to Hispanic communities, and it would good if we could get these leaders, ministers, ministries connected. If your congregation is currently carrying out an Hispanic ministry, mission, or agency in our association, and you would like to get connected, please click here and sign up. If you are interested in learning more about developing an Hispanic ... [...]
February 17, 2017 By Mark Vander Tuig - LCMC Read more...
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ, Cambodia has partnered with Awakening Lives to World Missions (ALWM) and the Institute for Lutheran Theology (ILT) to expand and strengthen Christian Mission in the southeast asian country. Pastor Samuel Chim, Service Coordinator for LCMC Cambodia, has led mission in Cambodia for 20 years, establishing 50 house Churches, 9 Congregations, and 5 major regional projects. Some of his ... [...]
June 3, 2016 By Pastor Chris Conner - Awakening Lives to World Missions (ALWM) Read more...
We’re looking for photos that exemplify what it means to be “in mission for Christ” in the 21st century to include in the 2016 Annual Gathering Book and on our website. Photos must be submitted via our online photo submission form by Friday, July 1 and will be selected based on subject matter, photo quality, and story. [...]
May 27, 2016 By Kristy Thomas - LCMC Read more...
If you are like me, you often feel overwhelmed by all of the negative and depressing reports of world events, as they affect our mission fields. However, I just received the latest mission update from the Augustana District (AD-LCMC), and I wanted to pass along a POSITIVE news update. One year ago, the AD sent a 12 person fact finding team to visit with the Tabor congregation in Ethiopia. Out of that meeting came a partnership where ... [...]
June 11, 2015 By Jim Dix - Moderator, LCMC Missions Forum Read more...
Our 15th Annual Gathering, themed “Our DNA”, is all about celebrating what it truly means for us to be Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ. In accordance with this year’s theme, we’re inviting all “LCMC-ers” out there to show us, in a photograph, how their congregation exemplifies what it means to be an LCMC congregation. Special consideration will be given to all photos submitted on or [...]
March 25, 2015 By Kristy Thomas - LCMC Read more...
Annual Gathering and MFTH Project Statistics Announced!
Earlier this month, LCMC hosted its 14th Annual Gathering in Des Moines, IA. Read on for the latest stats on this year's attendance and our service project with Meals from the Heartland, as well as up-to-date announcements on LCMC's prayer network, Board of Trustees, upcoming events and online resources. [...]
October 29, 2014 By Kristy Thomas - LCMC Read more...
WE DID IT!
Last year, we announced to all of our congregations that one of our goals as an association for 2014 was to raise $80,000 for our 14th Annual Gathering service project with Meals from the Heartland. Today, we reached that goal! 100% of the donations that we have received will be used to purchase enough food, packaging supplies and shipping to feed 400,000 people in need, both in the U.S. and abroad. The food packages ... [...]
September 8, 2014 By Kristy Thomas - LCMC Read more...
Lutheran Church of South Sudan's Emergency Plan for Equipping Faithful Leaders
I ask that you focus your attention on the immediate short term appeal from Pastor Jordon Long, President of the Lutheran Church of South Sudan (LCSS). The LCSS is a new church with no walls. Most of its members worship in tents, huts, or open spaces. and they have no educational materials written in their indigenous languages. On March 14, Pastor Jordon was able to communicate with Eric Swensson and update the ... [...]
June 16, 2014 By Jim Dix Read more...
How has your congregation been "in Mission for Christ" over the past year? Whether you've organized a creative fundraiser to help raise money for our meal packaging project, traveled abroad on a mission trip, or put together a program to help reach out to the people in your very own community, we want to hear about it! For the next several weeks, our staff is inviting all "LCMC-ers" to send us ... [...]
April 22, 2014 By Kristy Thomas - LCMC 1 Comments Read more...
LCSS Seeks Translated Copies of Luther's Small Catechisms
I ask that you focus your attention on the immediate short term appeal from Pastor Jordon Long, President of the Lutheran Church of South Sudan (LCSS). The LCSS is a new church with no walls. Most of its members worship in tents, huts, or open spaces. and they have no educational materials written in their indigenous languages. On March 14, Pastor Jordon was able to communicate with Eric Swensson and update the current ... [...]
March 25, 2014 By Jim Dix - Moderator, LCMC Missions Forum Read more...
Blessman Ministries Plants First LCMC Congregation in South Africa
Later this month, we will be planting the first LCMC Church in all of South Africa. We will be calling Pastor Matt Shields, who is just finishing up his schooling at Luther Seminary. The church will be in a rural country school house building that has electricity, running water and an outdoor toilet. It is a gathering place for our rural farm area, is the voting polling place, and has a soccer field where nearby farmers ... [...]
February 26, 2014 By Dr. Jim Blessman - President & Founder, Blessman Ministries Read more...
The Texas District of the LCMC met in their Annual Convention August 2nd and 3rd hosted by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Braunfels Texas. The theme, “The River is Here,” spoke of the missional outreach which every member of the LCMC has at their fingertips! Friday evening Rev. Dan Clites, LCMC Coordinator of New Ministry Development, proclaimed God’s Word boldly in his message about ... [...]
August 13, 2013 By Rev. Jonathon Kosec - Waterside Church (Rockport, Texas) Read more...
Members Invited to Share Photos for Annual Gathering Book
Get your cameras ready, because it's time to share with LCMC what your congregation has been up to for the past year! In celebration of our 13th Annual Gathering, themed "The Grace of Giving", our staff is inviting pastors, leaders, church members and staff from any and all LCMC congregations to share with us in a photograph what your congregation has done over the past year in order to reflect financial stewardship, generosity and ... [...]
May 16, 2013 By Kristy Thomas - LCMC Read more...
LCMC and CALC Attend Breakforth Canada
Why would anyone travel to the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in January when temperatures can dip to -40 Fahrenheit? The answer: Breakforth Canada! It is truly a unique event. There is nothing else like it in all of Canada, and maybe even North America. About 15,000 people, representing over 1,000 churches, from all over Canada, the US and the world gathered January 25-27 for Breakforth 2013. Its aim is to equip and ... [...]
February 1, 2013 By Pr. Ed Skutshek - Canadian Association of Lutheran Congregations Read more...
LCMC Haiti Churches Affected by Hurricane Sandy
According to CNN, Hurricane Sandy has claimed the lives of 67 people to date, 51 of which have been reported in Haiti. Please check out our Prayer Blog to read the full prayer request article, which includes letters sent to our staff by LCMC pastors who maintain direct relationships with LCMC churches in Haiti. If anybody has additional information to share regarding this topic, such as relief funds or prayer events, ... [...]
October 29, 2012 By Kristy Thomas - LCMC Read more...
Book Offering for Ethiopian Seminary to Take Place at Annual Gathering
"Ambassadors for Christ" is the theme of our 2012 Annual Gathering, and those attending the event are all invited to take part in becoming just that. The seminary of the Mekane Yesus church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is in desperate need of books for their students. To help out, LCMC is welcoming an offering of books from our members at the Annual Gathering to be given to that seminary. If you have books on any of the topics ... [...]
August 16, 2012 By LCMC 1 Comments Read more...
LCMC Announces September Missions Conference
This September, the Great Commission Lutherans of Northwest Iowa will host A Light for All Peoples!, a Missions Conference aimed at equipping pastors and church leaders with the skills to ignite a passion within their congregations for sharing God's mission beyond the walls of the church building. Keynote speakers Rev. Dr. Gemechis Buba, Ethiopian Evangelist and NALC’s leader of World Mission, Rev. Ken Kimball, Dean of the Iowa ... [...]
August 2, 2012 By LCMC 2 Comments Read more...
Throughout the month of July, the staff of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ has invited the members who make up our association to send us photographs depicting how they have been working as "Ambassadors for Christ" within their own congregations, within their community, or anywhere within the world. The goal? To incorporate the personal stories of our own members, rather than stock art, to depict the theme ... [...]
What in Haiti Are You Doing?
Is your congregation doing mission work in Haiti? Would you and your congregation like to partner with a LCMC - Haiti congregation? The Board of Trustees has scheduled a breakout session at the fall assembly for all of us who have the call to share in the Gospel work of Jesus Christ in Haiti. If your congregation is currently involved with doing mission work in Haiti, please send a brief bio of your mission work and a couple of ... [...]
July 17, 2012 By Rev. Rusty Bailey Read more...
Don't Just Tell Us, Show Us!
Get your cameras ready! Design projects for the LCMC 12th Annual Gathering are currently underway, and to help illustrate this year's theme, Ambassadors for Christ, our staff is currently seeking photographs from our member congregations to be incorporated into the design of our Big Book, which will be distributed at the event this October. Photo submissions are welcome from any and all LCMC congregations. This includes ... [...]
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Each of us is an individual with our own distinct energy/aura, and we function best when our chakras are open and balanced.
The Crystal Chakra Energy Reading helps to understand an individual's current energy flow and chakra status, and thus determines which types and specific pieces of crystals are appropriate for balancing those chakras.
As even the same type of crystal does have some differences in their energy, we will handpick a set of crystals (worth up to $59) that are most aligned with your energy and give them to you free of charge.
Alternatively, if you want to get other crystals that cost more than $59, simply top up the difference.
No birthday/details/touching are required.
What is included?
We will let you know if any of your chakras are out of balance, which is causing problems, and we will recommend the best type of crystal(s) and specific piece(s)* for you. And explain how this could help you feel better.
*Just like humans, each crystal has its own vibe. In terms of energy, some rose quartz is more relaxing than others, while others may be better at emotional healing, and so on.
We will recommend crystals that are compatible with your energy and will scan all of the crystals in our shop to handpick those that can balance your chakras and are the most synchronized among themselves.
Energy exchange - $49.90
(with free crystals worth up to $50)
Conducted by Rave
Q: Can I use this to get someone crystal?
A: Of course! All you have to do is send us their photos, as mentioned above. In fact, many of our customers purchase this for their loved ones. You may also give this as a gift to your loved ones if you prefer to let them share their needs with us in person. Check out our Online Energy Reading!
Q: What exactly is energy exchange?
A: Regardless of the amount of time spent, by performing energy work such as energy reading, card reading, and so on, the reader will give away positive energy while also assisting their clients by taking in some negative energy. If the reader gives too much, the karma (cause and effect) balance will be thrown off, which is bad for both parties.
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With so many ways to mourn the loss and celebrate the life of your pet, FureverFriends Petuary vows to help you through it. With over two decades of experience in the community, we are dedicated to delivering the most reliable pet cremation services at affordable pet cremation prices, according to your personal requirements. Our dedicated and well-trained staff is on hand to guide you through the decision-making process so that you can select the pet cremation option that suits you best.
And just like family, we are here for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Family owned and operated, we are always ready to listen patiently. FureverFriends Petuary will literally go the extra mile by personally picking up your pet, and we will keep you informed of what's going on every step of the way, because your satisfaction is our priority. If you call on us, we will do our very best to deliver the compassionate, trustworthy and professional pet cremation service you deserve.
FureverFriends is a licensed pet cremation provider.
Coping with the loss of your pet
FureverFriends understands what it is like to lose your constant companion, and we are here to help you through the final task yet to be done – a caring and dignified pet cremation.
Urns and Memorial Products
FureverFriends can provide an assortment of urns and other memorial products made of quality materials.
Of course, it isn't always about the furry friends; we are happy to accommodate smaller pets as well, for example: gerbils, rabbits, lizards, turtles, and of course birds.
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since 1993
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Few things are harder to deal with than loss of a loved one. And losing a pet is hard, often as hard as losing a relative. Whether the loss was a surprise or was expected due to the fact that the pet was sick or elderly, Harbor Isl, SC pet funeral services can assist you. Here is some helpful information about why it’s advantageous to talk to a Harbor Isl, SC pet funeral service instead of simply having veterinarians handle all the pet’s final arrangements for you.
Many discerning pet parents plan for the eventuality of pet loss in advance. They get an idea of pricing and options so that they can be prepared when the sad day comes. By investigating options lowering Harbor Isl, SC pet funeral costs as well as learning about your options will put you in a better position to make the choice that best suits your needs and budget.
Veterinarians can often arrange the pet’s funeral but they may not offer you as many choices as dealing direct with a Harbor Isl, SC pet funeral service provider. They also typically charge more. Why? They pay the fee to a pet crematory in many cases (unless they have one on site). Then they charge you a fee for facilitating things. You can save on Harbor Isl, SC pet funeral costs by dealing direct. Our Harbor Isl, SC funeral services for pets are easy to plan. We provide all the information without sales pressure and you simply tell us which option best suits you.
What Happens During Pet Cremation?
Services that offer pet cremation in Harbor Isl, SC can pick up your deceased pet from home or from a veterinarian’s office. They are put into a cremation oven and the remains are heated until remains are rendered. Cremated remains, known as cremains, are then returned to you. You can opt to have them returned in a simple container or purchase a pet cremation urn. Harbor Isl, SC providers of pet funeral services may also offer Aquamation, water-based cremation option. With pet cremation in Harbor Isl, SC by our service, we treat your beloved pet with dignity and respect. Our great reputation can put you at ease about doing business with us. If you have questions, we are happy to answer your questions regarding the cremation process as well as associated services and products that are available.
A number of providers exist for pet cremation and a few in your Harbor Isl, SC could offer you lower prices versus your veterinarian. Pet cremation costs in Harbor Isl, SC will vary substantially, depending on the size of the animal, the urn (or lack thereof), and so forth.
After Pet Cremains Are Sent to You
Some create a memorial garden as a place to remember their pet. Alternatively, you could also scatter or bury the cremated remains. As a Harbor Isl, SC pet funeral services provider with a variety of options we can help with reviewing your choices. In addition to providing the cremation and selling you products like urns, memorial jewelry, or monuments we can also provide a simple scattering urn that lowers cost as well as share tips about ways to memorialize your pet.
Some of our clients choose to order cremation jewelry, which is created with a tiny amount of cremated pet remains but that results in a gorgeous gemstone that can be worn on a necklace, ring, earring, or bracelet charm. It could also be mounted in a frame with a photo of your pet and given to several of your pet’s favorite people.
Internment is also something that may be an option at a Harbor Isl, SC pet cemetery where you can lay your pet to rest. Some Harbor Isl, SC pet cemeteries also have a columbium specifically for dogs, cats, and other beloved pets. Some deem backyard burial the best option for a pet but want the pet prepared by a funeral director or for cremation for space limitations.
Regardless of what your budget is, there are most likely some options that can help you memorialize your pet in a fitting way that makes you feel you’ve done the right thing as well as that helps you move forward after loss. We love our pets and they deserve recognition as a member of our family whether they lived with us a long time or a short time. Contact our Harbor Isl, SC pet funeral services company today to save money as well as learn about the myriad of options available to help you honor your beloved pet. Our sincere apologies for your loss.
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Sean’s home was a true find on Airbnb! We loved the home and he was a phenomenal host, giving us a warm welcome with lovely bottle of wine. We were in the Palm Beach Gardens area visiting family for the Holidays. As soon as we walked into this lovely home, we changed plans to host dinner at Sean’s home. This home is extremely spacious, and very well appointed, and perfect for hosting. It had the most and best kitchen supplies compared to any other Airbnb. You will not be disappointed by the level of taste and details of the home. It was a luxury home with great appliances and cookware. It made it very easy to host family and children. We would highly recommend this home and will only stay here in the future. It may not be right in the thick of things but we were close enough to beaches, the Gardens Mall, and very good restaurants within a 10-15 minute drive. It was perfect for us, and our two children, aged 4 and 17. Everyone had their own space and we were all able to relax in the home which was so nice. Looking forward to our next visit!
Wow!!! This place is exactly as described and exceeded our expectations. The towels were soft; the indoor spaces were more than adequate for diverse occasions like playing Jenga or cornhole, eating breakfast, or sitting down together as a family for dinner. Each bedroom is tastefully, yet simply, decorated in such a way that you feel right at home. One of my personal favorites about this property was the choice of soap - each one smelled so good. You will absolutely love your stay in this home, eating at the island, using the amazing kitchen. More importantly, the host was friendly, responsive, and great with communication. I definitely recommend a stay here. We knew nothing about Jupiter before, but found the location to be extremely convenient and will definitely be returning in the future.
We thoroughly enjoyed our week at Chloe's Casita! Perfect size for our family of 5 adults and two kids. The kids loved having a pool and we loved the safety fence surrounding it for peace of mind! Great location, stylish interiors, and super clean! Sean is a friendly, helpful host. We felt right at home during our stay and highly recommend!
United States
Set in a single family home community in the heart of town. There are sidewalks to enjoy for exercise or a fun stroll to the park. Absolutely beautiful area. Only minutes from the beach, a baseball game (spring training), or a great game of golf. Plus, local dining and shopping is unlimited. If you’re a fisherman or scuba diver, the list of charters is endless. Also, Jupiter offers some of the best paddle boarding, kayaking, canoeing, boating, and surfing on the east coast of Florida. After a long day of fun, Jupiter is known for it’s waterfront night life. Prepare to have a great time while you’re here visiting. Our guidebook on Airbnb provides many of our desired fun spots. We as hosts are happy to offer some guidance if you request.
House Rules
No smoking
Max guests: 8 (sleeps up to 6 adults)
You will be responsible for any damage to the rental property caused by you or your party during your stay.
Must Confirm That You Have Read And Agree To The Terms Stated In The Attached "The Bent Palm Agreement
Cancellation Policy
Max guests: 6 (sleeps up to 6 adults)
Minimum age of primary renter: 24 (Doesn't apply to children in reserved group)
Children Allowed (please note that there are no outlet covers)
Cancellation Policy
We love our vacation homes, and the community and surrounding neighbors. Thanks for understanding and complying.
You will be responsible for any damage to the rental property caused by you or your party during your stay.
House rules
Self check-in with smart lock
No smoking
No parties or events
Additional rules
Please carefully review the Agreement below, and contact Host immediately with any questions or concerns prior to your Booking.
Upon booking through this Airbnb platform, Guest(s) agree to the following Host's terms;
This Agreement ("Agreement") is made between you, (“Guest”, “you” or “your”) and Underwood Vacation Group LLC (hereinafter referred to as “Host”, “us”, “our” or “we”) in consideration for your stay at "The Bent Palm" located at 6022 Foster Street, Jupiter, FL 33458 in Palm Beach County, Florida (hereinafter referred to as “Property”).
This Agreement sets forth certain rules (“Guest Rules”) that you and any guest staying with you or visiting you (“Your Guests”) in the Property must follow in connection with your booking of the Property from Host or any other services relating to the Property (a “Booking”). As the entirety of this Agreement applies to you and to Your Guests, you and Your Guests will be held jointly liable for any consequences resulting from non-compliance with the terms of this Agreement.
This Agreement also sets forth certain services that we may provide you in connection with your Booking of the Property from us. This Agreement sets forth fees that apply with the non-compliance of the Guest Rules and other such rules. Capitalized terms used in this Agreement but not defined herein have the meanings assigned to them in the Terms. Guests acknowledge and agree that the Host and Airbnb may require you to accept or otherwise agree to terms of service and other agreements in connection with your Booking. In addition to those agreements, Guests must comply with our Guest Rules in connection with a Booking. If there is conflict or discrepancy between any agreement with the Host or Airbnb and these Guest Rules, the Guest Rules shall supersede to the extent of such conflict or discrepancy. You agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, and that you will not breach any agreements you have entered into with any third parties, such as Hosts and Airbnb. As a result of your Booking of the Property from Host, you should receive a summary of your Booking (“Booking Summary”) from Airbnb.
The Booking Summary details basic information regarding your Booking, such as the name of the property, check-in and check-out dates and times, fees and charges due, number of guests approved, and other relevant information. If there is any conflict or discrepancy of the Booking information between Airbnb and the Booking information available to Host, the Booking information available to Host shall supersede to the extent of such conflict or discrepancy. If you do not receive a Booking Summary from Airbnb, or if you suspect an inaccuracy in a Booking Summary that you have received, you may contact Host or Airbnb. All of the Host's contact data will be provided to you after the Booking has been completed on Airbnb.
Dear Guest! Thank you so much for making a reservation to enjoy our Property that we call “The Bent Palm”. We can’t wait to be the Host for your fantastic stay! We are ecstatic to provide a wonderful vacation home in the heart of a beautiful and local residential community, in what we consider the best vacation town on the South East Coast of Florida. We have split this Agreement into 3 sections for the simple ease of reading and reference.
Enclosed you will find: - Our Big 10 Rules for staying in our vacation home
- Our Home Reservation Policies - Payment and Legal Policies Please carefully review this Agreement and contact Host immediately with any questions or concerns about your Booking.
For purposes of safety to our Property, and to the surrounding children and families in the community, we require that a legible photo or scanned copy of the Guest’s valid Driver’s License or Passport (“Valid ID”) to be sent to Host upon Booking. This is no different than any hotel or resort policy.
Thanks for understanding the logic behind wanting to know our Guest. The required Valid ID must be provided to Host in order for you and/or Your Guests to have any access/occupancy of Property.
Please understand that you and Your Guests are the guests of the Host, and the residential community where the Property is located! Please respect the local community and Host by abiding by the following rules to ensure a comfortable and carefree stay at The Bent Palm;
1.There shall be NO PARTIES/ EVENTS anywhere on the Property. 2. This home is for NON-SMOKERS ONLY. There shall be NO SMOKING, NO VAPING, NO ILLEGAL DRUG USE, and NO DRUG PARAPHERNALIA of any kind or substance indoors or anywhere on the Property, at anytime. 3.Guest shall return all Property access keys and/or remotes (if any are applicable) upon completion of stay. 4.Guest shall make no changes to Property, including, but not limited to, moving or removing any furnishings. 5.Guest shall abide by the occupancy allowance of Property that is provided by Host, and must obtain consent from Host for additional visitors. 6.Guest understands that any property management staff (e.g. pool service providers, lawn care providers, etc.) are not affiliated with Host, and may not be willing to assist Guest with Property situations and/or Guest’s questions/concerns. Please call Host for assistance, and we will do our best to help! 7.NO PETS. PERIOD. Guest must leave pets (and service animals) at their own home or at a pet care/boarding facility. No pet(s) shall be allowed on Property without prior written authorization from Host. 8.Guest shall only attempt to enter Property during the time period reserved through Airbnb. 9.Host is authorized to pursue compensation for negligent or willful violations of this Agreement. 10.Guest shall assume responsibility for all contents on/in the Property during Booking Period. Guests shall be responsible for any damage to any contents that occur during their stay.
In addition to abiding by our Guest Rules, you agree to abide by any rules and restrictions placed on the Property by the Host (“House Rules”), which may be modified or supplemented at any time in accordance with this Agreement and the Terms. The Booking Summary and House Rules may set forth certain restrictions. By refraining from terminating this Agreement and your Booking after modification, Guest agrees to be bound by any such rules and restrictions. Thank you so much for observing our House Rules and allowing us as your Host to provide fantastic accommodations while maintaining an outstanding relationship with the local residents. We hope you have a phenomenal stay. If you need any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Host. Please refer to the associated Fee Schedule of this Agreement.
Prior To Booking ANY Reservation Request - As a true vacation company, we are a licensed Corporation in the State of Florida. We have some policies that resorts and other such vacation companies follow. One is a very simple, and used by almost every resort you can name. We require the Airbnb Guest making the reservation (using their profile to make the reservation) to provide us with a valid and current copy of their ID (Passport or Drivers License). Due to online fraud, including credit card fraud, we also require the same from any person(s) utilizing their credit card to pay for the reservation. They too must provide us with a valid and current copy of their ID (Passport or Drivers License). Uploading the ID(s) required is very simple. As a company, we've created a professional website. It includes a page for such uploads. Simply go to our site known as Underwood Vacation Group (all one word), and you will locate the upload page therein. We require a selfie photo of each individual uploading their ID(s) to our website page. This cuts down on further fraud with credit cards. The ID(s) of the required parties must be uploaded before we book any reservation request(s). 3rd Party Reservation Requests - We do not allow 3rd Party Reservations. This means that no person can utilize their credit card for the purpose of paying for a reservation unless they are an occupant of the Property during the dates being reserved for the Guest. This includes, but is not limited to, insurance companies, sports agencies, and travel agencies. Booking Period – Regardless of the reservation date(s) booked, or what may be stated on your Booking Summary, the Check-in time is always on, or after, 3:00pm EST of the commencing date, and the Check-out time is always on, or prior to, 11:00am EST of the vacating date. Please refer to the associated Fee Schedule of this Agreement. In the event that Property is electronically accessible, the access code will be provided to Guest upon the Guest’s arrival. Unless your Host has agreed to a late check-out as part of your Booking Summary, or has expressly agreed in writing to an extension or a further period of occupancy which has been confirmed by a subsequent Booking Confirmation, then you will be responsible for a full daily rate for any overstaying past the check-out time on the day of your departure. If you overstay by more than one (1) hour then Host reserves the right to enter the Property, allow other authorized parties (e.g. cleaning staff) to enter the Property, remove your belongings, change the locks or access codes to the Property, and take such further action as may be necessary or appropriate (and you will be charged for the costs of any such action which will be charged against the debit or credit card account that you provided at check-in). In addition, you will be responsible for an additional fee equivalent to 150% of the effective daily rate of your stay for each day (or part thereof) that you overstay, as well as any other damages, fees, costs or expenses incurred by the Host, including without limitation, as a result of loss of a subsequent Booking for the Property and finding alternative accommodations for any subsequent guest who had a Booking for the Property for all or any part of the time that you overstayed.
Host advertises the Property with as much accuracy as possible. However, furnishings or floor plan or layout may vary from pictures on advertisements. We update and rearrange the Property from time to time. Information in advertising shall be deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
– The Property is, unless otherwise noted on our advertising, equipped and set up as a fully furnished property that will include bedspreads, linens, blankets, pillows, towels, a standard equipped kitchen, TV(s), and furnishings. Host may not have all the items you may be accustomed to having in your home.
Before Booking, please feel free to contact Host and inquire about any specific item(s) you may wish to have or expect. If there is a special type of item you are accustomed to using, and the Host is unable to acquire for you, please provide for those items by bringing them with you. Occupancy is based on sleeping capacity; Property may not have ample dining/living room seating to match bed capacity. Although it is our common practice to supply Guest with the essentials, we advise the Guest to bring personal items such as additional bath soap, shampoo, and toiletries. Extra towels are always recommended for any of the Host’s properties with hot tubs and/or swimming pools. Please understand that this Property is not a hotel or resort, and Host is unable to supply additional items like a hotel or resort may be able to.
PARTY/NOISE COMPLAINTS – Again, please respect the people within the community. Parties and noise complaints are taken VERY seriously. If a noise complaint occurs, Guest will be notified via email or phone. Host may come by the Property, or may send a person to the Property in order to verify complaint, warn Guest of the complaint, and make a report on activities and number of occupants in Property. Persons in violation of occupancy limit, or Guest Rules may be removed from Property. If a second noise complaint is received, after the initial warning, you and Your Guests shall be immediately removed from the Property. Guests evicted from Property will have their reservation considered as cancelled by the Guest, and additional penalties will apply. In the event that the police are called to Property due to, but not limited to, disturbance, occupancy issues, noise, or lewd behavior, the Guest will be charged a fine of $2,000 in addition to the normal occupancy costs and any damage to the Property.
– Please report any Property maintenance issues to Host as soon as they are identified. If a maintenance issue occurs that cannot be fixed in a reasonable amount of time, and significantly affects the Guest’s stay, the Host reserves the right to refund at Host’s sole discretion. Guest shall be responsible for any and all willful or negligent damages to Property features, including, but not limited to, furnishings, flooring, landscaping, and appliances. Housekeeping issues shall be addressed by Guest immediately upon arrival, but in no way shall void this Agreement. Guest must contact Host immediately, and Host shall assess the situation at that time.
– The Host provides complimentary wireless Internet and television service as a convenience for the Guest. If the Guest has any problems accessing the Internet, Guest shall immediately notify Host. Please note that Internet connectivity issues are often outside of Host’s control. Host will use due diligence and shall do it’s best to work with the Internet service provider(s) to resolve any such connectivity issues as quickly as possible. However, Host could be at the mercy of the service providers to resolve any such issue(s). As these are complimentary services, no refunds shall be assessed for Internet connectivity or television service issues.
WEATHER – Host does not provide refunds due to issues beyond Host’s control such as weather. Host also suggests consulting the local weather authorities prior to arrival.
This section details rules and requirements for making and maintaining a reservation with the Host.
CANCELLATION POLICY – At the time of Booking, Airbnb will take deposit and/or reservation fee from Guest. The cancellation policy of this Agreement shall coincide with the policy stated by Airbnb, which the Guest must utilize to reserve Property. PUBLIC RECORDS CHECK – At the time of booking, Host may submit Guest’s name and birth date to a basic public records search. Under sole discretion of Host, and within 5 days from the Purchase Agreement being made between Host and Guest, Host reserves the right to cancel a Purchase Agreement. In the event of such a cancellation, Host shall refund the Guest in full. Host may separately provide name(s) of Guest(s) authorized on Property to property staff. COLLECTION OF RATE / FEE / TAX PAYMENT – All collections of payment(s) for the Booking of Property shall be made through Airbnb. Host shall not collect any payments of any kind outside Airbnb. Not all Third Party Platforms, including Airbnb, will collect the six percent (6%) tourism development tax required of hotels and any housing in Palm Beach County. This tax is required to be collected from the Guest, by the Host, for any occupancy of six months or less. Host will pay the tax to Palm Beach County. In the event that the Third Party Platform has not collected this six percent tax from Guest at the booking of a reservation, the Host will separately collect the stated tax from Guest. Host will send Guest a separate payment request for the monetary value required to fulfill the tax demanded by Palm Beach County. This tax MUST be paid to Host before occupancy to Property can be provided to Guest. LIABILITY – Host is not responsible for any of your personal effects/property or those of Your Guests, which may disappear from the Property or surrounding areas. Host maintains insurance on the structure and those items belonging to Host, municipalities, and utility companies. You are responsible for insuring all of your personal items (e.g. travel insurance). During your stay, you shall be fully responsible for all damage to the Property and/or contents of Property caused by your negligent actions. In the event that the Property becomes inhospitable due to such negligent actions by you or Your Guests, then you agree to pay the nightly rate as specified on the Airbnb calendar until the Property may be put back in the condition it was provided to you on your check-in date in addition to being responsible for any damage caused by you and Your Guests. The Rate changes are seasonal on Property, and will change periodically. You agree to indemnify Host, and hold Host harmless from any injury or damage resulting to you and/or Your Guests, the personal property of you and/or Your Guests, the Property, or Property contents, occurring in the Property itself or in any common areas including, but not limited to, stairways, parking lots, driveways, recreational areas, and swimming pools that may be used by you and/or Your Guests. The total liability to Host from any loss to Guest and/or Your Guests, due to interruption of essential services, fire, or other occurrences that renders the Property unusable, shall only be for those days that Guest has prepaid and has not utilized Property. USE OF PREMISES – The Property and associated common areas shall not be used for ANY unlawful or illegal purpose. Guest agrees to keep the Property in a neat and orderly condition. No nails, screws, or any other such similar items are to be driven into any portion of the Property. Only the number of persons indicated on the Booking Summary is allowed to occupy the Property. The Property is to be used for residential purposes ONLY. No commercial, industrial, or retail activity can be conducted in the Property. Host is not responsible for any amenities or services that are closed, out of service, or cannot be used for any reason, and monies will not be refunded for such events. MISCELLANEOUS – No Property Rights or Interest; Not a Tenant. You and the Host have separately entered into this Agreement, under which the Host has issued you a license to occupy the Property during the agreed period (referred to herein as “Booking Period”) set out in the Booking Summary. YOU HAVE NOT ENTERED INTO A LEASE. THE LICENSE DOES NOT CONVEY ANY PROPERTY RIGHTS OR INTEREST IN REAL ESTATE AND YOU ARE NOT A TENANT OF THE PROPERTY. YOU HAVE NOT BEEN GRANTED EXCLUSIVE POSSESSION OF THE PROPERTY. This means that you have no right to stay in the Property or to otherwise use or occupy all or any part of such Property after the term set forth in your Booking Summary and have no rights to renewal or recurring usage. Host is not an agent of Host or Guest. FEE SCHEDULE -Unauthorized Late Check Out – Refer to Booking Period paragraph. -Smoking – $2,000.00, plus all repair costs to restore Property (including, but not limited to, removing odor) as a result of any odor from smoking a drug, cigarette, e-cigarette, marijuana, cigar on the Property. Excessive Cleaning – $125.00/Hour for any cleaning of Property that requires to take over, and above, two hours. Unauthorized Pets on Property – $2,000.00, plus all repair costs to restore Property (including, but not limited to, removing odor) Broken/Missing Items – Varies from item to item to include repair or replacement, as appropriate Missing Keys/Remotes – $50.00/key and $100/remote (if such items are applicable to Property) Requiring the re-coding of any key pads / access codes - $250.00/per access device -Unauthorized Party/Event on Property or Common Area – $2,000.00 fine, plus damages to Property -Legal Guest Removal from Property – $2,000.00 fine, plus any damages to Property No breach of any term of any of the rules contained in this Agreement, or the rules of the housing development, applicable association(s), municipality, or local, state, or federal authority in which the Property is located shall be deemed and taken to be a waiver of any other breach of this Agreement. Host makes no warranties, expressed or implied. If any provision of this Agreement is determined to not be valid or enforceable, the remainder of this Agreement will not be affected and each provision will be valid and enforced to the fullest extent of the law. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Guest is in agreement with all terms of this Agreement as of the date and year assigned to the Guest's Booking of Property through Airbnb.
Self check-in with smart lock
No smoking
No parties or events
Additional rules
- Please carefully review the Agreement below, and contact Host immediately with any questions or concerns prior to your Booking. Upon booking through this Airbnb platform, Guest(s) agree to the following Host's terms; "CHLOE'S CASITA AGREEMENT" This Agreement ("Agreement") is made between you, (“Guest”, “you” or “your”) and Underwood Vacation Group LLC (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Host”, “us”, “our” or “we”) in consideration for your stay at "Chloe's Casita" located at 6219 Linton Street, Jupiter, FL 33458 in Palm Beach County, Florida (hereinafter referred to as “Property”). This Agreement sets forth certain rules (“Guest Rules”) that you and any guest staying with you or visiting you (“Your Guests”) in the Property must follow in connection with your booking of the Property from Host or any other services relating to the Property (a “Booking”). As the entirety of this Agreement applies to you and to Your Guests, you and Your Guests will be held jointly liable for any consequences resulting from non-compliance with the terms of this Agreement. This Agreement also sets forth certain services that we may provide you in connection with your Booking of the Property from us. This Agreement sets forth fees that apply with the non-compliance of the Guest Rules and other such rules. Capitalized terms used in this Agreement but not defined herein have the meanings assigned to them in the Terms.
Guests acknowledge and agree that the Host and Airbnb may require you to accept or otherwise agree to terms of service and other agreements in connection with your Booking. In addition to those agreements, Guests must comply with our Guest Rules in connection with a Booking. If there is conflict or discrepancy between any agreement with the Host or Airbnb and these Guest Rules, the Guest Rules shall supersede to the extent of such conflict or discrepancy. You agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, and that you will not breach any agreements you have entered into with any third parties, such as Hosts and Airbnb.
As a result of your Booking of the Property from Host, you should receive a summary of your Booking (“Booking Summary”) from Airbnb. The Booking Summary details basic information regarding your Booking, such as the name of the property, check-in and check-out dates and times, fees and charges due, number of guests approved, and other relevant information. If there is any conflict or discrepancy of the Booking information between Airbnb and the Booking information available to Host, the Booking information available to Host shall supersede to the extent of such conflict or discrepancy. If you do not receive a Booking Summary from Airbnb, or if you suspect an inaccuracy in a Booking Summary that you have received, you may contact Host or Airbnb. All of the Host's contact data will be provided to you after the Booking has been completed on Airbnb.
Dear Guest! Thank you so much for making a reservation to enjoy our Property that we call “Chloe's Casita”. We can’t wait to be the Host for your fantastic stay! We are ecstatic to provide a wonderful vacation home in the heart of a beautiful and local residential community, in what we consider the best vacation town on the South East Coast of Florida. We have split this Agreement into 3 sections for the simple ease of reading and reference. Enclosed you will find:
Our Big 10 Rules for staying in our vacation home
- Payment and Legal Policies Please carefully review this Agreement and contact Host immediately with any questions or concerns about your Booking. For purposes of safety to our Property, and to the surrounding children and families in the community, we require that a legible photo or scanned copy of the Guest’s valid Driver’s License or Passport (“Valid ID”) to be sent to Host upon Booking. This is no different than any hotel or resort policy. Thanks for understanding the logic behind wanting to know our Guest. The required Valid ID must be provided to Host in order for you and/or Your Guests to have any access/occupancy of Property.
Please understand that you and Your Guests are the guests of the Host, and the residential community where the Property is located! Please respect the local community and Host by abiding by the following rules to ensure a comfortable and carefree stay at Chloe's Casita;
3.Guest shall return all Property access keys and/or remotes (if any are applicable) upon completion of stay.
4.Guest shall make no changes to Property, including, but not limited to, moving or removing any furnishings.
5.Guest shall abide by the occupancy allowance of Property that is provided by Host, and must obtain consent from Host for additional visitors.
6.Guest understands that any property management staff (e.g. pool service providers, lawn care providers, etc.) are not affiliated with Host, and may not be willing to assist Guest with Property situations and/or Guest’s questions/concerns. Please call Host for assistance, and we will do our best to help!
7.NO PETS. PERIOD. Guest must leave pets (and service animals) at their own home or at a pet care/boarding facility. No pet(s) shall be allowed on Property without prior written authorization from Host.
8.Guest shall only attempt to enter Property during the time period reserved through Airbnb.
9.Host is authorized to pursue compensation for negligent or willful violations of this Agreement.
10.Guest shall assume responsibility for all contents on/in the Property during Booking Period. Guests shall be responsible for any damage to any contents that occur during their stay.
In addition to abiding by our Guest Rules, you agree to abide by any rules and restrictions placed on the Property by the Host (“House Rules”), which may be modified or supplemented at any time in accordance with this Agreement and the Terms. The Booking Summary and House Rules may set forth certain restrictions.
By refraining from terminating this Agreement and your Booking after modification, Guest agrees to be bound by any such rules and restrictions.
Thank you so much for observing our House Rules and allowing us as your Host to provide fantastic accommodations while maintaining an outstanding relationship with the local residents. We hope you have a phenomenal stay. If you need any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Host. Please refer to the associated Fee Schedule of this Agreement.
Prior To Booking ANY Reservation Request - As a true vacation company, we are a licensed Corporation in the State of Florida. We have some policies that resorts and other such vacation companies follow. One is a very simple, and used by almost every resort you can name. We require the Airbnb Guest making the reservation (using their profile to make the reservation) to provide us with a valid and current copy of their ID (Passport or Drivers License). Due to online fraud, including credit card fraud, we also require the same from any person(s) utilizing their credit card to pay for the reservation. They too must provide us with a valid and current copy of their ID (Passport or Drivers License). Uploading the ID(s) required is very simple. As a company, we've created a professional website. It includes a page for such uploads. Simply go to our site known as Underwood Vacation Group (all one word), and you will locate the upload page therein. We require a selfie photo of each individual uploading their ID(s) to our website page. This cuts down on further fraud with credit cards. The ID(s) of the required parties must be uploaded before we book any reservation request(s).
3rd Party Reservation Requests - We do not allow 3rd Party Reservations. This means that no person can utilize their credit card for the purpose of paying for a reservation unless they are an occupant of the Property during the dates being reserved for the Guest. This includes, but is not limited to, insurance companies, sports agencies, and travel agencies.
Booking Period – Regardless of the reservation date(s) booked, or what may be stated on your Booking Summary, the Check-in time is always on, or after, 3:00pm EST of the commencing date, and the Check-out time is always on, or prior to, 11:00am EST of the vacating date.
Please refer to the associated Fee Schedule of this Agreement. In the event that Property is electronically accessible, the access code will be provided to Guest upon the Guest’s arrival. Unless your Host has agreed to a late check-out as part of your Booking Summary, or has expressly agreed in writing to an extension or a further period of occupancy which has been confirmed by a subsequent Booking Confirmation, then you will be responsible for a full daily rate for any overstaying past the check-out time on the day of your departure. If you overstay by more than one (1) hour then Host reserves the right to enter the Property, allow other authorized parties (e.g. cleaning staff) to enter the Property, remove your belongings, change the locks or access codes to the Property, and take such further action as may be necessary or appropriate (and you will be charged for the costs of any such action which will be charged against the debit or credit card account that you provided at check-in). In addition, you will be responsible for an additional fee equivalent to 150% of the effective daily rate of your stay for each day (or part thereof) that you overstay, as well as any other damages, fees, costs or expenses incurred by the Host, including without limitation, as a result of loss of a subsequent Booking for the Property and finding alternative accommodations for any subsequent guest who had a Booking for the Property for all or any part of the time that you overstayed.
VACATION HOME – Host advertises the Property with as much accuracy as possible. However, furnishings or floor plan or layout may vary from pictures on advertisements. We update and rearrange the Property from time to time. Information in advertising shall be deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
WHAT HOST WILL SUPPLY – The Property is, unless otherwise noted on our advertising, equipped and set up as a fully furnished property that will include bedspreads, linens, blankets, pillows, towels, a standard equipped kitchen, TV(s), and furnishings. Host may not have all the items you may be accustomed to having in your home. Before Booking, please feel free to contact Host and inquire about any specific item(s) you may wish to have or expect. If there is a special type of item you are accustomed to using, and the Host is unable to acquire for you, please provide for those items by bringing them with you. Occupancy is based on sleeping capacity; Property may not have ample dining/living room seating to match bed capacity. Although it is our common practice to supply Guest with the essentials, we advise the Guest to bring personal items such as additional bath soap, shampoo, and toiletries. Extra towels are always recommended for any of the Host’s properties with hot tubs and/or swimming pools. Please understand that this Property is not a hotel or resort, and Host is unable to supply additional items like a hotel or resort may be able to.
PARTY/NOISE COMPLAINTS – Again, please respect the people within the community. Parties and noise complaints are taken VERY seriously. If a noise complaint occurs, Guest will be notified via email or phone. Host may come by the Property, or may send a person to the Property in order to verify complaint, warn Guest of the complaint, and make a report on activities and number of occupants in Property. Persons in violation of occupancy limit, or Guest Rules may be removed from Property. If a second noise complaint is received, after the initial warning, you and Your Guests shall be immediately removed from the Property. Guests evicted from Property will have their reservation considered as cancelled by the Guest, and additional penalties will apply. In the event that the police are called to Property due to, but not limited to, disturbance, occupancy issues, noise, or lewd behavior, the Guest will be charged a fine of $2,000 in addition to the normal occupancy costs and any damage to the Property.
MAINTENANCE – Please report any Property maintenance issues to Host as soon as they are identified. If a maintenance issue occurs that cannot be fixed in a reasonable amount of time, and significantly affects the Guest’s stay, the Host reserves the right to refund at Host’s sole discretion. Guest shall be responsible for any and all willful or negligent damages to Property features, including, but not limited to, furnishings, flooring, landscaping, and appliances. Housekeeping issues shall be addressed by Guest immediately upon arrival, but in no way shall void this Agreement. Guest must contact Host immediately, and Host shall assess the situation at that time.
INTERNET/TELEVISION SERVICE – The Host provides complimentary wireless Internet and television service as a convenience for the Guest. If the Guest has any problems accessing the Internet, Guest shall immediately notify Host. Please note that Internet connectivity issues are often outside of Host’s control. Host will use due diligence and shall do it’s best to work with the Internet service provider(s) to resolve any such connectivity issues as quickly as possible. However, Host could be at the mercy of the service providers to resolve any such issue(s). As these are complimentary services, no refunds shall be assessed for Internet connectivity or television service issues.
WEATHER – Host does not provide refunds due to issues beyond Host’s control such as weather. Host also suggests consulting the local weather authorities prior to arrival.
This section details rules and requirements for making and maintaining a reservation with the Host.
CANCELLATION POLICY – At the time of Booking, Airbnb will take deposit and/or reservation fee from Guest. The cancellation policy of this Agreement shall coincide with the policy stated by Airbnb, which the Guest must utilize to reserve Property.
PUBLIC RECORDS CHECK – At the time of booking, Host may submit Guest’s name and birth date to a basic public records search. Under sole discretion of Host, and within 5 days from the Purchase Agreement being made between Host and Guest, Host reserves the right to cancel a Purchase Agreement. In the event of such a cancellation, Host shall refund the Guest in full. Host may separately provide name(s) of Guest(s) authorized on Property to property staff.
COLLECTION OF RATE / FEE / TAX PAYMENT – All collections of payment(s) for the Booking of Property shall be made through Airbnb. Host shall not collect any payments of any kind outside Airbnb. Not all Third Party Platforms, including Airbnb, will collect the six percent (6%) tourism development tax required of hotels and any housing in Palm Beach County. This tax is required to be collected from the Guest, by the Host, for any occupancy of six months or less. Host will pay the tax to Palm Beach County. In the event that the Third Party Platform has not collected this six percent tax from Guest at the booking of a reservation, the Host will separately collect the stated tax from Guest. Host will send Guest a separate payment request for the monetary value required to fulfill the tax demanded by Palm Beach County. This tax MUST be paid to Host before occupancy to Property can be provided to Guest.
LIABILITY – Host is not responsible for any of your personal effects/property or those of Your Guests, which may disappear from the Property or surrounding areas. Host maintains insurance on the structure and those items belonging to Host, municipalities, and utility companies. You are responsible for insuring all of your personal items (e.g. travel insurance). During your stay, you shall be fully responsible for all damage to the Property and/or contents of Property caused by your negligent actions. In the event that the Property becomes inhospitable due to such negligent actions by you or Your Guests, then you agree to pay the nightly rate as specified on the Airbnb calendar until the Property may be put back in the condition it was provided to you on your check-in date in addition to being responsible for any damage caused by you and Your Guests. The Rate changes are seasonal on Property, and will change periodically. You agree to indemnify Host, and hold Host harmless from any injury or damage resulting to you and/or Your Guests, the personal property of you and/or Your Guests, the Property, or Property contents, occurring in the Property itself or in any common areas including, but not limited to, stairways, parking lots, driveways, recreational areas, and swimming pools that may be used by you and/or Your Guests. The total liability to Host from any loss to Guest and/or Your Guests, due to interruption of essential services, fire, or other occurrences that renders the Property unusable, shall only be for those days that Guest has prepaid and has not utilized Property.
USE OF PREMISES – The Property and associated common areas shall not be used for ANY unlawful or illegal purpose. Guest agrees to keep the Property in a neat and orderly condition. No nails, screws, or any other such similar items are to be driven into any portion of the Property. Only the number of persons indicated on the Booking Summary is allowed to occupy the Property. The Property is to be used for residential purposes ONLY. No commercial, industrial, or retail activity can be conducted in the Property. Host is not responsible for any amenities or services that are closed, out of service, or cannot be used for any reason, and monies will not be refunded for such events.
MISCELLANEOUS – No Property Rights or Interest; Not a Tenant. You and the Host have separately entered into this Agreement, under which the Host has issued you a license to occupy the Property during the agreed period (referred to herein as “Booking Period”) set out in the Booking Summary. YOU HAVE NOT ENTERED INTO A LEASE. THE LICENSE DOES NOT CONVEY ANY PROPERTY RIGHTS OR INTEREST IN REAL ESTATE AND YOU ARE NOT A TENANT OF THE PROPERTY. YOU HAVE NOT BEEN GRANTED EXCLUSIVE POSSESSION OF THE PROPERTY. This means that you have no right to stay in the Property or to otherwise use or occupy all or any part of such Property after the term set forth in your Booking Summary and have no rights to renewal or recurring usage. Host is not an agent of Host or Guest.
FEE SCHEDULE -Unauthorized Late Check Out – Refer to Booking Period paragraph. -Smoking – $2,000.00, plus all repair costs to restore Property (including, but not limited to, removing odor) as a result of any odor from smoking a drug, cigarette, e-cigarette, marijuana, cigar on the Property. -Excessive Cleaning – $125.00/Hour for any cleaning of Property that requires to take over, and above, two hours. -Unauthorized Pets on Property – $2,000.00, plus all repair costs to restore Property (including, but not limited to, removing odor) -Broken/Missing Items – Varies from item to item to include repair or replacement, as appropriate -Missing Keys/Remotes – $50.00/key and $100/remote (if such items are applicable to Property) -Requiring the re-coding of any key pads / access codes - $250.00/per access device -Unauthorized Party/Event on Property or Common Area – $2,000.00 fine, plus damages to Property -Legal Guest Removal from Property – $2,000.00 fine, plus any damages to Property
No breach of any term of any of the rules contained in this Agreement, or the rules of the housing development, applicable association(s), municipality, or local, state, or federal authority in which the Property is located shall be deemed and taken to be a waiver of any other breach of this Agreement. Host makes no warranties, expressed or implied. If any provision of this Agreement is determined to not be valid or enforceable, the remainder of this Agreement will not be affected and each provision will be valid and enforced to the fullest extent of the law.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Guest is in agreement with all terms of this Agreement as of the date and year assigned to the Guest's Booking of Property through Airbnb.
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What will a new year bring to us? Hopefully health, happiness and a return to normalcy. But when it comes to trucks and SUVs, 2022 looks to be an exciting year with some highly anticipated updates and new models. The electrification process of today’s automobiles kicks into high gear in the new year with some […]
Want a 2022 Silverado ZR2? You’ll have to buy it from a dealer
Jimmy Dinsmore December 6, 2021
During the launch of the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado ZR2, General Motors announced it would not take reservations for this truck. Now, as the truck heads into production it’s official: You can’t pre-order or reserve one. But that’s a good thing, and here’s why. Unlike so many other vehicles under this wacky, social-distanced, post-pandemic world, Chevy […]
Jimmy Dinsmore September 27, 2021
Recently, General Motors revealed some major changes to the 2022 Chevy Silverado, and one exciting addition is the first-ever ZR2 trim. Hot on the heels of the launch, GM’s engineers got right to work creating a pre-production version of the Silverado ZR2 to compete in the Best In The Desert King Shocks Laughlin Desert Classic. […]
#TruckTalk, Video
Erica Mueller September 10, 2021
Chevy announced this week that it would be adding a new trim option to the 2022 Silverado lineup. That’s right, the ZR2 package, which is a fan-favorite for the Colorado, will now be offered as an option for the Silverado. This is basically a step above the TrailBoss package with a few unique features to […]
Erica Mueller March 25, 2021
The Silverado is going to be getting a lot of changes — from facia to shocks. And the 2022 Chevy Silverado ZR2 has been rumored to be a Ford Raptor and Ram TRX competitor. From what we can make out from the spy photos and video below, it’s looking like a Trail Boss with some […]
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BOLT Locks protect pricey presents on stock and aftermarket trucks
The holiday season is a magical time. Especially for opportunistic thieves. This is why anyone who recognizes the importance of protecting their recently obtained truck and SUV gifts will appreciate the feeling of security provided by BOLT Locks this holiday season. BOLT Locks’ patented “Breakthrough One-Key Lock Technology” uses the vehicle ignition key to operate all of its locks. This means that truck or SUV driver in your life can secure their trailer hitch, trailer, boat, kayak, bike, roof carrier, overlanding gear, generator, and an endless array of other items with a single key. Equipped with a limited lifetime warranty, these products are the recipient of the Editor’s Choice Award from Popular Mechanics and have been honored with several Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Global Media Awards. To achieve this revolutionary locking feat, and win all of these awards, BOLT Locks use specially crafted tumblers to memorize a vehicle’s ignition key the first time it is inserted into the lock. One complete turn of the key moves the tumblers to fit that specific key, resulting in a uniquely programmed lock that matches whatever was inserted. No more whipping out a wad of jumbled keys, only to discover that the one you need is on the hook back at the house. “BOLT Locks are an ideal holiday gift for anyone wanting to protect their valuable gear. Whether they are an avid boater or off-roader, enjoy hunting or fishing, motorsports, or use their vehicles to secure their work tools, BOLT Locks are a gift they will appreciate.” —Jason Buckles, BOLT Locks Sales Account Manager Receiver locks, pin locks, and trailer coupler locks When it comes to popularity, the vehicle hitch Receiver Lock from BOLT Lock is the biggest seller and makes for a great last-minute gift. Designed to lock the ball mount receiver onto the hitch, the Receiver Lock comes in two sizes: ½-inch and 5/8-inches. An ideal option for those on your gift list who use a truck or SUV to tow. As for BOLT Locks’ Coupler Pin Lock and Trailer Coupler Lock, these two present options provide the same single-key locking convenience, but for the trailer itself. The BOLT Coupler Pin Lock fits couplers from ½-inch to 3 3/8-inches and eliminates any movement within the locking lever itself. This makes locking a trailer ball shut or rendering the coupler completely unusable a cinch. For additional unhitched trailer security, the BOLT Trailer Coupler Lock protects unattended trailers, as it works with both 1 7/8”, 2”, and 2 5/16” couplers. Painted bright red, this visible theft deterrent provides the perfect color combo this gift-giving season. Cable locks and padlocks Have someone on your gift list that prefers to haul their gear around instead of towing it? BOLT also offers cable locks and padlocks. A BOLT Cable Lock can secure any number of items in a vehicle. Kayaks on a roof rack, bikes out back on a bike rack, jet skis affixed to a trailer, or overlanding gear in the bed. This multipurpose cable lock has you covered with 6 feet of ¼-inch black vinyl-coated coiled steel cable. As for BOLT Locks’ Padlock, it can also be used anywhere it will fit and makes for a great security option for truck bed toolboxes, camping lockboxes, and other externally mounted latched systems. BOLT locking recovery hook Finally, there’s the BOLT Locking Recovery Hook. An impressive present for that 4×4 fanatic in your life. Engineered to be affixed to a standard 7/8” bumper tab, this beast of a hook is built to hold every winch and recovery rope imaginable. Secure recovery capabilities are essential, so this hook comes crafted from aircraft-grade aluminum, and is rated at 10,000 pounds. It also features a stainless steel lock shutter to keep out debris and moisture and can swivel 160° for usage from an array of angles.
Best SUV financing deals & quick title loan options for December, 2022
It may sound insane, but soaring fuel prices aren’t hurting SUV sales. To highlight the greatest offers you can get when buying an SUV, we’ve gone through every new SUV car title loan offer made in recent months to determine what is possible. What emerged were a number of low APR offers and a few low-interest financing specials with added bonus funds. However, the majority of these agreements have fairly steep interest rates, which isn’t very appealing to most people. So we kept digging, and what we came up with were the best quick title loan options for December 2022. When to use a title loan A car title loan gives you access to fast cash secured by the title to your automobile. It’s a quick and easy process that allows you to obtain the money you need on the same day. Even borrowers with bad credit can use car title loans or auto title loans to obtain immediate financing. This is due to the title loan provider’s lack of a credit check. In turn, you receive the money you need based on the value of your car, while your automobile title serves as a promise that you will make loan payments on schedule. You can obtain online financing on Maggie Loans by using your car title as collateral for applying for an auto title loan. With Maggie Loans, obtaining a car title loan takes just three simple steps. 1. Apply online. The loan application process can be started at any time, and you’ll be contacted right away to talk about the specifics of your loan. This call is accompanied by a free quotation, as it does not require going to a store for an inspection. 2. File your paperwork remotely. Just be sure to familiarize yourself with all the terms of the loan and make a payback schedule. 3. As soon as you agree to the loan terms and the lender has granted a lien on your car title, you can start receiving money. Just drive your car as usual for the duration of the loan, and ensure that the loan is repaid on time to prevent late fees. SUV deals are here! Numerous automakers are offering insanely good deals on their latest SUV models. We found several SUV lease options for November 2022 that required monthly payments of $300 or less and an average down payment of just $3,000–$4,000. There were also a few cash-back discounts and low-interest financing options offered as well. Currently, Ford is providing 0.9% financing on the 2022 Edge for up to three years starting this month. Hyundai is offering a comparable four-year plan on the 2023 Kona and 2023 Santa Fe. Buyers can also benefit from Mazda’s three-year, 1.9% financing offer on the 2022 CX-9. Additionally, Honda’s four-year, 1.9% interest rate financing plan on the 2022 Pilot is a super sweet deal. What to think about when purchasing an SUV? SUVs cost more on average than sedans, but they also provide more headroom, versatility, and in certain cases, power and off-road capabilities. Here are a few additional facts to consider before taking out a loan on an SUV. 1. CUV perks Sub-compact, small, mid-sized, and big are the four main sizes for SUVs, with sub-compact SUVs making for a vast number of SUV sales in America. These platforms often share a chassis with vehicles of a similar size and are called compact crossovers, or CUVs. While they don’t provide much in the way of cargo capacity or 4×4 prowess, most sub-compacts pack a modest $20,000 starting price. 2. Loan conditions If you don’t have the money to pay off your car loan within the period of time granted with reduced APR rates, long loan periods may be essential. Although a 0% APR/72-month plan might be a terrific choice, you must be able to pay off the SUV within that period. Even if you are confident in your ability to repay your debt, always read the small print, for the specific terms and restrictions may render the 0% APR ineffective. Financing specials may also have a minimum purchase price and therefore cannot be bundled with other offers. 3. Buyer conditions To apply for this form of loan, and take advantage of the dealership’s low or no-interest financing promotions, you must first be regarded as a “well-qualified buyer.” If not, the dealer will probably try to persuade you to utilize their financing, which comes with an additional 2-4% in inflated interest above market rates. Get pre-approved for guaranteed financing with Katie Cash Online, your bank, or your credit union before visiting the dealership to combat this issue. You can always use an outside loan or request that the dealership match the APR during negotiations. How can someone with terrible credit acquire financing for an SUV? In order to buy a new SUV or crossover with affordable financing, you will need to have a credit score of at least 700. If your credit isn’t fantastic, you may be forced to take out a loan with a high-interest rate, which will extend the life of your debt by thousands of dollars. In order to reduce the overall cost of your SUV, think about the following steps to get on Star Loans: · Obtain pricing quotes from various nearby dealers in order to minimize the buying price. · Put as much money down as you can, which will lower your loan balance and your monthly payment amount. · Search around for financing online, as it will likely result in a lower APR than what the dealership is offering. · Consider purchasing a used SUV instead of a new one. Summary With the national average for a new auto loan currently sitting at 5.63%, rising interest rates have made finding ideal financing options more difficult than ever. However, the majority of manufacturers offer monthly incentives for new cars. December, or the end of any quarter, is the ideal time to purchase a new SUV. These opportunities not only provide the best options for auto repair […]
What makes SUVs and crossovers so easy to sell?
If you are a motor vehicle dealer, you likely have noticed the enduring popularity of crossovers and SUVs among consumers. As of June 2022, crossovers had the greatest market share in the light vehicle market in the U.S., accounting for 45.1% of sales. While pickups were second with 19.1% of the market, SUVs beat out passenger cars of all sizes at a 10.3% market share. Since fuel prices have been stubbornly high for months, auto dealers might wonder why these larger, less-efficient vehicles are easy to sell. Here are some reasons why SUVs and crossover sales have only increased in popularity. Even when state regulations require SUV and crossover buyers and sellers to remain in good standing with their car dealer bond and license, sales continue to soar in the CUV and SUV market. 1. Drivetrain options SUVs and crossovers typically offer more drivetrain options than sedans. Consumers can opt for front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, allowing them to better handle slick road conditions. SUVs might also offer four-wheel or rear-wheel drive for better performance. 2. Cargo space When compared to sedans, the average crossover or SUV offers more cargo space. While crossovers are smaller than SUVs, they typically provide more room to haul things than passenger cars. In contrast, most full-size SUVs tend to have enough power to tow trailers and therefore transport more cargo. 3. Passenger room Modern SUVs and crossovers typically offer more room for passengers, making them popular choices for families, especially when third-row seating is implemented. Since these vehicles also tend to have more vertical cabin space, they remain a crowd favorite for larger individuals. 4. Ease of entry and exit SUVs and crossovers remain an easy sell due in part to the aging global population. Getting in and out of crossovers and SUVs is often easier for older adults because they don’t have to sit in a lower position like in most cars. With a crossover, people can slide onto a seat instead of crouching down to get in. Additionally, the extra vertical room makes it less likely that they will strike their head on the door frame. And while some people might need to climb up to get into an SUV, it is easier for many people to do this when compared to climbing up out of a low-slung sedan. 5. Power and performance Many SUVs have more powerful engines than their sedan counterparts, with 4×4 prowess providing additional off-road perks. However, most people use these machines to drive on-road, and never take advantage of their off-road capabilities. Which is a bit of a pity in our opinion. On the upside, buyers still enjoy the performance powerful SUVs offer when overtaking other vehicles on the highway. Although crossovers do not offer as powerful of engines as their larger SUV siblings, the use of forced induction and hybrid electric power make them plenty peppy for their size. 6. Higher seating position Many people prefer crossovers and SUVs because of the higher seating position and increased visibility. While people might feel safer in an SUV or crossover than when riding in a sedan, it’s important to note that full-size SUVs are likelier to tip over when rounding curves due to their higher center of gravity and weight. Which explains why certain newer models offer things like adaptive electronic stability control and four-wheel-steering to counter this issue. Disadvantages of Crossovers and SUVs While a plethora of factors has lead consumers to buy SUVs and crossovers more than any other vehicle in recent years, these machines also come with their own disadvantages. Some of the disadvantages of SUVs and crossovers can include: • Poor fuel economy • Higher purchase cost • Higher cost for repairs and parts • More carbon emissions • Difficulty parking When consumers purchase heavier vehicles like SUVs and crossovers, fuel consumption will inevitably increase. SUVs might have significantly lower fuel economy ratings due to their larger, more powerful engines, but the push toward electric variants has begun to alleviate this worry. However, electric vehicles (EVs) typically tend to have higher purchase prices, making them unobtainable by certain buyers. In fact, the cost of SUVs and crossovers is typically higher across the board than the average coupe or sedan. And while crossovers might be less expensive than larger SUVs, they still tend to be more expensive than most sedans. This can be an issue for buyers since the average cost of a new vehicle as of July 2022 stood at a whopping $48,182. The sky-high prices of the components found on newer vehicles might place them out of the market for many buyers, especially given inflationary pressures. To put things into perspective, the average transaction costs for the four most common types of vehicles in July 2022 were as follows: • Compact cars – $26,285 • Compact crossovers- $35,323 • Electric vehicles – $66,645 • Full-size SUVs or crossovers – $73,934 With a current inflation rate of 8.2%, it is easy to understand how these prices force many potential buyers out of the market, as their dollars simply don’t stretch as far as they used to. Bulkier, heavier vehicles also do not have the same degree of maneuverability in traffic as sedans offer. When vehicles are heavier, they also place more strain on brakes and other parts, meaning that consumers might have to replace these components more frequently. Finally, SUVs and crossovers often produce more carbon emissions than sedans because of their larger engines. And unless they are an EV or a hybrid of some sort, they also tend to suffer from reduced fuel economy ratings. Despite these disadvantages, the majority of consumers still opt to purchase SUVs and crossovers. High prices might drive some buyers to purchase used SUVs or crossovers, while others might choose to lease instead of buy. While it might seem easier to sell crossovers and SUVs in the current market, auto dealers need to remember that increasing inflation and a potential recession could change everything overnight. Keeping on top of market trends and understanding the needs of customers can […]
Tips to enhance workplace safety at automotive plants
The manufacturing industry is one of the riskiest industries in which to work. Workers in automotive plants risk suffering safety related injuries from dangers like electricity, heavy machinery, heights, and extreme temperatures. Adequate safety measures and training can lessen these hazards, thus motivating employees to prioritize workplace safety. Here are a few of the top ways to increase worker safety at automotive plants. Conduct training on safe practices and hazard areas First, it’s important to ensure that all employees receive training before starting their jobs. Training should include the proper use of the tools and equipment, correct implementation and care of safety gear, the dangers present at a set workplace, and how to avoid injuries. These precautions will help employees stay safe and remain productive over time. Workers will also need subsequent training on any new procedures, rules, and equipment after their jobs commence. Establishing a training plan that includes a variety of exercises, an provides training via various media, such as videos and audio narratives will help reinforce these concepts. Cultivate a workplace culture of safety Workers are at the core of any successful factory safety program. Your business must look after its workers while ensuring they look after one another and themselves. To create a work culture built upon safety, you must assess your company’s current ideals, identify areas for improvement, and instill the significance of safety in all employees. Encourage workers to report any unsafe conditions to their superiors. This will not only help expose any overlooked issues, but cultivate a safe and productive work environment for everyone within the factory. Most employees will opt to put safety knowledge into practice if there is a strong culture surrounding this core belief in the workplace, accompanied by effective safety communication, and strong leadership. Perform frequent safety audits and inspections The cornerstones of manufacturing safety programs are audits and inspections. Make your workplace safer, more effective, and compliant with state and federal health and safety standards by assessing your facilities, personnel, and procedures. Focus on ergonomics Workplace injuries are significantly more common as a result of ergonomics. A considerable amount of bending and lifting is necessary due to working alongside heavy machinery and with large tools in industrial and manufacturing sites. For instance, if your staff is unaware of the proper lifting and bending techniques, they will likely develop musculoskeletal diseases. These injuries, also known as repetitive stress injuries (RSIs), are frequently brought on by awkward or challenging maneuvers that put undue strain on a person’s muscles. Employees who receive training and education on typical ergonomic risk factors, such as twisting the torso, are better able to prevent muscle strain and damage that could result in musculoskeletal injuries. Plant managers can also purchase robotics to automate tedious operations. Collaborative robots can undertake challenging tasks, lower the risk of accidents, and work well with employees. Emphasis ergonomics, utilize robotics, and provide your employees with sufficient safety training. Wear personal protective equipment (PPE) Every manufacturing plant needs safety equipment. Without PPE, employees put their safety and the safety of others at risk. Naturally, different workplaces require separate forms of PPE, depending upon the facility’s equipment. For instance, employees who use welding equipment, or operate close to welders must wear rubber-soled safety shoes, respirators, and heat-resistant clothes, as well as eye and facial protection. This gear will safeguard them from the dangers associated with welding, including electricity, heat, and intense light. Additionally, noise can harm worker safety. The right type of noise reduction equipment will eliminate the risk of hearing damage, which occurs when noise levels become too high over prolonged periods, which is why it’s important to be familiar with NRR. What is NRR? “Noise Reduction Ratings” can vary depending on decibels. NRR can help you find the best noise reduction equipment. Both PPE utilization, and instructions on its effective use should be provided on-site by managers to identify patterns in PPE misusage or non-usage across the workplace. Upgrade plant layout and mitigate common safety threats Modernizing the layout of a factory can reduce a multitude of safety risks. Drip pans, non-slip flooring, and various types of handrails can reduce falls. Employees will also have ample room to function effectively if work areas and emergency exits are clear of obstructions. Making space for necessary controls and shutoffs will also make accessibility a cinch. Another aspect of a safe layout is ensuring that toxic, flammable, or hazardous goods are stored in an ideal locale. Dust and dangerous particulate matter, such as silica dust, can result in serious long-term health issues. These hazards should be controlled through adequate ventilation and appliances like industrial vacuums. Managers can track the amount of particulate matter in plant air by using instruments like air quality monitors and dust sensors. Replace filters, request the use of air purification tools or vacuums, and arrange for an HVAC system assessment if the air quality starts to degrade. Don’t overwork your employees Exhaustion ruins concentration. Encourage your automotive plant employees to rest at schedules times throughout the day to remain focused. Managers should also consider implementing a fatigue management program that lets employees take time off when they need to recover,. This reduces the risk of accidents, financial losses, and the need for new equipment or repairs. Manage safety incidents and issues quickly Create a safety incident management system that has standardized response procedures that are already in place. Here, a safety leadership team guides the company’s overall efforts. This may include representatives from all departments, including human resources, production managers, supervisors, and personnel. This team must keep abreast of all issues and communicate with everyone involved in the production process. If an incident does occur in the factory, all employees should follow the proper safety protocol, like stopping a production line or isolating a dangerous area. Afterward, meeting with the safety leadership team will allow you to change your work practices and review how to prevent similar incidents from happening again. Prevention is key. Everything else is a reaction. Final […]
Are truck drivers liable for damage in a truck collision case?
A truck crash is a serious matter. The sheer size and weight of a commercial truck puts the driver of a smaller vehicle at a great disadvantage. Thus causing more damage, and far more severe injuries. Yet, the number of larger trucks on the roads today somehow seems to have increased, and so too have the speeds at which they travel. If you or a loved one have been involved in a truck crash, one of the first things you should do after getting a full medical checkup is reach out to a New York City truck accident attorney. You have the right to recover compensation from the liable party, and the best way to obtain it is with legal representation. And here’s how… Are truck drivers responsible for damages when there is an incident? When a truck driver’s negligence causes an collision, they are responsible. In some cases, the company the driver works for may also be found liable. However, the drivers and the trucking companies they work for carry commercial liability insurance. This means that the insurance company would have to be the one that pays for the damages. To protect their interests, these insurance companies will do everything in their power to find a way to deny the claim, or reduce the amount that they are required to pay out for damages and losses. That is why it is essential to have an aggressive lawyer on your side. Otherwise, you may be forced to accept a low offer when the case is closed. Are there other parties who might be responsible for a truck accident? Besides the truck driver and the company they work for, other entities can be held legally responsible for a truck crash or incident. These include: The manufacturer of the vehicle or its equipment Any vendor who serves the truck company The owner of the freight being transported Whoever loaded the truck Those responsible for the maintenance of the truck Local governments or contractors responsible for maintaining and managing the roadways Any one of these parties can be held liable when there is a truck crash. A lawyer specializing in these sorts of scenarios can gather the necessary evidence to uncover who might be liable, and hold them legally responsible for their actions. How is fault determined in truck crash cases? Different kinds of evidence can be used to determine liability after a truck crash. Some evidence may include: Photographs or videos from the scene of the incident Police reports Medical records Examination of the damage that the truck and other vehicles sustained Driver’s logs Recordings from devices within the truck In some cases, your lawyer may consider it necessary to call upon a collision reconstruction specialist to uncover crucial forensic evidence that corroborates your account of the collision. According to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, truck driver logs must show the time spent driving. Your lawyer may discover that the driver had been on the road for longer than they should have. The trucking company also has records about the truck itself and the maintenance it has received, how much weight it can carry, the weight of the cargo, and other important evidence to back up your claim. What are the most common causes of truck accidents? The truck driver may be found to have been negligent if they engaged in any of the following actions: Excessive speed Fatigued driving Texting while driving Driving and eating/drinking Using alcohol or drugs while driving Other causes that may correlate or cause a truck crash may be defective components, insufficient routine maintenance, overloaded cargo, or a load that was not tied down appropriately. The truck may also experience a tire blowout, brake system failure, steering issues, or other mechanical problems. When multiple parties contribute to a crash, your lawyer can help determine who was responsible, which may result in the need to file multiple claims for compensation. Whatever the case, having a good lawyer that specializes in truck collision scenarios is vital to your safety and success.
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Many individuals consider investing in stocks. Especially so during periods of low interest rates and inflation. However, you should conduct some research before beginning. Ten tips on how to invest in stocks and maximize your returns.
1. Learn and understand the basics
It may sound trite, but you should understand where your money is going. If you are interested in a particular stock but do not want to rely solely on your intuition, you should review the company’s annual report, current quarterly figures, analyses, and economic projections.
Or you prefer to utilize the expertise of professionals and invest in an equity fund. The benefit is that the fund managers at your savings bank or bank handle the analyses. Also, you should be informed on the following: How is the company ranked in annual capital rankings, for instance? And does the fund’s focus align with your opportunity/risk profile? Your financial consultant will gladly assist you with your selection and has the best advice.
2. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
Have you researched the stock market and have a particular stock in mind? This is a good starting point for novices. But perhaps you are considering multiple titles and cannot decide. You do not need to. As a result of the fact that when you initially invest in an equity fund, your money is divided into hundreds of different values. As an investor, you minimize the risk that a company will report poor financial results or even declare bankruptcy.
If you want to invest in equities but want to reduce your exposure to risk, so-called mixed funds are also an option. In addition to investing or trading stocks, they also invest in bonds. Depending on how fund managers evaluate the markets, the proportion of equities may fluctuate.
Thus, you have doubled your diversification by spreading your money across both stocks and bonds, as well as a variety of individual values within these two asset classes.
3. Only invest the capital you are comfortable with
You should only invest on the capital market funds for which you have no other plans. If you anticipate needing the funds within the next five years to make a living, pay off a personal loan, or make other purchases, you should not invest them. Because a fixed sale time could be particularly unfavorable, you should avoid it.
Two years from now, you must purchase a vehicle. Until then, it should be invested in stocks. But just as you need the car, the stock market is experiencing a period of weakness. Consequently, you must sell at a loss.
You need a new kitchen, but you lack a few thousand euros. Therefore, invest the money in the stock market and obtain the missing funds as soon as possible. Please do not! When investing in the stock market, tenacity is required; it is unwise to bet on a quick euro. On the other hand, it is prudent to save regularly with a fund savings plan.
If you rely on immediate profits, you will be forced to make a risky investment. This strategy can be effective, but novices fall into this trap far too frequently. Because an unbalanced portfolio could lead to financial ruin.
If, on the other hand, you invest with patience and foresight, you have a significantly greater chance of making the best possible investment. The risk of losing money on stocks decreases substantially over time. Those who have invested in the Dax values with a fund savings plan for a minimum of eleven years have always realized a profit. Nonetheless, investment funds are susceptible to price fluctuations.
Obviously, you enter the stock race with the goal of attaining the highest possible return. However, the stock market is constantly fluctuating, and your portfolio may experience losses at some point.
Exchange rate fluctuations are completely normal and occur from time to time. This is not a bad thing, but rather a sign that the securities markets are functioning and that supply and demand are fluctuating. Prepare yourself for the possibility of corrections and refrain from acting out of panic. Respond with a level head.
To be on the safe side when investing in stocks, you can set a “stop loss” limit, which is a price above which you must sell your investment. On the other hand, course corrections can be the ideal time to purchase additional items at a discount.
You hear or read a surefire tip from a supposed stock market guru? Where more than 10 or 20 or more percent returns are guaranteed? Then we also have a tip for you: be careful!
There are a lot of so-called experts in the field of financial investments who make you promises. However, you should always ask yourself why the person is giving you this information.
It is therefore better to approach all too tempting tips and hints with a healthy skepticism.
Buy, sell, buy, sell: This is how many people imagine investing in securities. Typically, this has little relevance to reality. Buying a stock and then selling it days or weeks later will hopefully continue to be the exception rather than the rule.
Because those who act quickly and in large quantities generate costs above all else. When buying and selling, fees are incurred, which must first be recouped through the performance of the share or fund.
If you invest in a diversified and structured manner, you do not need to constantly buy and sell stocks.
8. Use the compound interest effect
Use your money to your advantage. This phrase best describes the effect of compound interest on an investment. It is the lever with which the full potential can be realized.
The concept is relatively straightforward: you reinvest your profits or interest to generate additional income. Therefore, you add your winnings to the initial investment to increase the potential for greater returns. Reinvestment of funds typically occurs automatically, so you do not need to take any action.
Compound interest is one of the most important wealth accumulation mechanisms. Albert Einstein, when asked what the strongest force in the universe was, replied, “Compound interest!” It pays off, particularly in the long run. Utilize this effect to increase your assets significantly.
9. Check your account regularly
You should manage your investment with caution. However, this does not mean that you can neglect your portfolio. Even if you monitor the financial market to a certain degree, signs can change. You should not sleep through such occurrences.
It is preferable to speak with your investment advisor frequently, preferably at least once a year, about your portfolio and make any necessary adjustments.
You feel as though you have so much more to learn and therefore do not dare to invest in stocks? Every day without an investment is a day without the possibility of a return.
You do not need to be an expert on stock exchanges to enter the capital market. This is precisely the reason why there are funds and management professionals. And once you’ve reached that point – for instance, through a fund savings plan – investing in the capital market becomes completely natural for you.
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Both cryptocurrencies and CFDs are complex leveraged instruments with a high level of risk. You should carefully consider whether you understand how these financial instruments operate and whether you can afford to lose money. Do not risk more money than you can afford to lose. Always seek independent financial guidance. Read our full disclaimer.
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My first brug & the flowers are massive with loads to come - I have even managed to root a cutting - this alone justifies the expense of buying my new greenhouse
Comments on this photo
LOL do you keep it in their all summer, or stand it out?
my two are still in the gh, they've only just started to come through, they should be flowering by Christmas ;((((((((
Well it is my first one so everything is a bit "trial & error" for the time being I find it easier to look after, feed & spray with insecticide in the more easily controlled enviroment of a greenhouse - I have cut it back since this picture in the hope of more cuttings :-)
Do you know the names of the two varieties you have ??
fraid not, they were sent to me from a friend, both the same one, with peachy colour flowers, if I ever get to see them LOL. They got eaten by slugs last year, I won't make that mistake again
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Puppy potty training problems getting you down? These frequently asked questions about training your dog or puppy to reliably go potty outside and stop having housebreaking accidents in the house will answer most of your questions. If you don’t find the house training information you need, please visit our forum for more specific help.
Also, did you know you can litter train a dog like you can a cat? Check out indoor potty options such as litterboxes, papers, potty training pads and turf pads in our indoor potty training section.
When I was a kid, my parents hit our dog with a rolled
up newspaper and rubbed his nose in his accidents to housebreak him. Should I be doing that?
How can I correct my dog for having accidents in the house if I can never catch him?
My dog has accidents in one spot in my house. What can I do?
Should I give my dog a treat for going potty outside?
How can I teach my dog to go potty in one area of my yard?
I thought dogs would bark or scratch at the door to let you know they need to go to the bathroom. Why doesn’t my dog tell me that he needs to go outside?
My dog is mostly housebroken, but when I come home or when I correct him, he pees on the floor. Why does he do this?
If my dog has an accident, what should I use to clean it up?
How old does my puppy need to be before I can start housebreaking him?
My puppy can go all night without needing a potty trip, so he should be able to go 8-10 hours during the day without needing a potty trip, right?
How many times a day does my puppy need to be taken out to potty?
My 4-month old puppy is still waking up twice overnight to go out to potty. Will I ever get a good night’s sleep?
I just got a new puppy. Should I paper-train him?
Can I leave my puppy in his crate all day while I’m at work?
My older dog is perfectly housebroken. Won’t my puppy just learn to be housebroken by watching and following him?
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The Emera Centre Northside is a community recreation facility with an NHL-size ice surface, an elevated indoor mondo-flex covered 1/8 mile walking track, and convention and meeting rooms. We are very proud to be home to the Northside Vikings and Northside & Minor District Hockey Association, the Breton Sport & Trophy Major Bantam Cougars and the Memorial High School Marauders. We offer fitness classes three evenings per week.
Facility Features
An NHL-size ice surface with modern heated seating for 1000 spectators.
Accessible for persons with disabilities
State of the art Geo-thermal heating/cooling unit that creates an extraordinary skating surface.
Radiant in-floor heating.
Male and female dressing rooms (11): six standard, two small, one large, and two referee.
Rooms for administration, officials, first aid, skate sharpening, sound and maintenance as well as a minor hockey office and boardroom.
The Scotiabank North Sydney Multi-purpose Room (up to 40 people) with relevant kitchen amenities.
The North Sydney Credit Union Community Room (up to 240 people) with a catering kitchen and bar for a variety of functions.
A canteen and family area finish off the space.
A Donor wall highlighting the names of people and/or organizations that supported the fundraising initiative financially.
The Northside Sports Hall of Fame displaying the proud sporting history of the Northside with artifacts, photos and video.
With the ice out the facility can seat up to 2300 people comfortably.
What it means to the community
The best way to sum up what this facility provides is “something for everyone”. People of all ages enjoy the convenience of a modern heated facility. It means families getting out and spending quality time together at family skating, a hockey game, or perhaps catching up with an old friend for a few laps around the walking track. The community and multi-purpose rooms are perfect for weddings, showers, reunions and fitness classes.
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This week saw law and common sense unite in opposition to the widespread availability of dangerously untraceable, undetectable guns. A federal judge in the state of Washington issued an order barring the State Department from allowing Defense Distributed, a self-described “private defense firm,” to make the blueprints for 3D-printed plastic guns freely available on the internet. The judge’s order may not eradicate the threat posed by Defense Distributed’s attempt to widely share recipes for lethal violence, given that the blueprints have—regrettably—already found their way to certain corners of the internet. But it’s an important step, both for protecting citizens at home and abroad from gun violence and for reasserting the rule of law.
The State Department’s International Trafficking in Arms Regulations sensibly ban the “export” of technical data, i.e. blueprints, related to the design, manufacture and assembly of certain firearms. Because publishing those blueprints online would make them available worldwide, such publication was an “export” prohibited under the regulations until last month, when the government dramatically reversed its legal position. After successfully defending the regulations against a lawsuit brought by Defense Distributed several years ago to permit it to publish the blueprints—arguing that the blueprints’ publication was protected by the First Amendment—in July 2018, the government abruptly settled the lawsuit by agreeing to change State Department regulations and authorizing the company to publish the blueprints while the regulatory change is pending. It even agreed to pay Defense Distributed $40,000.
This unexpected about-face caused an immediate outcry from federal and state elected officials, law enforcement, and even the president, who tweeted:
I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public. Already spoke to NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2018
On the eve of the planned online publication of the blueprints, Judge Robert S. Lasnik issued an order temporarily banning the online posting of the blueprints in response to a lawsuit brought by the State of Washington (and now joined by 19 other states and the District of Columbia). This week, he extended that order by granting a preliminary injunction.
But that will not end the lawsuit, and it appears that Defense Distributed’s owner, Cody Wilson, will do just about anything he can to sidestep the ban. The day after the judge’s order this week, Wilson began selling the blueprints through his website, offering to ship them on thumb drives or by email. He claims he can do this without violating the court order as long as he sells them only in the United States.
Make no mistake: Cody Wilson’s primary motive is not to vindicate what he believes to be his First Amendment rights. That argument is window dressing for his real goal: to put guns into the hands of every person who wants one. Speaking about the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., last February that left 17 people dead, Wilson stated, “All this Parkland stuff, the students, all these dreams of ‘common sense gun reforms’? No. The internet will serve guns, the gun is downloadable. No amount of petitions or die-ins or anything else can change that.” And in a new video that Wilson has shared over social media to raise money for his legal fees, he unabashedly references violence, warning, “Riflemen, this fight is yours and it’s time to muster.” This is entirely consistent with his threats from 2016, when he was concerned that Hillary Clinton would win the presidency and crack down on firearms: “I’d call a militia out to defend the server, Bundy-style,” Wilson told Wired. “Our only option was to build an infrastructure where we had one final suicidal mission, where we dumped everything into the internet.”
There are many reasons for alarm, as I explained in an expert declaration filed in the states’ lawsuit. First, a plastic firearm would rarely be detectable by metal detectors, which are the standard public safety protocol at airports, stadiums, concert halls, public buildings like courthouses, and, increasingly, schools. Although the federal Undetectable Firearms Act requires guns to include enough metal to set off a metal detector, the requirement can be evaded easily by simply not including the non-operable piece of metal in the 3D-printed gun. And for those who say that plastic firearms are ineffective because of their propensity to blow up, a 2013 test by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of Defense Distributed’s 3D-printed handgun, the “Liberator,” showed it fired without fail all eight times it was tested.
Second, plastic firearms manufactured on 3D printers in one’s home without serial numbers would be entirely untraceable by law enforcement. Countless crimes are solved in the U.S. every year through successful firearms traces, which can identify the first purchaser of a gun. As I saw countless times over the course of my decades as a federal prosecutor, firearms traces often led to information relevant to solving violent crimes even if that first purchaser is not the perpetrator, including by revealing “straw” purchasers—those who purchase a gun for someone who is legally prohibited from doing so himself. Firearms traces can also help discern meaningful patterns in gun trafficking.
Third, worldwide availability of the blueprints for printing plastic guns means that would-be terrorists could make undetectable and untraceable firearms for use against Americans here in the homeland. Foreign terrorists might manufacture guns abroad and smuggle them into the U.S. for a terrorist attack here. Or they might travel to the U.S. for the purpose of manufacturing weapons and launching such an attack.
In my experience as the acting head of the National Security Division of the Department of Justice, I was well aware of calls by foreign terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State for the commission of terrorist acts with firearms on U.S. soil. The shootings at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub and in San Bernardino, Calif.—for which the shooters pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State—are two deadly examples. And we’ve certainly seen just as frightening and lethal domestic terrorism and hate-motivated crimes using firearms—the Charleston church shooting, for example—which could be expected to increase with the additional option of undetectable guns.
Fourth, the online publication of 3D-printed gun blueprints could cause destabilizing effects in foreign countries by making guns readily accessible to armed insurgent groups, transnational criminal organizations, and ordinary street criminals—thus harming U.S. relationships with those countries, especially with allies that have much more restrictive firearms laws than ours. The blueprints also would be available to foreign countries subject to U.S. or U.N. arms embargoes, such as North Korea and Iran, undermining global export control and non-proliferation regimes.
Finally, existing laws and regulations for the manufacture and sale of firearms do not protect Americans from the above-mentioned threats. The U.S. regulatory scheme is built on the premise that firearms production and distribution requires an investment of resources that makes such production feasible only for commercial entities, which must comply to maintain their licenses. The wide availability of gun blueprints and decreasing cost of 3D printers upends this regulatory regime. And, of course, the private manufacture and sale of guns bypasses background checks entirely.
It’s unfortunate that some gun-making blueprints already have made their way onto the internet, but that’s no reason not to take steps now to halt the spread of technical data that, in the wrong hands, will be deadly. A federal judge has already done his part to ensure that applicable laws are followed. While the lawsuit is working its way through the court system, federal and state legislators should be getting to work as well.
Note: The author’s views are her own and she does not represent the States that have filed suit against the State Department and Defense Distributed.
Mary B. McCord is currently Legal Director and Visiting Professor of Law at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law School. She is the former Acting Assistant Attorney General and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the U.S. Department of Justice and was a long-time federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
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Keeping the floors clean can be a major hassle, and who hasn’t had the fantasy of a self maintaining home? While there’s no magic table that cleans the dishes on it, and no floor that waxes itself, there is a more accessible solution that more and more people are turning to: robotic vacuums. Read on to find out about Roomba 690 vs 960!
Robot vacuums add a big dose of convenience to any home, and as a result, more people are investing in one. They are quickly gaining popularity thanks to their ability to give your home a virtually hands-free clean, reducing the stress of having to do it all yourself.
Now, most people have some familiarity with these kinds of vacuums, even if the details are not actually spot on. Many robotic vacuums are a bit more expensive than regular vacuums, but many people are willing to spend their money on an effective product once they are able to find the perfect balance between technology and price.
By far, Roomba has the biggest name in the robot vacuum game. Made by iRobot, the two most popular Roomba models include the Roomba 690 and the Roomba 960. They both come from the same company, so how different are they in comparison? We’re going to get down to the nitty gritty and give you all the details in this comparison guide.
If you’re short on time and just need the big picture however, here it is:
The Roomba 690 is a really good choice for someone just getting into the idea of a robotic vacuum. That said, the Roomba 960 wins as the best robot vacuum in general.
Both vacuum models look very similar. However, do not be fooled into thinking that means they have the same features. There are actually plenty of differences between the two that you would not otherwise notice. All you really have to do is carry out some research for both products and weigh your options accordingly.
The Roomba 690 is one of Roomba’s most budget friendly product options and it is considered to be more of an entry level robotic vacuum that will still give you the deep cleaning power you need. It is still entirely capable of giving you the WiFi connectivity features that you need, making it compatible with Google Assistant and Alexa.
However, it will not be able to clean multiple rooms in one go, which will make it a less appealing option if you have a bigger house to worry about. If you are looking for a more budget friendly robotic vacuum with the features you will need to clean in small spaces, the Roomba 690 may be the option you will want to lean towards.
The Roomba 960 is a more modern robot vacuum that has all of those features and more. It is more technologically advanced with all of the latest features, sensors, and cleaning capabilities that will make cleaning your home less of a struggle. The 960 is also compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, and will provide you with the excellent cleaning performance you have been striving for. If you need an efficient robotic vacuum that will be capable of cleaning larger areas without any issues, then you may want to invest in the Roomba 960.
Overall, the Roomba 960 is better to use for a larger range of space while the Roomba 690 will be better for smaller spaces. The 960 will be a bit harder on your budget, but the value of it is worth the price you will pay for it. Keeping that information in mind, you will need to determine which features of both products will suit your personal needs more efficiently. You will definitely need to weigh their performance level, their cleaning abilities, and the efficiency of their special features. Here is a quick look at the some of the other bigger differences when it comes to comparing Roomba 690 vs Roomba 960:
While looking at both the 690 vs 960 vacuum designs, both have slightly different designs and sizes and there is only a slight difference in the dimensions. The diameter of the Roomba 690 is 13 inches and 3.7 inches in height. Roomba 960 has a diameter of 13.78 inches and a height of 3.58 inches.
The Roomba 960’s design is sleek with a combination of dark charcoal, black, and gray finish. The layout of the buttons slightly differ between the two models. You have to carry it using your hands since the robot has no handle. There is a large, clean button with the home and spot buttons on both sides. A camera that maps out the area which is being cleaned is below the buttons.
The Roomba 690 is a combination of black and silver accents. It has a middle large, clean button in the middle used to set up the default cleaning mode. Unlike 960, 690’s home and spot buttons are located above and below the clean button. Also, the 690 has a handle that helps you carry the robot.
As far as the shape goes, both products are designed with the round puck shape design that Roomba has been using for decade. This shape design allows them to move around and get underneath furniture to clean.
Battery life is good on both. The 960 automatically recharges itself when it is low on battery life and resumes cleaning once charged. The 690 must be prompted to clean again once its charged. The ability of Roomba 960 to automatically recharge its battery and continue with the existing cleaning job until it is finished makes it the one of the most recommended options, especially if your house is large or if you have to clean many rooms.
3. Tech version and navigation differences
The 690 uses older versions of sensor technology while the 960 uses an improved tech version of the iAdapt 2.0 technology to navigate and map cleanings. Thus the 960’s navigation system is considered more advanced. Also, the 960 has a camera mounted to improve navigation. This makes the Roomba 960 the ideal robot if you have many rooms. The robot automatically recharges and resumes cleaning, making it more convenient and time-saving to clean.
The Roomba 690’s infrared sensors is what help it gets a clear visual of the room it is cleaning in order to help determine the distance within the room and if there are any obstacles it needs to look out for. It also has a sensor that will help it detect walls in order to help avoid running into them. However, it slows down and stops when it is close to coming in contact with with a huge obstacle instead of continuing on its path. It also does not learn the floor plan and instead relies on the standard navigation algorithm to get it where it needs to go.
The Roomba 960 is a definite upgrade from the less modern navigational system that the 690 has. Instead of going in random directions like the 690 will do with its standard navigation system, the 960 will follow the floor plan that is created within its system thanks to iAdapt 2.0 navigation. The second sensor at the bottom of the 960 will allow it to effectively monitor which directions it travels in as well as any movement patterns to follow. There are also six drop sensors that will be able to prevent the 960 from falling off the edges of the surfaces it is cleaning.
Overall, you will be able to tell that the Roomba 960 is definitely more technologically advanced than the 690 just by researching about its navigational features. In terms of navigation and reliable cleaning and monitoring technology,
4. Cleaning and maintenance differences
Looking at how easy it is to clean using the Roomba 690 vs 960, you can notice a slight difference in the level of cleaning. Although both of their cleaning efficiency levels are high, the 690 and 960 use two different cleaning technologies. The Roomba 690 utilizes AeroVac technology while the Roomba 960 utilizes Aeroforce cleaning technology using a brush-less debris extractor.
The AeroVac technology uses counter-rotating brushes during the cleaning process to remove dirt and debris. The only problem is that this brush traps pet and other hairs around it, which makes it less effective for cleaning hairs, especially if you have pets. Because the dirt and debris is guided into the vacuum, 690s require more time for maintenance.
With the AeroForce cleaning technology using a brush-less debris extractor, using 960 lessens the problem of hair wrapping around it. If you have pets, this feature is the best option for pet hair removal. The brushless extractors collect dirt and debris which is broken down and then sucked into the vacuum. This results in more cleaning power and less time for maintenance.
The 690 needs to be emptied more frequently to avoid overfilling it, since it does not have a ‘full’ indicator for the dust cup. The 960 automatically alerts you when the dust cup has reached capacity.
The 960 includes HEPA filtration and improved Aeroforce technology to contain allergens. The 690 has the Aerovac three stage cleaning system and filter.
Luckily, both the Roomba 690 vs 960 are capable of connecting to the Wi-Fi in your home, and to Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. The iRobot app can be used to connect to your Roomba so you can control it from the convenience of your phone. This will add a whole new level of simplicity to your cleaning routine and will be able to ensure that you will get the best personalized level of cleaning from your vacuum.
Both models have features that still make life a lot easier, and it’s good to take a look at what they have in common.
When you’re on the fence between the two, this can make it easier to decide which extra things are necessary, and which ones you will not miss not having.
Both have rechargeable, Lithium Ion batteries which are included with the product.
Both the 690 and 960 can interact with either Google Assistant or Alexa with voice control.
Each model can be controlled with the iHome app, and they both connect to your home’s Wi Fi connection.
The iHome app allows you to initiate spot cleaning with both models.
The 690 and 960 each automatically return to their charging dock when low on battery.
Each model comes with a blocking system to keep the vacuums out of certain areas, with virtual wall barriers.
Both the 690 and 960 allow for customized cleaning schedules, and allow you to schedule cleanings far in advance.
Now it’s time to get more into the details for each of these vacuums. We’re going to look at the options and features available with each model so you can make the best choice for your home. Keep in mind that while they are both great vacuums, you still might have to weigh your options and decide what you can’t live without, and what you don’t mind giving up.
The 690 model does not include any kind of multiple pass function. The 960 however, was built with this new feature, also called MPC, or Multiple Pass Control. That means you can direct the vacuum to clean difficult areas a second time over.
This is an ideal feature for homes with kids and pets, where there tends to be an excess of messy areas and spills. You do not have to manually initiate MPC either, you can set it to automatic and the robot vacuum uses sensors to determine when another pass is needed.
In Summary: Since the 690 does not include the option for multiple passes over, the 960 wins without contest.
2. Navigation Efficiency and Mapping
The newer navigation technology, iAdapt 2.0, is definitely a big leap toward more comprehensive mapping and navigating for robot vacuums. It allows for more accurate mapping, and helps vacuums avoid obstacles and ledges much better. Roomba 690 mapping is also worthy to mention.
The iAdapt 2.0 technology certainly works more like we would expect, and cleans a room much like you would: in a straight (whenever possible of course), methodical process. While the older technology did seem to have the vacuums moving about in random patterns, it still works sufficiently to clean your floors. The virtual wall function is great as well. Both come with their own virtual wall.
In Summary: The 960 wins this round thanks to its superior iAdapt 2.0 navigation system.
3. Wireless Abilities: iHome App
The iHome app allows you to have the wireless ability for both the Roomba 690 and 960 to connect to your home network so you will be able to have full access and control of your Roomba from the convenience of your smartphone. With iHome App Control, you will be able to give your robot vacuums a designated time to clean, turn on the spot cleaning feature. start or stop it from cleaning, and will even give you the option to name your robot vacuum. No matter where you are, you will be able to have an extra level of control over your robot vacuum just by utilizing the iHome app.
In Summary: You can easily control either models with the iHome app on your smartphone for extra levels of cleaning and personalization.
The Roomba 960 has brushless extractors that will allow you to loosen the dirt and debris out of certain areas for easier cleaning. They will not get tangled easily with threads and long hair as opposed to the Roomba 690, whose bristle extractors have to constantly be cleaned in order to function properly. Carrying out maintenance on these extractors on the 960 are much easier than the Roomba 690 because you will not have to remove any string or hair from any of the brushes.
In Summary: The maintenance process is easier to carry out with the extractors on the robot Roomba 960 and it will do an amazing job of clearing out any kind of debris from smaller spaces.
The Roomba 960 is designed with a built in camera with VSLAM technology to assist it in its capability to create a navigational map of your house to clean and move around any obstructions in its way. Once it has a precise map of the area you want it to clean, it can start moving along its path efficiently to give you the best cleaning results. The camera will make it easier to detect anything obstructing its path and form a new pathway to avoid them.
This is another feature that sets the Roomba 960 apart from the 690 as the 690 does not have the VSLAM technology included in its design. The 690 will only be able to rely on its physical sensors to detect its designated path or any obstacles. The 960 outshines the 690 in the navigation department.
In Summary: The Roomba 960’s built-in camera with VSLAM technology gives it an advantage with precise mapping and navigation features that rival the navigation abilities of the 690.
While Roomba has always had boasting power when it comes to its microfiltration systems, there are differences in how the two models achieve it. While the 690’s Aerovac technology can collect small particles, the 960 uses HEPA filtration. This means that it gets rid of 99.99% of allergens and dust particles, which makes it ideal for people with allergies or pets.
In Summary: There is no disputing the topic of which model has a better filter based on these statistics. Thanks to immensely effective HEPA filtration, the 960 comes out on top.
7. How Well Do They Spot Clean?
The Roomba 690 and the Roomba 960 are both capable of having the Spot Cleaning feature. With this feature that you can access through the iHome app control, you will be able to move your iRobot to a specific path or area of your house for a more thorough level of cleaning. It will be able to clean that one spot by moving around in a circular motion in a three foot diameter in order to get it clean. It will then divert back to its original path once that area is completely clean.
In Summary: Spot Cleaning is an excellent feature that both models are capable of and it will allow you to clean any specific area you desire, which can come in handy in case of a sudden messy accident.
The Roomba 960 has a new form of cleaning technology called Edge Cleaning. The side brushes on the 960 will be able to reach edges and corners that are otherwise difficult or impossible to reach. This is a feature that the 690 does not have, so the 960 takes your cleaning abilities to a whole new level.
In Edge Cleaning Mode, the 960 will go along its designated area of cleaning and clear the debris from any hard to reach area it comes across. The only flaw of this feature, however, is that the Roomba 960 will run slower while it is using this function. This will cause the battery life to drain faster, which can easily become an inconvenience.
In Summary: Edge Cleaning mode on the Roomba 960 is an amazing feature. It will allow you to have a more thorough cleaning in more tight spaces. The only downside is that you will have to pay attention to the battery level if you are worried about it draining too quickly.
Both Roomba models are capable of cleaning designated areas at the times you set for them, but only the Roomba 960 will give you entire level cleaning. During entire level cleaning, the Roomba will automatically leave its cleaning area to go back to its dock and recharge, then it returns to its job once the battery level is full. The Roomba 690 will go back to its dock to recharge as well, but you will have to personally make it move again manually or through your iHome app once it is done charging.
In Summary: The Roomba 960 is much more efficient for entire level cleaning since it will resume its job automatically once it is fully charged again.
Smart Home Integration provides you with an extra level of convenience because it will allow you to connect your Roomba device to any home device, such as Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, through the Wi Fi in your home and your iHome app. This is so you can use your voice to give it a new command. Both the Roomba 690 and the 960 are capable of having this feature. You will not be required to move from your seat to control your iRobot vacuum when you have voice activated home devices to do the work for you.
However, the Roomba 960 has a few features within the iRobot app that is specific solely to its functions, features that you will not be able to utilize with the 690. The 960 will give you options that will let you customize your cleaning preferences to help get the job done based on your own needs.
The 960 allows you to activate an edge cleaning mode that will give the room a deeper clean, and will give you a clean map report after the completion of each cleaning cycle. All of this can be done with the simple use of your voice after connecting it to your home devices.
In Summary: Since both iRobot devices are capable of Smart Home Integration, you can now control your iRobot with the sound of your voice connected to your home devices. However, the Roomba 960 has an extra cleaning functionality that you will not be able to have with the Roomba 690.
When it comes to cleaning multiple rooms, you will want to invest in the Roomba 960 over the 690. The 690 is incapable of cleaning multiple rooms in one go, but the 960 robot will be able to cover about 2,000 square feet with every cleaning job. The 690 roomba will need to charge the battery before it goes to a new room to clean. You will have to start it again yourself, but the 960 robot will start go to charge automatically when the battery is low and continue its job when it is ready to go again.
In Summary: The Roomba 960 is the most viable option by a landslide in this case. It is much more capable of cleaning bigger spaces and multiple rooms, while the 690 robot would only be able to cover one room at a time.
12. How Easy is it to Maintain Each Model?
One important factor of robotic vacuums that you will want to consider the most is how easy it is to maintain. You will need to carry out proper maintenance procedures periodically in order to keep your vacuum working effectively. This will involve cleaning off the roller brushes when hair and debris gets trapped around it, and cleaning and replacing the filter as often as you need to.
The Roomba 690’s AeroVac technology utilizes counter rotating brushes to help remove the dirt and debris from its system, but it will be susceptible to getting pet hair and human hair tangled around inside of it. You will also not be able to wash the filter. The Roomba 960 robot vacuums utilize a brushless debris extractor that will greatly reduce the chances of that happening, which will be an amazing option if you are a pet owner. The 960’s filter is also washable. Therefore, the Roomba 960 robot is much easier to maintain.
In Summary: The Roomba 960 robot is much easier to maintain while the 690 robot is at greater risk of getting hair and other types of debris tangled inside of it. The 690’s filter is also not washable, whereas the 960’s is.
The Roomba 690 and 960 robot both use lithium batteries as their power source, and both take around three hours to fully charge. However, the 960 robot can run for about 75 minutes on a full charge while the 690 will only be able to last for 60 minutes.
In Summary: The Roomba 960 robot will have a longer running time than the 690 by fifteen minutes on the same amount of charging time.
The Roomba 690 has many essential features that you will discover to be an excellent addition to your home:
Automatic charging and docking capabilities that will allow the 690 to go back to its dock to recharge when its battery is low.
iHome capabilities will allow you to have a bigger level of control over your Roomba device. It also gives you the ability to control your robot vacuum with your home devices.
Virtual Wall Barriers designed to help your Roomba avoid any obstructions in its designated cleaning areas.
Powered by Lithium-Ion batteries.
Capable of spot cleaning.
The Roomba 960 comes with many essential features that will have you wondering how you went without it before:
Built-in camera with VSLAM technology will allow your iRobot to have top notch navigation capabilities.
IAdapt 2.0 software will increase the power of your Roomba’s sensors to improve its overall functionality.
Designed with HEPA filtration which will be good for homes with pets and people with allergies.
Capable of Entire Level cleaning.
Less maintenance required with brushless extractors.
Where to Buy the Robots
Both the Roomba 690 and 960 are available in online stores like Amazon and Walmart. You can get the Roomba 690 on Amazon and the Roomba 960 on Amazon via the links and you can also check their latest prices. Also remember to check different robotic vacuum reviews to determine which one among the two will serve the intended purpose you desire.
So what’s the verdict for roomba 960 vs 690? if you are in search of a high quality device for your home that will still give you the best value for your budget then the Roomba 960 robot will be the best option for you. The Roomba 960 has many essential features that the Roomba 690 robot just cannot measure up to. The Roomba 690 is more affordable up front, but the Roomba 960 robot will prove to be more valuable to you in the long run.
The Roomba 690 will still be an amazing cleaning system robot to keep around the house if you have to remain on a tighter budget. Although it does not have the features of the 960, it will still be able to save you money while giving your house the thorough cleanup it needs. It will still have some of the same amazing features such as Smart Home Integration and iHome App capabilities.
My personal choice would be the Roomba 960 because of all of the extra features that are included in this product. With the information provided, invest your focus on which option would work best for you.
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My family could rarely get me out of the Davy Crockett outfit. For this portrait, I was insistent that I be allowed to wear my coonskin hat…but higher authorities prevailed. The shirt moved west with us along with my spirit of wildness. And the shirt lives on having been packed for years in a box in our basement.
As mentioned, each evening was an adventure in curses as Dad set up the tent. My siblings needed to master putting up the pup tent. Rain was always a challenge. No one was to touch the tent walls or water would drip inside. There were drips and puddles and wet bags. Though sturdy, the tents could not handle a thunderstorm. We came back after visiting another historic site, and the saturated canvas pulled the stacks out of the sodden ground. More curses. Dad began to call such cataclysmic events – Whittemore fiascos.
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Cartoonist, and community organizer who has covered the globe as a doodlebugger, gandydancer, supernumerary steward, Able Bodied Seaman, Wireman, monkey man, Night Baker and dishwasher, Hobo, hitchhiker and husband.
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Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the most senior member of the Senate GOP conference, says he would vote against a national 15-week abortion ban sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that has caused a political headache for fellow Republicans.
“I would vote ‘no,’” Grassley said at a televised debate Thursday night with his Democratic election opponent, Mike Franken.
Grassley’s opposition is surprising because he previously co-sponsored Graham’s bill, introduced last year, to ban abortion after 20 weeks.
The Iowa Republican, however, now says abortion is an issue that should be handled at the state level after the Supreme Court earlier this year struck down the constitutional right to an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, according to the Des Moines Register, which first reported on Grassley’s comments.
A Des Moines Register-Mediacom Iowa poll conducted in July showed Grassley leading Franken, a retired Navy admiral, by 8 points, 47 percent to 39 percent.
But Grassley, who is running for an eighth term, isn’t taking anything for granted in a state that former President Obama carried in the 2008 and 2012 elections. Since then, however, Iowa has shifted hard to the right and voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020.
Embracing a 15-week abortion ban could rev up opposition among Iowa Democrats, especially younger voters in Des Moines and Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa, which is overwhelmingly more liberal than the rest of the state.
Only nine Senate Republicans have sponsored Graham’s proposal to ban abortion after 15 weeks except when the life of the pregnant person is at risk or in cases of rape or incest.
By contrast, 43 Senate Republicans co-sponsored Graham’s 20-week abortion ban when he introduced it in January 2021.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) wasn’t thrilled when Graham introduced his 15-week abortion ban — without consulting with the minority leader — a few weeks before the election, a move that shifted attention to the abortion debate from inflation, crime and the Southern border.
McConnell signaled last month that he does not plan to bring Graham’s bill to the floor in 2023, even if Republicans win back the Senate majority, which would leave the senior Kentucky senator in charge of the schedule.
“With regard to his bill, you’ll have to ask him about it. In terms of scheduling, I think most of the members of my conference prefer that this be dealt with at the state level,” he told reporters.
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Thanks to the Roosevelt Recession, in the spring of 1938 the New Deal’s “Keynesians” finally found themselves in the saddle, displacing the planners, reformers, and trust-busters whose legislative efforts had petered out some months before. The Keynesians’ rise was symbolized by the $3 billion spending program FDR announced during his fireside chat that April.[1]
But the crisis that gave Keynesians the upper hand also proved fatal to the Roosevelt administration’s more ambitious plans, Keynesian or otherwise. Thanks to it, voters sent many Democrats, and New Deal democrats especially, packing that November. Although Democrats retained a strong majority in Congress, the election’s real winners consisted of a combination of Republicans and Southern Democrats that came to be known as the “conservative coalition,” which was to dominate Congress for the next three decades.
While some historians have since labeled the Keynesian ascendancy a “Third New Deal,” the Keynesians themselves saw their preferred policies as far less radical, if more expensive, alternatives to the more aggressive sorts of interference with private enterprise their predecessors favored. In that important respect, although they were certainly in the New Deal, they weren’t truly of it. Even so, their large-scale spending plans were hardly likely to sail through the new Congress. On the contrary: the conservative coalition first showed its mettle in June 1939, by scuttling the $3 billion-plus Works Financing Act—some Newsweek wag dubbed it FDR’s “Great White Rabbit”—that was supposed to continue the administration’s 1938 spending program. The New York Times’s Arthur Krock therefore had every reason to report, after the elections, that “The New Deal has been halted.”
Though the New Deal may have been halted, the depression hadn’t. At the start of 1939, six-and-one-quarter million workers, or about 12 percent of the labor force, were unemployed; another three-and-one-quarter million, or roughly 5 percent of the labor force, were on work relief. Adults were working only four-fifths as many hours as they had in 1929; industrial production was still 10 percent below its 1929 peak; and real private nonresidential investment languished at two-thirds its pre-depression level.
Of course, the situation in March 1933 had been far worse. But if “recovery” meant returning to anything like the state of employment throughout most of the 1920s, or that decade’s trajectory for industrial output, the U.S. economy still had a very long way to go. “Despite the New Deal’s exertions and innovations,” David Kennedy (1992, p. 166) writes, “and contrary to later mythology,” it and the Depression had been “Siamese twins, enduring together in a painful but symbiotic relationship that stretched to the end of the decade.” That most other formerly depressed economies, with the notable exception of France, were by then faring much better than the United States, only gave Americans further grounds for aggrievement.[2]
Nor were the New Dealers themselves, FDR included, unaware of their failure. Observing, in his 1939 State of the Union address, that the United States continued to “suffer from a great unemployment of capital,” while Europe’s dictatorships had “solved, for a time at least, the problem of idle men and idle capital,” the president wondered whether the United States could “compete with them by boldly seeking methods of putting idle men and idle capital together and, at the same time, remain within our American way of life.”
Perhaps the most weighty acknowledgment of the New Deal’s failure to achieve recovery came from the American Keynesians themselves, including Harvard’s Alvin Hansen, who was by now their most influential spokesman. The confession was implicit in Hansen’s “secular stagnation hypothesis,” a hybrid of British-style Keynesianism and the version of Frederick Jackson Turner’s “frontier” thesis Stuart Chase had popularized in the work that gave the New Deal its name.
According to Turner, American enterprise depended for its unique vitality on continued westward expansion. The “closing” of the western frontier therefore threatened to put paid to American prosperity. Between them, WWI and the Roaring Twenties put Turner’s thesis on ice. But the depression, and Chase’s book, gave it a new lease on life. The prosperity of the ’20s, Chase wrote, was a mere “flash in the pan”: not only had the frontier passed, but population growth was grinding to a halt, leaving markets for everything from shoes to automobiles at their “saturation points.” As for technological progress, instead of helping, it would only bring that much more unemployment: Chase (p. 82) even though it might “be a jolly good thing to declare a moratorium on inventions for at least a decade.” But, moratorium or no moratorium, American progress had run out of steam.
For the first time in our national history since the opening of the West, we have to deal with a roughly static rather than an expanding structure. There is no prairie, no mountain, no forest to which we can escape; there are no elastic real estate values to muffle the impact of our industrial blunders. Our luck has run out; we have at last to face real things in a real world (p. 74).
To his credit, Hansen rejected Chase’s jaundiced view of technological progress. “There can be no greater error,” he said in his December 1938 American Economic Association presidential address, “than that which finds in the advance of technology, broadly conceived, a major cause of unemployment.” But in other respects, he shared Chase’s outlook. “We are passing,” he said, “over a divide which separates the great era of growth and expansion of the nineteenth century…into no one knows what.” Between them, the exploitation of new territory and population growth had supplied outlets for roughly half of the capital formation during the former era. Now those outlets were “rapidly being closed,” leaving only the outlet “created by the progress of technology.” But technological progress only helped if it gave rise to whole new industries, and there was little prospect that the future would see anything “as rich in investment opportunities as the railroad, or more recently the automobile.”
Hansen’s secular stagnation or “economic maturity” thesis implied that “pump-priming” and other strictly countercyclical policies could no longer be counted on to achieve economic recovery. Instead, eliminating unemployment would require nothing short of a massive and permanent increase in government spending on public works, or relief, or both. It followed that the New Deal’s recovery schemes were, not just failures, but exercises in futility. The heart of American private enterprise could no longer be expected to ever beat hard enough on its own. It needed a Big Government pacemaker.
Despite the conservative coalition, a pacemaker is just what the U.S. economy got, though it was only a makeshift. On the first of September, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The war the world had been dreading ever since Hitler came to power began at last. Although the United States wouldn’t join the conflict until December 1941, it began to mobilize in earnest, and to ship arms and other materials to Britain, after France fell in June 1940. According to Robert G. Gordon and Robert Krenn, by the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States economy had been running at full capacity for several weeks. The number of unemployed workers had fallen from 7.7 million to just 3.4 million, while U.S. industrial production was 25 percent higher than its 1920s pinnacle. Before long, material and labor shortages had the government placing limits on “non-essential” construction and production.
The claim that World War II, and the government spending that went with it, ended the depression, has long been conventional wisdom. Still, it hasn’t gone unchallenged. Christina Romer, whose work we noticed earlier in this series, claims that fiscal policy “contributed almost nothing to the recovery,” not only throughout the 1930s, but until1942. For their part, Brad DeLong and Lawrence Summers (1988, p. 467) claim that, by the time the war began, “more than five-sixths of the Depression decline in output relative to trend had been made up.”
But such revisionism has itself been revised in turn, by Gorden and Krenn, and also by J.R. Vernon (1994). Vernon argues, I think convincingly, that at the start of the last quarter of 1940 the recovery was no more (and probably less) than half complete, and that it took a big dose of fiscal medicine to complete it. Gordon and Krenn take Vernon’s argument a step further, by showing that federal government spending began to play a decisive role as soon as France fell. Contradicting DeLong and Summer’s claim (1988, p. 467n46) that it didn’t change, they note that the federal government’s share of GDP doubled between then and December 1941, with defense expenditures alone growing almost tenfold, from $1.5 billion to $14.3 billion.[3] During the same period the number of active military personnel increased from just 335 thousand to more than 1.8 million. Compared to later wartime figures, these magnitudes pale. Still, Gorden and Krenn show that, by the close of 1941, the government’s contribution was already large enough to account for almost 90 percent of the recovery that took place between January 1939 and December 1941.
Concerning those post-Pearl Harbor statistics, Robert Higgs (1992, p. 55) warns against taking them at face value. As soon as the United States declared war on Japan, he says, the government “began imposing such pervasive and sufficiently effective controls that, by the beginning of 1943, the economy became a thoroughgoing command system.” Consequently, the superficially remarkable “wartime boom” of 1942-1945 is in truth little more than a statistical artifact.[4] Before Pearl, on the other hand, relatively few controls were imposed. For that reason, despite being the furthest thing from a Keynesian, Higgs allows “that “[i]n 1940 and 1941 the economy was recovering smartly from the Depression.” Small wonder that Keynesians themselves viewed the wartime recovery as a successful test of their proposed, permanent solution to unemployment!
That, so far as the Keynesians were concerned, was the good news. The bad news was that the very success of this test, and the war more generally, eventually took the wind out of the stagnationists’ sails. They did so, most obviously, by turning the once-urgent problem of unemployment into yesterday’s news, while confronting the government with entirely different, but no less urgent, challenges. But they also did so, paradoxically, by causing many, and conservatives especially, to doubt that capitalism needed to be on life support after all.
Medical Referral
The change in the government’s priorities was evident in Roosevelt’s own rhetoric, beginning with his January 1941 state of the union address, better known as his “Four Freedoms” speech. Here the president stressed “the immediate need…to change a whole nation from a basis of peacetime production of implements of peace to a basis of wartime production of implements of war,” and to “prepare…to make the sacrifices that the emergency—almost as serious as war itself—demands.” Although Roosevelt also insisted that “this is no time for any of us to stop thinking about the social and economic problems which are the root cause of the social revolution,” including unemployment, the preparations that were temporarily putting an end to that problem, if only by drafting millions of young men into the armed services, weren’t aimed at solving it: their purpose was defeating Hitler and the Japanese.
Moreover, the plain truth was that many people had stopped thinking about unemployment and other prewar problems, and that FDR himself eventually seemed to quit thinking about them. Observing, during a December 1943 press conference, that the president had stopped using the term “New Deal,” a reporter asked why. Comparing the prewar U.S. economy to a sick patient, Roosevelt explained, while “Dr. New Deal” had been a perfectly competent internist, the patient had since been “in a pretty bad smashup.” Since Dr. New Deal knew nothing about mending broken arms and legs, “Dr. Win-the-War” had taken over. A “new” New Deal would have to wait until the war ended—assuming it ever saw the light of day.
But would it? The war didn’t just change the government’s priorities. It also changed the public’s outlook for the future. According to Alan Brinkley (1996, p. 171), despite the government intervention that gave rise to it, the spectacle of a fully-employed economy caused a general retreat from the previously widespread belief that capitalism was chronically, if not mortally, ill. Just as the First World War had sent Turner’s original frontier thesis into cold storage, the second deprived Hansen’s new version of its former appeal, undermining support for Keynesians’ ambitious plans for keeping the postwar economy on its feet.
That the Keynesians found themselves fighting an uphill battle was first made clear by the fate of the National Resources Planning Board (NRPB). Established in 1939 as the last of a series of similar boards, all charged with helping to coordinate New Deal policies, when the war broke out its focus changed to domestic postwar planning. Concerning that subject, it produced a stack of reports and pamphlets several feet high, including several by Alvin Hansen, its most prominent advisor. Not surprisingly, these all stressed the need for public works and relief planning on a large scale to avoid a postwar collapse. Hansen took for granted, furthermore, that Congress could be convinced to cede to the administration its power of the purse so as to give it a free hand with which to regulate compensatory spending (Rosen 2005, p. 228).
Such recommendations would have gotten a cold welcome from the conservative coalition under the best of circumstances. But Roosevelt’s decision to publish them in early 1943 was particularly ill-timed: the 1942 mid-term election had given Democrats another thrashing, leaving them with a paper-thin majority only in the House, and a much-reduced one in the Senate. So it was hardly surprising that the 78th Congress turned a deaf ear to the NRPB’s proposals. But that was just for starters. The Senate’s “antistatists,” led by Robert Taft, also planned to reduce the NRPB’s budget to just $200,000, only to be one-bettered by the Appropriations Committee, which quit funding it altogether.
When the NRPB was officially abolished that August, Roosevelt transferred many of its undertakings to the Bureau of the Budget, which became the Keynesians’ new, if unofficial, headquarters. There, at the Fed, and at several other executive departments, they soldiered on, producing more papers, reports, and forecasts. According to Michael Sapir, one of the economists then working at the Bureau of the Budget, the “whole tone and emphasis” of these productions “was on the drastic primary impact…curtailed government outlays” would have on postwar “income and employment in the private economy.” Demobilization, they argued, would have “strong deflationary tendencies,” and would leave some 8 to 12 million workers without jobs unless the government ran huge peacetime deficits.
One of the Keynesians’ more important documents was a joint Fed-Bureau of the Budget memorandum on “Postwar Employment,” written by Hansen and Gerhard Colm, the Bureau of the Budget’s principal fiscal policy expert, and circulated confidentially in October 1944 (Nourse 1956, p. 194). The memorandum made achieving “full employment,” which it defined as “productive work for all who are willing and able to work,” the administration’s first economic policy priority.
Fearing more Congressional backlash, FDR tabled the memo. But that didn’t stop him from drawing on it for his October 28, 1944 campaign speech at Chicago’s Soldier’s Field. Reminding the crowd of 150,000 that the “Second Bill of Rights” he’d proposed in his State of the Union Address that January included Americans’ “right to a useful and remunerative employment,” he now explained that guaranteeing it would take “close to sixty million productive jobs,” and a corresponding “expansion of our peacetime productive capacity.” He then promised that the Government would “do its part in helping private enterprise” finance the needed expansion.
Having taken Congress’s temperature, Roosevelt doubled-down on his commitment to make achieving full employment a joint government-private market undertaking:
I believe in free enterprise—and always have.
I believe in the profit system—and always have.
I believe that private enterprise can give full employment to our people.
If anyone feels that my faith in our ability to provide sixty million peacetime jobs is fantastic, let him remember that some people said the same thing about my demand in 1940 for fifty thousand airplanes.
What Roosevelt didn’t say was that 50,000 B-17s in 1940 cost about $10 billion, and that, if the Keynesians’ estimates were right, avoiding mass unemployment after the war would cost at least that much every year, at least for several years, and (if the secular stagnation thesis was correct) perhaps forever. Hansen himself thought that maintaining full employment would cost the government “some $18 billion annually,” or close to four times what Keynes had thought necessary in 1934. Other estimates of the required annual deficits ran the gamut, from Walter Salant’s relatively sanguine range of $10 to $15 billion (Jones 1972, p. 126) to Paul Samuelson’s especially gloomy $25 billion.
Needless to say, such large-scale deficit spending couldn’t be flipped on like a switch. Yet the liberation of Paris that August made it obvious to everyone, apart perhaps from the Führer himself, that Nazi Germany’s days were numbered. If the government was to keep its promise to avoid a severe postwar depression, it had no time to spare to start planning for peace. Alas, the Battle of the Bulge that December put to rest all talk of starting the process of economic reconversion before Germany threw in the towel.
The Full Employment Act
In his January 6, 1945 address to Congress, President Roosevelt once again called for a national program to assure full employment. “The Federal Government must see to it,” he said, “that these rights become realities… . This means that we must achieve a level of demand and purchasing power by private consumers…sufficiently high to replace wartime Government demands.”
FDR, and the Keynesians whose recommendations he was following, found their main champion in Congress in Montana Senator James Murray, a staunch New Dealer who chaired the War Contracts Subcommittee of the Senate Military Affairs Committee. On January 22, 1945, Murray introduced his subcommittee’s Full Employment Bill, based on a draft prepared by several Keynesian economists, as S. 380. A month later, Congressman Wright Patman (D-TX) introduced the House equivalent as H.R. 2202. The bills’ centerpiece consisted of a National Production and Employment Budget that was to include an estimate of the level of GNP consistent with full employment, the private sector’s expected contribution, and the gap between these that the government would be mandated to fill.
Though the text of both bills was the same, the fates they suffered in their respective chambers couldn’t have been less alike. S. 380 wended its way through the Senate with relatively little opposition. Even so, by the time it passed the Senate, with minor amendments only, by a vote of 71 to 10 (with 15 senators abstaining) on September 28, 1945, Roosevelt—who never got around to endorsing it—had been dead for more than five months, and both Germany and Japan had surrendered.
Yet the conservative-leaning House Executive Expenditures Committee, to which H.R. 2202 had been assigned, was taking even longer, having only begun hearings on it days before S. 380 passed the Senate. During the course of these hearings, anti-Keynesians at last took to the offensive, assailing the very idea of a “right” to employment; exposing the vagueness of the concept of “full” employment; and casting doubt on the Keynesians’ ability to forecast the course of private spending and employment with any reasonable degree of accuracy.[5] Their acerbic testimony led in turn to a clamorous series of “close votes and compromises” (Wasum 2013, p. 99).
When the dust settled, an Executive Expenditures Committee subcommittee found itself drafting a substitute for H.R. 2202. The result scrapped everything beyond the original measure’s preamble. Instead of establishing workers’ “right to employment,” the “Employment-Production Act of 1945” merely had the government “aiding and assisting” the unemployed; and instead of mandating Keynesian compensatory spending, as specified by a National Production and Employment Budget, it merely provided for a strictly advisory “Economic Report of the President.” Finally, instead of assigning responsibility for drafting that report to the Bureau of the Budget, it assigned it to a new Council of Economic Advisers to be appointed by the president. It also created a new Joint Economic Committee, charged with advising Congress on economic affairs. Both the CEA and the JEC were advisory bodies only: neither could “authorize programs, pass laws, or appropriate funds” (Wasum 2013, p. 145). It was this impotent substitute, rather than H.R. 2022, that the House eventually passed, by a vote of 255 to 126.
It remained for the Conference Committee to decide between the House and Senate bills, or something in between. It did so by choosing the House alternative, and weakening it still further by downplaying, or omitting altogether, its references to government spending, public works, and loans. The conference report was accepted by the House on February 6, 1946, by a vote of 320 to 84, and unanimously agreed to by the Senate two days later. At last, on February 20th, more than six months after Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s unconditional surrender, President Truman signed the Employment Act of 1946 into law.
Much as later Keynesians might look upon the Employment Act of 1946 as a triumph for their way of thinking, the fact remains that, even if that act hadn’t been so toothless, it would have come too late to compel Congress to take steps to avoid the mass unemployment Keynesians had long feared. That Congress in the meantime, having gutted their proposed legislation, didn’t put the Keynesians’ recommendations into practice on its own initiative, goes without saying.
The upshot was that postwar economic reconversion went ahead without the benefit of peacetime compensatory spending. Instead, between Fiscal 1945 and Fiscal 1946, government outlays fell by 40 percent, from $92.7 billion to $55.2 billion, while the deficit fell as well, from almost $50 billion, or 21 percent of GDP, in 1945, to just $16 billion, or about 7 percent of GDP, in 1946. In fiscal 1947, federal revenues exceeded outlays for the first time since 1930; and in 1948, the surplus rose to nearly $12 billion! In the meantime, the military returned some 10 million Americans to civilian life.
According to most American Keynesians, fiscal surpluses were the last thing those Americans needed.[6] Instead, as we’ve seen, they believed it would take annual deficits of at least $10 billion, and, according to Samuelson, perhaps $25 billion, to provide for their employment. In offering his estimate Samuelson (p. 51) spoke for most Keynesians in warning that
were the war to end suddenly…were we again planning to wind up our war effort in the greatest haste, to demobilize our armed forces, to liquidate [sic] price controls, to shift from astronomical deficits to even the large deficits of the thirties—then there would be ushered in the greatest period of unemployment and industrial dislocation which any economy has ever faced.
If the Keynesians were right, the U.S. economy was headed for disaster: not only were deficits about to give way to surpluses, but most wartime controls, instead of being removed only gradually as they’d recommended, would be lifted soon after V‑J Day, and the rest would be gone within a year. In short, the U.S. economy was about to receive, at close to the fullest conceivable amperage, what historian Jack Stokes Ballard later called the “shock of peace.”
Keynesian economists were hardly alone in dreading the outcome. Although businessmen tended to be more upbeat, with many actually looking forward to a postwar boom driven by free enterprise (Wasum 2013, p. 47), Newsweek, Time, United States News, and most of the rest of the more liberal press “feared a gradual slide into a major depression” rivaling that of the early ’30s, with between five and seven million former workers and soldiers on the dole before the end of the year (Hinchey 1965, p. 125). Not to be outdone, Business Week put peak unemployment at 9 million, or around 14 percent of the labor force. But that was nothing compared to Senator Harley Kilgore’s (D-W. Va.) prediction (ibid, p. 126) that the new depression would be far greater than the Great Depression, with 18 million men and women failing to find jobs. Finally, Leo Cherne of the Research Institute of America, and Boris Shishkin, an economist for the American Federation of Labor, each upped the ante yet again, forecasting 19 and 20 million unemployed respectively, or unemployment rates in excess of 35 percent! Now that it was too late for the government to heed their warnings, these pessimists could only wait in helpless trepidation for the Great Depression to return with a vengeance.
Yet, somehow, it never did.
[1] Although symbolically important, because it was undertaken despite Treasury opposition, on the basis of Keynesian reasoning, and large in absolute terms, Roosevelt’s 1938 spending program did not actually pack a very substantial punch. As David Kennedy points out (1992, pp. 358-9), “In a $100 billion economy, with more than ten million persons unemployed, $3 billion was a decidedly modest sum, not appreciably larger than most earlier New Deal deficits, considerably less than the deficit of 1936, and far short of the kind of economic boost that Keyness envisioned as necessary to overcome the Depression once and for all.”
[2] It bears noting that, at its own depression’s trough, in 1936, France’s recently victorious Front Populaire introduced major labor market reforms that, according to Paul Beaudry and Frank Portier (2002), “mirror[ed] the 1933 U.S. New Deal.” These included maximum workweek hours and government-imposed collective bargaining, the last of which quickly led to numerous nationwide strikes. In all, Beaudry and Portier report (p. 73), the reforms boosted the cost of labor in France’s by a remarkable 29 percent.
[3] DeLong and Summers refer to the government’s share of GNP rather than GDP, but these differ only slightly.
[4] Elsewhere Higgs (1992) and Steven Horwitz and Michael McPhillips (2013) ask a more fundamental question concerning the wartime increase in output, and associated drop in unemployment, to wit: whether, setting the accuracy of wartime statistics aside, these constituted “‘economic recovery’ in any sense relevant to American households’ day-to-day experience” (ibid., p. 343). That Americans continued to endure hardship throughout the war, in the shape of severe home-front deprivations, not to mention the horrors encountered by servicemen, including the prospect of dying early, can hardly be gainsaid. Still, the question seems moot, the answer hinging as it ultimately must on whether winning the war was a “public good.” The more important question was whether something apart from war could keep the U.S. economy from lapsing back into a depression.
[5] Concerning the challenge of defining “full employment,” see Nourse (1972). Challenged by critics of his 1942 pamphlets to say what that expression meant, Hansen replied by allowing that “at ‘full employment’ there would be at any one time between 2 and 3 million unemployed” (ibid., p. 194). The unemployment rate in 1946 turned out to be slightly lower than the top of that range.
[6] A remarkable exception was Federal Reserve Chairman Marriner Eccles, who prior to the war had been the Roosevelt administration’s most insistent champion of “Keynesian” countercyclical policies. The war made inflation Eccles’s chief concern; and by 1945 he was convinced that to keep inflation at bay after the war the government would have to have its peacetime budget in balance. Inevitably he and Hansen, who was then serving as a special consultant to the Board of Governors, clashed, causing Hansen to quit that August. Concerning the progress of Eccles’s thinking, see Vernengo (2009).
Part 7: FDR and Gold
Part 8: The NRA
Part 11: The Roosevelt Recession, Continued
Part 13: Fear Itself, Continued
Part 14: Fear Itself, Concluded
Part 16: The Keynesian Myth, Continued
Part 17: The Keynesian Myth, Concluded
Part 19: War, and Peace
The post The New Deal and Recovery, Part 19: War, and Peace appeared first on Alt-M.
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The 2022 Nobel Prize in Economics is to be shared by Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond, and Philip H. Dybvig, “for research on banks and financial crises.” Diamond and Dybvig are best known for their 1983 article, “Bank Runs, Deposit
5 days ago
The 2022 Nobel Prize in Economics is to be shared by Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond, and Philip H. Dybvig, “for research on banks and financial crises.” Diamond and Dybvig are best known for their 1983 article, “Bank Runs, Deposit
5 days ago
The 2022 Nobel Prize in Economics is to be shared by Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond, and Philip H. Dybvig, “for research on banks and financial crises.” Diamond and Dybvig are best known for their 1983 article, “Bank Runs, Deposit
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November 25, 2022
The 2022 Nobel Prize in Economics is to be shared by Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond, and Philip H. Dybvig, “for research on banks and financial crises.” Diamond and Dybvig are best known for their 1983 article, “Bank Runs, Deposit
by
November 25, 2022
The 2022 Nobel Prize in Economics is to be shared by Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond, and Philip H. Dybvig, “for research on banks and financial crises.” Diamond and Dybvig are best known for their 1983 article, “Bank Runs, Deposit
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November 25, 2022
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Trigger points are a potential danger to all muscles. There are trigger points that can be present in various muscles. Some people have one while others can possess a variety. The trigger point which causes pain in one area may also trigger pain in various other areas in the body. If untreated, it can lead to a variety of symptoms of pain. Trigger point therapy is an effective method to get rid of the painful patterns and regain the mobility. Below are symptoms of trigger point syndrome.
What Are the Benefits of Shiatsu Massage?
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This article will explain how aromatherapy massage can benefit you. Read on to find out more about aromatherapy massage and why it is becoming more well-known. You may be interested in knowing what Essential oils are used in aromatherapy massage. We'll discuss the advantages of each essential oil, as well as the techniques and ingredients for aromatherapy massage.
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What are the benefits of Massage with hot stones? This massage is fantastic for increasing blood circulation, relaxing tense muscles and relieving pain that is caused by autoimmune diseases. It's also a safer alternative to traditional deep tissue massage. Read on to discover the benefits of hot stone massage. Next, schedule your next massage appointment to start feeling better. The world is waiting for your return! W...
What to Expect From a Massage
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Massage therapy can have many benefits. Massage therapy helps you unwind and be more peaceful. Certain types can make you feel sleepy or achy, while others may leave you feeling energetic. Check out this article to learn details about massages and what you can expect from a massage. Also, be mindful of the safety guidelines. Below are some tips to be aware of when taking an oil massage. Remember, prior to you go and book an appointment, make yourself well-informed about the followin...
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There are many reasons to get a massage. The most obvious benefit is increased blood flow. By applying pressure, the therapist can move blood around the body and get it where it's supposed to go. Massage strokes are always directed towards the heart. This improves blood flow and improves the function of the lungs and the heart. In addition to its relaxing effects, massage is a great way to treat injuries to the body.
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We are so happy to have come this far in our online business. Opening Aval House was a dream come true for us and we are grateful to look back over this past year and see what we have done, and excited to look ahead into the next year and imagine what we can do.
Here is our checklist of some of our accomplishments:
Made two sales
Added new items
Bought our website domain
This coming year, our goal is to add new items to our shop and further define the brand of Aval House.
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A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to reporting on the selling of public streets and sidewalks | New York City Council
New York City Council Members
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to reporting on the selling of public streets and sidewalks
This bill would require an agency designated by the mayor to annually report to the speaker of the city council on public streets and sidewalks that the city has sold to any person. Such agency would also be required to post the annual report on the agency’s website. In addition, the agency would be required to post on its website, at least two weeks prior to a public hearing on the sale of any public street or sidewalk held by the City Planning Commission pursuant to the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, the proposed date of sale and the proposed sale amount. The bill would increase the transparency of city property disposition, allowing community groups and city residents to become aware of potential upcoming development in their areas.
Co-sponsors
Filed (End of Session)
Dec 31, 2021
Filed (End of Session)
Referred to Comm by Council
Introduced by Council
By Council Members Treyger and Holden
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to reporting on the selling of public streets and sidewalks
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Chapter 1 of title 4 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 4-121 to read as follows:
§ 4-121 Annual report on the selling of public streets and sidewalks. a. Definitions. For purposes of this section, the term “public street or sidewalk” means any street or sidewalk owned by the city.
b. Not later than July 30 of each year, an agency designated by the mayor shall submit to the speaker of the city council and post on the agency’s website an annual report relating to public streets and sidewalks that the city has sold to any person within the preceding 12 months. Such report shall include, but not be limited to, the following information:
1. Whether it was a public street or public sidewalk that was sold;
2. The location of the public street or sidewalk that was sold, including the name of the street that was sold or the name of the street bordering the sidewalk that was sold, as well as the borough, community board district, bounding streets and avenues and any commonly known name of such street or sidewalk;
3. Identifying information of the person that purchased the public street or sidewalk, including but not limited to the name, primary address and entity type of the person;
4. The date of the sale of the public street or sidewalk; and
c. The agency designated by the mayor, as set forth in this section, shall also post on the agency’s website, at least two weeks prior to a public hearing on the sale of any public street or sidewalk held by the city planning commission pursuant to section 197-c of the New York city charter, the proposed date of such a sale and the proposed sale amount.
§ 2. This local law takes effect 120 days after it becomes law, except that the agency designated by the mayor, as set forth in section one of this local law, may take such measures as are necessary for the implementation of this local law, including the promulgation of rules, before such date.
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It is natural for most dogs to love food and to scarf meals down in a matter of minutes.
If your dog won’t eat her food, I generally do not recommend you switch her food or add extra goodies to her meals. Instead, these simple ideas typically work. But first, make sure your dog is not sick.
If a dog who normally has a good appetite suddenly won’t eat, there’s a good chance she is not feeling well. Watch for less noticeable signs such as more sleeping than normal, less interest in toys or a refusal to drink water.
If you don’t think your dog is sick, here are some tips to help a picky eater eat her meals. For raw feeders, see our post: What to do when your dog won’t eat raw meat.
What to do if your dog is a picky eater
Dogs like a routine. I feed mine twice a day. I put their bowls of food out in the morning and in the evening, and they almost always finish their food.
Some trainers recommend feeding your dog after a walk, treating the meal as a reward or for allowing the dog to “earn” her meal. If your dog is especially picky, I recommend you give this a try because most dogs actually like to work for their food. They love to work!
2. If she doesn’t eat within five minutes, throw the food away.
If Ace doesn’t finish his food within a certain amount of time, I put the bowl away.
If he doesn’t eat his breakfast, I put the bowl in the fridge and offer it to him later for dinner. If he doesn’t eat it then either, I throw it in the trash.
3. Make your dog sit for a few minutes before she eats.
I always ask my dogs to do something before they get fed, even if it’s just a simple sit. That way, the food is a reward. This is a perfect time to practice obedience. Sometimes I have Ace sit for five minutes while I prepare my own breakfast. Then I release him, and he can eat his food while I eat mine. For a real challenge, I ask Ace sit and stay while I eat my entire meal.
4. Know how much food your dog is getting and decrease it.
If your dog is not eating her food or not finishing it, then she is likely getting more than enough to eat. So, for the next meal, decrease the amount a little. My dogs eats when they’re hungry, so if they don’t finish their food, I know they’re getting plenty. You can always increase the amount again later.
5. Give your dog more exercise.
Just like with people, a dog that doesn’t get enough exercise doesn’t need a lot of food. If your dog won’t eat, try increasing her exercise. Take her for a longer walk the next day, or throw the ball around the yard on top of a walk.
6. Make sure she is not distracted while she eats.
When Ace was younger, he would rather play with his toys than eat. And he would rather go for a walk than eat. So if I was anywhere near the front door after I fed him, he’d follow me around instead of eating. If his tennis ball was out, I had to put it away or he wouldn’t eat.
7. Cut back on treats throughout the day.
Except during training, my dogs don’t get extra treats during the day. They might get a bully stick here and there, but that’s about it.
8. Don’t add canned food, treats or people food.
I never add extra goodies to my dog’s food. He gets his dry dog food and that’s it. Dogs are not like humans. If you are feeding your dog a quality food, then she should be getting all she needs in that diet. A little something extra is fine every now and then. But don’t use treats to bribe your dog to eat unless you want to do this for every meal for the rest of your dog’s life. You are just teaching her to be a picky eater if you do this.
Don’t switch your dog’s food unless you plan to use the new food permanently. If you switch foods, go with a healthy dog food like a raw dog food diet or a grain-free food. I recently began switching my dog’s food because I want to feed him a different brand. I am still making the switch slowly, by mixing the two kinds together for a few weeks. If you switch your dog’s food cold turkey, you are almost guaranteed to have a dog with an upset stomach. The worst thing you can do is change your dog’s food over and over. Just stick to one kind of food.
By Author Lindsay Stordahl
Posted on Last updated: December 5, 2017
Home » What to do when your dog is a picky eater
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Saturday 20th of January 2018
This is incredibly poor advice that will lead to malnutrition if followed, particularly on a longer-term basis. These suggestions do not at all provide a solution to the issue at hand: what to do if your dog is a picky or fussy eater? Sure, the dog will not starve himself, but he might go several days without eating, eventually causing nausea and illness. I feel like the author of this article has never met a truly stubborn toy poodle.
Wednesday 19th of October 2016
I am so frustrated with my dog not eating, he will go days without and then he is physically sick bring yellow bile up. I even tried DIY raw feeding and he started to get picky leaving the mince beef. I am not confident in feeding DIY raw and much rather he had a kibble. I do all the right th8ngs, feeding after a walk, takng the food up if, he hasn't eaten within 30 mins. He isn't I'll! HELP.!
Wednesday 19th of October 2016
Do you consistently pick up the food after 15 minutes each meal? If you do that twice a day he will eventually eat. Don't offer him food other than those 15 minutes of meal times. He might not eat for a day or two but eventually he will because he'll be hungry. Although, make sure there's no medical reason for him not eating.
Wednesday 13th of January 2016
My dog is shepherd husky mix there's times he'll eat n don't eat..and all the time he plays with his food..
Monday 12th of May 2014
I have a dog who is the king of picky eaters. I've tried every brand and type of food available. Had him to the vet several times but they never find anything wrong. The vet said not to worry because if the dog gets hungry enough,he will eat. Is this true or can a dog starve itself?
Monday 12th of May 2014
I agree with the vet. A dog won't starve himself unless he has something physically wrong. I think your dog will eat a few bites when he's actually hungry. That might only be every other day or so.
Thursday 20th of December 2012
my 12 months old female toy poodle is a very picky eater....i'v tried various brands of dry n wet food....i just don't know what to do .....(1st choice,ishkan,royal canine, science plan......frisian...cesar.....pls advise......i'm residing in penang,west malaysiaq.
Thursday 10th of January 2013
She will eat when she is hungry.
Wednesday 2nd of January 2013
Don't worry my toy poodles are picky & may not eat much but will eat when they are hungry. My vet told me that would be the case when I first got them & he told me not to worry.
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Most Monday mornings when I’m attempting to drag my ass out of bed at five to go to work, it’s quotes like the one above that seem to be playing on a loop inside my skull (interspersed with the obligatory Monday morning suicide plotting). I can’t help but wonder what I am doing.
It’s my life. I only get to live it once. So why do I spend so much time doing things that I hate? Is the allure of security really that strong? Do I really need to fit into this perfect little cardboard box of societal norms?
Last week I was at a bar when someone asked me what I “did”. As in, what was my job, how did I make the money I just used to pay for the IPA I was drinking. Always an irksome question, it has been extremely difficult for me to answer lately. Not because I’m ashamed of what I do– but because there are other things I do (without collecting a paycheck) that are far more representative of who I am.
More than anything, I wanted to be able to say something like, “Oh, I’m a dirt-bag trail runner. I work on odd job here and there so I can pay the camping fees at trailheads and purchase an occasional pair of running shoes.” Alas, I don’t have the balls to spend the majority of my time doing what it is I actually love to do… So I just mumbled something into my beer about my day job and tried to change the subject as fast I could.
But the encounter got me thinking… Never before in my life have I been so close to a state of financial security (whatever the hell that means), and never before have I been so unhappy with my professional life. So what am I doing? It’s my life. I only get one. Why have I resigned to spend it being a total bitch? Living a lie, biding my time until I die, trading excitement and passion for security and longevity?
All of us, in one way or another, are on our own pursuits of happiness. We’re trying to get it. We think we can get it. Yet we slave away, spending the majority of our time miserable, waiting for something to happen, complaining about our situation but never doing anything to change it. It could be worse, right? But that type of logic seems to be the root of the problem to begin with. It’s all so convoluted. Complication after complication to consider. All I want to do is run.
I want to run all the time. Running is the simplest, most primal activity that I can possible think of. When I get out on the trail and start charging up the side of a mountain, sweat dripping into the dirt around me, everything else seems to melt away. Running as hard as I can, blurring the line between control and abandon– this is where I feel alive. This is my way of revolting against a society that refuses to let me be happy. To let me be who I am.
Human beings, like all other creatures on this planet, evolved to procreate. To spread our genes. We didn’t evolve to be happy. Truth be told, happiness is probably a detriment to our general ability to pass our genes to the next generation. We’re probably not going to find this elusive state of happiness we’re all so feverishly pursing. Especially not with our head buried in a screen or our ass stuck in a chair.
I’m not an evolutionary biologist, but it seems to me that, as we were becoming the species we are now– the dominant species on earth, we spent most of our time running. Running to eat and running to avoid being eaten. In either of these scenarios, success had to be a pretty joyful occasion– possibly the most joyful occasion of our ancestor’s lives– and it was always inexorably linked with running.
I run to be happy. My ancestors were happy because they ran. Is there a difference? Isn’t it all the same thing? Is the bliss they felt after running down an antelope the same thing I experience after finishing a 50 mile race? There’s no way to know for sure. What I do know is that when I toe the starting line at the Bandit 50k this Saturday, I’ll be on a good, old-fashioned pursuit of happiness, just like my ancestors used to do.
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Ukraine confirms Iranian army advisers supporting Russia have been killed in Crimea | Globe | News – Ansar News
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HomeWorldUkraine confirms Iranian army advisers supporting Russia have been killed in Crimea | Globe | News
Ukraine confirms Iranian army advisers supporting Russia have been killed in Crimea | Globe | News
November 25, 2022
Ukraine officers have confirmed that Iranian navy advisers have been killed in Crimea, a news report has stated. The prime stability officers of Ukraine have also said that any other Iranians on occupied Ukrainian territory in assistance of Moscow’s invasion would also be specific.Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s countrywide security and defence council, stated Iranians were being present in Crimea to help Russia pilot the Shahed-136 armed drones equipped by the Tehran governing administration, but did not say how quite a few Ukraine had killed.In an job interview in Kyiv, Mr Danilov explained: “You should not be exactly where you should not be.”They have been on our territory.”We did not invite them in this article, and if they collaborate with terrorists and participate in the destruction of our nation we ought to get rid of them.”In accordance to the reports published in the Israeli press in October, 10 ended up killed mainly because of Ukrainian army strikes in occupied Crimea.Mr Danilov built it apparent that any additional Iranian military existence would be specific.The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday sought to blame Ukraine, expressing it could “end all attainable suffering of the civilian populace” if it fulfilled “the requires of the Russian facet”.Read More: Putin’s alliance with ex-Soviet states at danger of ‘ending’He additional: “We are striving to response this issue and we’ll do anything we can to make absolutely sure it does not occur.”But if it does take place, it will notify us two matters. Initially, that Russia has no capacity of production their own missiles, at minimum in the numbers that would enable it to continue on a massive-scale war.”Next, if a country that has been beneath sanctions considering that 1979 has a functionality of generating such weapons, what type of sanctions are we chatting about?”So it raises a huge query about enforcement.”
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I’m all for sheltering your children—to a point. It’s good to protect young children from the violence and ugliness of the evening news. They also don’t need to see the violence, sexuality, and profanity that shows up in some movies and video games. They deserve an opportunity to enjoy their childhood without worrying about whether an enemy will invade our country or fearing they might get shot by a drive-by shooter. While those things may happen, we don’t need to instill that fear in our young children—they just aren’t equipped to handle it. Yes, there are children in other parts of the world who are exposed to unspeakable atrocities, but it isn’t an ideal situation. Their parents would prefer an alternative for their little ones just as we would.
The point is, it’s good to protect our children from things even adults struggle to understand. But, whether it’s because of our own fears and anxieties or because we feel a great responsibility to “get it right” with our kids, we sometimes overdo our protective measures.
This is especially true in a Christian home. When we are raising our children to put their trust in a powerful and loving God, we can try too hard to make life perfect. We want them to believe that God’s ways are always right and that he always answers prayer. That everything he does is for our good. Those statements are all true.
But, if we try so hard to keep our kids from having to deal with difficult situations, we fail to equip them to process life’s events. They don’t know what to do when their prayers don’t seem to get answered, or when something tragic happens that we can’t explain.
I’ve prayed for my grandchildren ever since the first one was born. I’ve prayed for their health and their safety. But the fact that my little granddaughter cut her hand and lost the full function of her index finger, or that my grandson developed type 1 diabetes doesn’t mean God ignored my prayers. It simply means he has a different plan than the one I asked for.
When one of my sons was six, he lost his best friend in a car accident. How do you tell your little boy that his friend is gone but God is still good? It wasn’t easy, but we had already laid a foundation of trust in our boys through the many difficulties we had faced as a family. We tried to protect them from the ugliest parts of life but not from all the sorrow and suffering. And a few years after that accident, one of my older boys lost a friend in a hiking accident and do you know who understood his grief? That younger brother who’d lost a friend when he was only six.
I think this is particularly important to me because I had to learn this much later in life and it shook my faith for a while. I was quite sheltered as a child, but not raised in a Christian environment so when hard things happened, I had no place to turn. My parents did their best to make our childhood a time of peace, security, and love. I certainly felt loved by all of my extended family but didn’t understand that there was a loving God who was there for me. When the adults in my life couldn’t explain why life could be so hard, I didn’t know how to turn to God.
When I was in middle school, I watched as my great-grandmother slowly died from cancer. She was 82 and died at home with my mother and grandmother caring for her. It was a natural progression, and I was sad but not shaken by it. Then when I was 21 and had become a Christian, my grandmother died from a series of strokes. I sat with her for several days as I watched her slip away. But even being in the room as she breathed her last, I wasn’t asking questions with no answers. I still felt peace at the natural passing of my beloved grandma because she knew the Lord and would spend eternity with him.
Then when I was 30, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. I wasn’t ready to lose her even though she was a believer and her eternity was assured. I needed her; my children needed their grandma in their lives as I’d had mine until I was an adult. I watched my mom suffer for 18 months as I cried out desperately to God to heal her. But he didn’t heal her. And I was angry. I decided it was no use praying about things because God did what he wanted to regardless of what I asked. It took me years to resolve this because I had believed that God always answered prayer and my faith had never been tested to this extreme. Until my mother died, I’d never been to a funeral in my family. (My grandmother and great-grandmother didn’t have a service, honoring my grandfather’s wishes.) I had no idea how to handle this loss.
I didn’t want this struggle for my children so I allowed them to see me wrestle with the difficulties of life, and with seven sons, there were many opportunities! Here are some things I learned that may help you find a balance for your family.
Allow your children to see you disagree with your spouse. This doesn’t mean fighting in front of them. You’re to be a role model of how a healthy marriage works by demonstrating healthy responses and methods to resolve issues. Show your kids that you can love someone and still disagree with them.
Allow your children to experience loss. Whether it’s the loss of a pet, or a parent’s job, or losing a loved one, you can show them how to grieve in a healthy way. And point them to God as the ultimate source of comfort.
Allow your children to experience disappointment. This was the hardest one for me. I never wanted to see my kids disappointed, so I sometimes went too far in preventing this from happening naturally. It broke my heart to see them sad! But don’t set your kids up for disappointment on a regular basis by telling them to expect things and then never following through. This just builds distrust and frustration instead of resilience.
Teach your children to wait. Impatience is at epidemic levels in our society. Everyone wants what they want—right now! Our children need to learn to wait for things. Surprises are great but it is also important that they know about things ahead of time and learn to wait patiently. Besides, anticipation can be part of the enjoyment as they wait for an event or activity. Waiting is also a good skill to teach regarding change. We get impatient when we don’t see the outcome we are hoping for and must learn to leave it in God’s hands and wait for him to move.
The principle that pulls together these suggestions is this: while it’s good to shelter our kids from things they shouldn’t have to handle, we live in a world where those things will happen. If we shield our kids completely, when they face these inevitable challenges, they will have no idea how to process them. They will be in danger of a crisis of faith like I had when my mother died.
Providing situations for this exposure to the difficulties of life can sometimes be done intentionally but often things happen without warning. We need to consider these scenarios and plan ahead of time how much we want our children to experience. This isn’t always possible, but any forethought we’ve applied to these situations will be helpful in the long run.
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Posted on October 25, 2019 by Sheryl Maxey • This entry was posted in Homeschooling and tagged children, family, parenting, sheltering. Bookmark the permalink.
Turning Crisis Schooling into Homeschooling →
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When most consumers are looking for something framed they switch immediately to a big box retail store or a traditional storefront structure shop. All too often they appear away appalled at the price tag. Why is this happening? Basically there any way to get a thing custom framed at a fair price?
First, understand that almost all storefront frame shops (and big box stores as well) practice conservation and archival framing to the exclusion involving any other kind. Conservation along with archival framing maintains typically the presentability of the art covering the long term and may (or may well not) maintain its long-term price. Not coincidentally, conservation along with archival framing is more high-priced than regular framing. Observe that I said that conservation mounting may or may not maintain the artwork’s lasting value. It’s important to make the variation between preservation and demonstration. Just because something is presentable won’t mean its value will be retained. Museums understand that regarding artwork to retain its total value it must be retrievable inside its original condition. If the artwork will be altered, its value is in danger. Few things will modify artwork more dramatically as compared to coating it with inspissated, and yet this is commonly worn out frame shops any time they will coat the back of the Muslim with adhesive before increasing it, such as when they utilize a dry mount press, which can be common in most frame outlets. What’s more, they still involve it as conservation framing! Exactly why?
Because conservation framing is absolutely just the promise that nothing at all potentially acidic will make contact with the artwork. If the inspissated used in coating the Muslim is acid-free, it could still be called conservation mounting. The long-term value of the Muslim may be severely compromised, yet because the adhesive is an acid solution free the presentability will probably be maintained. This is conservation mounting as performed by many storefront frame shops. It must be pointed out that most storefront body shops will not coat a Muslim with adhesive if they decide the artwork has prospective long-term value. They hold that treatment for things like posters or digital designs where demand can easily be achieved with supply because replicates can be readily made. Confined edition prints and unique art are handled diversely, by using proper mounting hearts or by trapping often the artwork against the backing by having mounting corners or hanging strips. Yet it’s important to know that even traditional storefront shape shops offering conservation forming exclusively do not guarantee how long it takes the value of all the artwork many people frame, so should you be forking over extra for it? You probably are already if you don’t realize there are other selections.
Home-based picture framers undoubtedly are a growing trend in graphic framing. These framers commonly focus on the low end of the picture framing market, the many items whose value is no more than the cost of framing them in a regular storefront frame shop. This can be potentially an enormous market, just one much larger than the market to get high-end, expensive art that may be sought after by most store frame shops. But to utilize this market home-based framers ought to maintain their prices low, so they really tend to eschew conservation strategies whenever it is reasonable to accomplish this. Of course, that doesn’t mean will have them doing a poor job regarding framing, nor does it imply the art their body will not be properly presentable. Understand that conservation framing as conducted by most storefront body shops is simply the assurance that nothing potentially acid will contact the Muslim. But acidity is a comparative thing. Some things are more acid than others. Acid is actually a byproduct of the breakdown of lignin. Lignin, it should be recognized, is the binding polymer that will hold wood together. For that reason, anything made of wood provides lignin in it and is probably acidic. A regular mat table made of wood pulp (the most common kind) has lignin in it. Foam board (the most common kind of mounting table in picture framing) is definitely potentially acidic. The shape itself is usually made of real wood and is potentially acidic.
It seems like the artwork is within threat from every fraction. Look, if you want to see the deterioration caused by acid just burrow around in your attic and start with something that was framed in excess of thirty years ago. That dark brown hazy stain on the Muslim under the mat is an acid solution burn caused by the page of acid out of the lignin-bearing material and to the artwork. This is what conservation mounting is safeguarding against.
To begin with, we overreact and start traveling up the cost of framing by means of embracing the push to help more expensive conservation grade resources and techniques, let’s know that the materials used in forming have changed in the past thirty years. Back then, proper mounting hearts didn’t yet exist. Quite a few framers used household hearts like masking tape, which is certainly highly acidic. Today, the rest of the most rudimentary framers work with tapes designed for the purpose of hanging artwork which is almost unconditionally acid and lignin at no cost.
Back then, foam board decided not to yet exist. Corrugated cardboard was the backing of choice for numerous framed pieces and corrugated cardboard is highly acidic. Present framers use foam motherboard instead which, while it is definitely potentially acidic, is nowhere near seeing that acidic as corrugated cardboard.
30 years ago mat motherboard was not necessarily treated, which will mean that as the lignin broke down it became acidic in a very little as 10 as well as 15 years, threatening often the artwork. Today, all likely acidic mat board is definitely treated. It’s put through bathing of calcium carbonate that aggregates alkalines and creates a lager against acid migration. Time frame studies have suggested that under proper environmental conditions sparring floor board treated in this way can certainly safeguard artwork from chemical p burn for up to 100 years.
Along with the frame is not an issue considering that the frame doesn’t come into contact with often the artwork in most frame job opportunities. Bottom line: regular framing, employing regular materials like frequent mat board, foam motherboard, and mounting tapes, comes with a decent level of protection to get framed art. So why do complete storefront frame shops diminish to use of regular materials, saying instead on more extravagant materials like Rag sparring floor board, acid-free foam motherboard, UV protective glass in addition to acid-free adhesives, even though the methods they employ tend not to attempt to retain the long term associated with the artwork? That’s effortless.
Storefront frame shops require enough money left over as soon as they pay their overhead costs to build profit. Conservation and archival framing help them to make that happen goal while at the same time ensuring lasting presentability – longer as compared to 100 years – for the high-end, expensive artwork that is their particular most common stock in buy and sell. It makes perfect sense, given their particular objectives, for storefront body shops to practice conservation and also archival framing. What’s more, consumers who are willing to spend more on picture framing will usually go for an established storefront frame to go shopping rather than a home-based picture framer. But what about the budget-aware consumer? What about the person who would like to frame poster prints, photo digital portrait photography, or other easily reproducible art and doesn’t would like to pay for pricey conservation mounting?
Home-based picture framers have no hefty cost of cost to do business starting them in the deal. They can afford to interested customers on the basis of price. In many instances, price is the single most engaging reason why customers seek out internet marketing framers, which is why most networking framers strive to keep the value low. In the best of all oceans, whenever a customer wants a cheaper price, even if the artwork is definitely of high potential value, the person should be quoted the job equally ways – with frequent materials and with conservation rank materials – and given an explanation of the different improved protection before being offered the options. Unfortunately, that is an unlikely wish in a storefront frame purchase. But if you seek out a networking framer or opt to shape your own work you may notice that reasonably priced picture framing is absolutely not an impossible dream.
Read also: Venture Management Maturity Model — What is it? Does it Matter? The reason why Bother?
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A mortgage broker is a trained professional who helps people get the money they need to buy a home. Mortgage brokers find the best mortgage products for their clients by working with banks and other financial institutions. Most of the time, the lender pays mortgage brokers a commission based on the size of the loan. Mortgage brokers usually know a lot about the different kinds of loans out there and can help borrowers figure out which type of loan would be best for them. In some situations, mortgage brokers may also be able to get their clients better terms or interest rates.
Mortgage brokers are intermediaries who help borrowers obtain loans from lenders. They work with banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions to find the best mortgage products for their clients. Mortgage brokers can help you save time and money by shopping around for the best mortgage rate and terms. They can also guide credit scores, down payments, and other important factors in the home loan process. In addition, mortgage brokers are often able to get you pre-approved for a loan, giving you a better chance of securing the home of your dreams. Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer or a seasoned investor, a mortgage broker can help make the process of getting a home loan as smooth and stress-free as possible.
Professionals in the mortgage industry assist clients to locate the most suitable loans for their situations. Borrowers benefit from the expertise of mortgage brokers since they have access to many lenders. In addition, they may provide assistance and direction to borrowers all through the loan application and approval processes, facilitating the attainment of optimal terms. Furthermore, mortgage brokers are not partial to any one lender since they are compensated by the lender. Borrowers gain because they don’t have to spend s much time and energy looking for a good loan.
If you’re looking for a mortgage broker, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First, make sure you choose someone who is licensed and insured. This will protect you in case of any problems down the road. Second, ask around for recommendations from friends or family. This is a great way to get started on your search. Third, interview several different brokers to find the one that best meets your needs. Be sure to ask about fees, loan options, and the process of getting a mortgage. Fourth, read reviews online to get an idea of what other people have experienced with different brokers. By following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to finding the best mortgage broker for you.
Here are some important questions to ask your broker before making a decision:
The process of getting a home loan through a mortgage broker in Arkansas.
Here are some important questions to ask your broker before making a decision:
What is the interest rate? This is probably the most important question to ask. You want to make sure you’re getting a good interest rate on your loan.
What are the fees? Some brokers charge fees for their services. Be sure to ask about any upfront fees or ongoing charges.
How much experience do you have? It’s important to work with a broker who knows the ins and outs of the mortgage process. Ask about their experience and qualifications.
What types of loans do you offer? There are different types of loans available, so you’ll want to make sure the broker offers the type of loan you’re looking for.
These are just a few of the questions you should ask your mortgage broker before making a decision.
By asking these questions, you can be sure you’re working with a broker who is qualified and experienced, and who will offer you a good interest rate on your loan.
The process of getting a home loan through a mortgage broker in Arkansas.
The process of getting a home loan through a mortgage broker in Arkansas can vary depending on the specific broker you use. However, there are some general steps that are typically followed. First, you will need to complete an application with the broker.
This will include information about your financial situation and the home you are interested in purchasing. Once the application is complete, the broker will work with you to find a home loan that meets your needs. They will then provide you with a list of potential lenders and work with you to secure the best possible interest rate. Once the loan is approved, the broker will provide you with closing documents and help you finalize the purchase of your home.
Tags: Mortgage Brokers
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Getting older stinks! Do you feel like your butt is sagging around your knees and that your breasts are at your waist? Then again, what waist?
Do You feel like you just keep gaining weight, especially around your tummy and hips, and that nothing you do seems to work? When you were younger, you always had a plan that worked, but do you now feel like your health is spiralling out of control? You know what, there are a few contributing factors here. Yes, getting older is part of it, and changing hormones, a slowing metabolism and lack of activity really are conspiring against you, making it difficult to keep the weight off. The truth is women’s bodies do change as they get older and go through menopause, but weight gain is NOT an inevitable part of the ageing process; we have more control over our bodies and how they age than we think. Interesting, right?
Beginning around the mid-thirties, hormone production in the ovaries starts to slow down. It slows down even more when you hit your fourties, and you may experience hormone fluctuations until you go through menopause (which happens around 50 for the average woman). What many women don’t like about this process are the symptoms and problems that accompany these shifting hormones, such as:
Depression, stress and anxiety
Another experience many women have is weight gain, especially around the belly and waistline.
Part of this has to do with those declining hormones, it could also be do with the fact that menopause may increase your appetite, causing your sweet tooth to rear its ugly head.
Menopause isn’t the only cause of middle-age spread; other factors include:
Reduced activity. Women often exercise less when they enter menopause, which can lead to weight gain. Put bluntly, they get lazy. So, get moving!
Decreased metabolism. One reason metabolism declines with age is the loss of muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so when you lose that muscle (about 1/2-lb a year if you don’t preserve it with weight training/exercise), you don’t burn as many calories. Lift weights!
Increase in calories. As metabolism drops, many people don’t adjust their calorie intake accordingly, which often leads to weight gain. It’s the old too many calories and not enough energy being burned situation.
Genetics. Your genetic makeup and where you’re predisposed to gain and store fat also plays a role in weight gain, making it more difficult to maintain your figure.
Easing into Menopause
There are a number of ways to manage menopause symptoms, from alternative therapies to eating a healthy diet. However, one simple thing you can do right now is exercise. Consistent exercise can help you deal with the uncomfortable symptoms of menopause as well as some of the related health issues, such as heart disease and osteoporosis.
Other benefits of exercise include:
Reduced stress. Menopause can often lead to depression, anxiety and stress. Exercise is a n excellent way to help reduce stress and improve your mood. Let the endorphins flow.
Weight loss. Exercise will burn calories, which is exactly what you want when it comes to losing body fat.
Reduction of hot flashes. Some research has found that exercise increases estrogen levels, which can decrease the severity of hot flashes.
Increased bone mass. Strength training and impact activities (weight bearing) can help strengthen the bones and prevent osteoporosis.
Reduced risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes.
Even if you’ve never formally exercised, it’s never too late to start, nor is it too late to reap the benefits. The key is to start slowly and do things you enjoy, for example:
Swimming
Weight training
Don’t be afraid to work hard, your body will take the load, just be sensible.
Strength training is equally important, especially if you want to increase your metabolism and lose body fat. You don’t have to train like a bodybuilder to get the benefits, but you do need to use resistance (such as dumbbells, machines or resistance bands), and you do need to challenge your muscles and body. It is highly recommended that you work with a personal trainer at a gym, at home, or online in order to get the best results.
Things You Can Do to Avoid Weight Gain
If you’re getting really frustrated and upset with how your body seems to be changing, don’t worry, there are things you can do about it. By creating more effective workouts and looking at other areas of your life that may be contributing to the problem, you can get your weight under control.
Add Intensity to Your Cardio – How hard you work is directly related to how many calories you burn, and raising the intensity can help you burn more without having to add time or frequency to your workouts. Try some interval training or ICE (intense cardio exercise); for example, an aerobic class like Body Combat, RPM, or a run/walk on the treadmill. If this is something that you already do, go for a longer duration, and learn about learn about other burning cardio techniques.
Weight Training – DON”T BE AFRAID OF THIS. Of all the types of training you can do, strength training is the most important for maintaining your strength, balance, muscle mass and weight as you get older. Studies show that older adults can increase resting metabolic rate and energy expenditure by adding resistance training. Get the most out of strength training by doing the following:
Lift heavy – Most women don’t lift enough weight because they’re afraid they will look like Arnie if they do. Well, you won’t. You never will. We are not built to look or function like that. If you’re a beginner, work up to heavy weights over time, but if you’re experienced, go heavy.
Hire a trainer or get on a programme – Don’t stumble around aimlessly going from theory to theory, get some structure and stick to it.
Get on a proper Nutritional plan – If you think you are eating well, chances are that you are actually not! The biggest mistake you can make, as far as nutrition goes, is to not have a plan!
So, my lovelies, there is it; while hormones can definitely play havoc with our bodies, fear not, because we do have some control over how that plays out. Start your plan today!
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Unbaptised children in unhallowed ground – Mylingar is a Swedish black/death metal band serving as the musical medium for earthly convergence of otherworldly terror.
– Our decision to create the “Döden” trilogy was taken pretty much from the band’s conception. Once the “Döda vägar” EP came out in December 2016, we’d already finished our debut album, “Döda drömmar” (2018), and started recording its successor – the recently released “Döda själar”. The trilogy is a definitive whole which should, to ensure an optimal experience, be listened to from start to finish. We believe the natural musical growth between releases follows a visible line, a staked-out path for us to traverse. It’s no coincidence that “Förlusten”, the trilogy’s concluding track, features musical elements from all three releases. It’s more bombastic and expressive than the average MYLINGAR track; the cadenza of our aria, if you will.
The first thing which struck me about “Döda själar” was the production – tastefully raw and filthy yet still heavy as fuck. My nameless interviewee explains that this is the result of first self-recording on analogue gear and then sending it off to Belgium’s HHStudios for mixing. I’m wondering if their sound derives from an intuitive plug-and-play spontaneity, such as how bands like RIDE FOR REVENGE operate, or if they had precisely this in mind from the get-go and then planned accordingly.
– The truth about the production is somewhere in-between; everything was meticulously calculated beforehand but its execution had a very natural flow, none of which felt as if it was coming from ourselves. This has been a recurring and highly important factor in MYLINGAR since the very beginning, we’ve always mentally distanced ourselves from the creative process. Call it a form of meditation, if you will, or an altered state of consciousness – the immediate consequence being this perception of MYLINGAR not having been created by us, but that it’s something deep inside we’ve found a way to let out. In this sense, the beast that is MYLINGAR exerts more control over us than we over it. Listening to a finished track, once all pieces of the puzzle are finally in place, time and time again we’re left with feelings of awe and surprise over how we could possibly have created… this.
MYLINGAR‘s approach to intuitive composition, where it’s more the case of receiving music as opposed to actively writing it, sounds like something I often discuss with musicians – creation through flow states. Many artists have stated that much of their finest material came about during moments of being so immersed in the creative process they have trouble remembering it afterwards.
– Yes, this certainly sounds familiar. However, we always remember the creative process as it works in a very energising way. Whilst recording we are conscious, lucid, and sober; always leaving room for improvisation and unplanned composition. It was clear to us from the very start that this had become a ‘habit’ without precedent. Some musicians say they can flip a switch in their heads when recording, whereas when we sit down for a MYLINGAR session it’s as if we don’t even have to manually hit any buttons at all. We’re there, in that zone, instantly and effortlessly. There’s no grand searching for a flow, vibe, or dynamic – it just IS. I suppose some people would call it instinct but I’m not sure this adequately defines the phenomenon.
Do you ever feel as if there’s any kind of supernatural influence fuelling this compositional trance?
– Musicians often like to delve into these esoteric notions but they don’t feel especially applicable to us. It might actually be due to this question we’re forced to ‘dissect’ what we previously referred to as ‘the beast that is MYLINGAR‘; it’s certainly a collaborative beast. If there really is something supernatural flowing through us, then it must have found a way to feed into everyone involved. But, were this instead to stem from inside our subconscious, it also appears to be ignited and charged in unison rather than individually. The question remains open, and perhaps this is our essence; the mystery of this band is still very much a mystery to us as well.
Since there are neither lyrics nor past interviews to consult, the entire project is indeed a mystery to me. For instance, I have not the slightest idea what MYLINGAR’s thematic concepts are – or if they even sing in Swedish for that matter, since I’ve been unable to make out a single word. The only available clue is the band name, which comes from Scandinavian folklore. Mylingar are ghosts of unwanted children, babies born out of wedlock and the like, who’ve been abandoned and left to perish in the woods; dying without being baptised and left to rest in unconsecrated soil, therefore barred from entry through the pearly gates.
– The thematic concept is exactly what the band name dictates: the unexpected haunting of unbaptised children who attach themselves to your back, demanding to be buried in hallowed ground. As they grow ever heavier, failure to comply will leave you crushed into the soil under their tremendous weight and pressure, then killed in a rage. It’s precisely this emotion we feel our music should convey, something which has now been fulfilled in the “Döden” trilogy – channelling inner emotions into MYLINGAR and exploring themes such as death, delusion, misanthropy, rage, dualism, loss, despair, etcetera.
What little information I had beforehand pertained to MYLINGAR having been created for the distinct purpose of evoking discomfort and unease. Upon its formation, the members agreed that anything conceived through a mortal mind would not be sufficiently dreadful – hence this egoless approach of theirs.
– This is what led to the removal of our selves from our actual intentions, and the result was “Döda vägar”. In our eyes, the essence of underground black and death metal should be this sense of discomfort, to whichever extent. However, most things have already been done in the genre and people in general are numbed both by society and its endless reiterations of ‘shocking’ music. While I wouldn’t say we have any intentions of shocking anyone, it’s the failure of music to do precisely this which truly boosted our fires. As Underground Soundscapes, the label that released our EP on cassette, described us: ‘Devouring and haunting, inconvenient and disturbing.’ We can feel this sense of dread by pushing ourselves – mentally as well as physically – over personal, psychological, and societal boundaries. This discomfort led us to produce music which didn’t, and still doesn’t, sound like something we created ourselves.
I usually don’t bother reading reviews but, in this instance, the dearth of information left me with little choice. As it happens, perceived senses of discomfort and unease were reported in just about each and every one I came across.
– It’s quite entertaining to see how exceedingly poetic people become after listening to MYLINGAR. There’s a beautiful sense of irony in the fact that something so objectively ugly drives people to such lyrical and even elegiac write-ups. But yes, the reviews have made us feel as if we succeeded in our intentions to some extent, and that people actually understand how this is not merely music but something one must fully relinquish one’s self to.
Mylingar – Döda själar
I have little interest in speculating about anyone’s identity, but I’m a bit curious from which generation these musicians come. Judging by the music’s energy, my guess would be that its flames are fuelled by youth.
– As ever, you’re welcome to make assumptions but they don’t really matter. It should be clear at this point in our conversation that MYLINGAR is not a human artefact. Really, it feels to us like the farthest thing from being human. I suppose we could come up with all kinds of mysterious reasons but the truth is simple – MYLINGAR has its own identity and we are but its carriers. It would serve no purpose whatsoever to reveal who we are, or whether we’re young, old, experienced, have played in many bands or not, and so forth. In the end, the message MYLINGAR brings has the same meaning for everyone, be it on the creating or receiving end: there is no hope for any of us.
But why bother creating profound art only to herald a lack of all meaning?
– From our personal viewpoint, as the individuals involved with MYLINGAR, the project has always been about ego destruction; leaving every humane element behind when dropping the needle on one of our records and inviting the maelstrom. As such, we urge also our listeners to set aside all they think defines them as individuals; we believe this to be the state in which one becomes fully susceptible to the destruction of one’s own will, desires, emotions, as well as both psychological and biological urges. The vehemence and violence of our music overthrows every notion of what makes one human. By choosing to set aside the ego – whatever that might mean to someone… their desires, convictions, life choices, or all of them combined – one creates some sort of void in the self. It can be compared to meditation in some sense but instead of emptying one’s self just for the sake of it, it’s primed to take on more of what our music has to offer. In the absence of any notions of a self, violence can be so much purer; more overwhelming, uncanny, and anomalous. Furthermore, if asking ‘Why?’ can be justified from a philosophical point of view, one could do the same for the question of ‘Why not?’.
Are you ever going to perform live?
– There were some talks about perhaps performing live on a more intimate festival, where we would’ve been the last name to be announced. However, for reasons beyond our control, the entire fest was cancelled and we have since shelved our live plans. Bringing our music to the stage is not a priority at this point. If and when we do, it’ll have to be perfect according to our personal standards. It might happen, it might not – time will tell. Regardless of circumstances, it’s never going to be easy to recreate the processes during which the albums came to be, so we’ll allow ourselves to be picky and cautious in our choices of live appearances.
I can’t help but wonder what MYLINGAR in concert would’ve looked like, had the festival not tanked; if they were planning some manner of obscuring stage attire.
– There were a few options for ways to conceal our identities, but this thought-process never reached the final stages. Nowadays, it takes quite a bit of time and effort to come up with disguises that are neither generic nor overused. But yes, we would’ve made sure that also the live focus had been on our music and the enactment thereof – not on whoever happened to be performing it. Just as during the recording process, we’d be mere vessels.
What’s up next, another concept series or a stand-alone release?
– Hard to say at this point. We’ve already recorded a few tracks meant for the follow-up but, for the time being, the trilogy will be allowed to rest for a bit. After all, these three releases followed each other in swift succession so there’s absolutely no need to push out the next one as fast as possible. Naturally, whatever new music we do release – be it in another conceptual series or a stand-alone output – will be different yet the same, all in accordance to our natural evolution. As previously explained, there’s little to no control beforehand as to what the material will sound like. We might be able to steer the concept, push it in some directions but, in the end, MYLINGAR will be MYLINGAR; deciding its own fate rather than being commandeered by us.
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If you're looking for a "Best of 2010" list, probably best not to look here, but instead to Largehearted Boy's collection of every "Best of..." list published. I thought, instead of simply telling you about the best books I've read this year, let's do something a little more encompassing. So here's a look at literary 2010 from several different angles, in short lists of two items each. Why two? Because, if I've learned anything this past year, it's that our collective attention span is approximately equal to the half life of the element Astatine (that would be 125 nanoseconds), and getting shorter all the time. (2011 New Year's Resolution: Stop being so cynical.) But 2010 was still a fantastic literary year. So here's a look at the year that was:
1. The Instructions, by Adam Levin -- I just read this recently and was floored by Levin's range as a writer, and ability to keep me interested in a 1,030-page story that takes place over only four days.
2. Bloodroot, by Amy Green -- My prediction about this novel winding up on the year-end awards lists didn't come to fruition, but I still count it as one of my favorite novels of the year.
(Two more: Nemesis, by Philip Roth & Skippy Dies, by Paul Murray)
Two Biggest Literary Stories of 2010
1. Google launches eBooks store -- This is hugely significant because Google's ebook standard is open, allowing users to purchase ebooks for any ereader (except Kindle). It's also significant because independent book sellers can sell Google eBooks directly from their sites.
2. Franzenmania -- From about the middle of August (when Time put him on its cover, and President Obama was spotted carrying a pre-release copy of Freedom) to just a few weeks ago, when he appeared on Oprah, Franzen dominated literary headlines during the second half of 2010. I can't ever remember a literary novel garnering as much hype; hype which, thankfully, the novel lived up to.
(Two more: Tinkers by Paul Harding wins Pulitzer, & Lords of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon wins National Book Award.)
1. James Frey's Fiction Factory -- This New York Books piece profiles egomaniac Frey and his attempts to extort writers for their creativity. It's a wonderful read!
2. The Unconsoled: Profile of David Grossman -- This is George Packer's intense, moving portrait of Israeli novelist Grossman.It's long, but not a single word is wasted.
Two Writers We'll Miss
1. J.D. Salinger -- Reclusive The Catcher in the Rye writer died Jan. 27 at age 91.
2. Jose Saramago -- The Portuguese novelist most famous for Blindness died June 18.
1. Picoult and Weiner Jealous of Franzen, Good Novelists -- When Freedom came out in late August, womens lit (is that the right PC term?) novelists Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult picked a silly, jealousy-fueled fight with Franzen over the perceived slight that the NY Times prefers to review fiction written by men. Even most women were annoyed.
2.Celebrities Publishing Novels -- I wrote about this annoying trend back in May, and that was before Snooki announced that she (and her ghost writer) is publishing a book. And, after typing that last sentence, I just threw up a little bit.
Two Biggest "Eff You, Amazon" Literary Stories of 2010
1. Amazon sells pedophile book -- People were outraged, and Amazon eventually relented and pulled the book. Its author has since been arrested in Florida for indecency.
2. Amazon still refuses to remove one-star "protest reviews" -- If you've followed The New Dork Review of Books for any period of time, you know the practice of leaving one-star reviews, as many ebook readers have on Ken Follett's new novel Fall of Giants, to protest ebook pricing really, really grinds my gears. I've sent countless emails to Amazon suggesting that if they can decide to not allow a review that includes the word f#$% (and not even the actual word -- the dingbatted word!), then they should remove reviews that have nothing to do with the content. Still no dice. You suck, Amazon. And, you suck, one-star reviewers.
Two Funniest Literary-related Things of 2010
1. Nicolas Sparks Feels Sad -- If you thought Nicolas Sparks is a romance novelist, well, you've got another thing coming...according to Sparks. He's tired of being miscategorized, but no one could stop laughing long enough to take him seriously.
2. Guy Steals Franzen's Glasses -- Some dude swiped Jonathan Franzen's signature intellectual-chic glasses at a signing in London and demanded a ransom of $100,000. The literary world was taken utterly aback. A fake Franzen twitter feed @EmperorFranzen screamed: "I need them back to read your friggin' ransom note. Idiot." The glasses were eventually returned.
Two New Dork Literary Accomplishments
1. I read Gravity's Rainbow without losing my marbles.
2. See #1 -- it counts as two.
(Two more: Podcast interview with writer Teddy Wayne & Getting to meet novelists Jonathan Tropper and Joshua Ferris.)
One last thing: I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all the New Dork readers and commenters. I honestly never thought I'd still be posting twice a week after 13 months of this blog, but it's never stopped being fun - and that's because of you. Really, thank you.Cheers!
Posted by Greg Zimmerman at 11:02 AM
17 comments:
B December 27, 2010 at 11:47 AM
Reading Gravity's Rainbow DOES count as two! I love that you wrote that. Fantastic overview of the year, Greg.
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Jenny December 27, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Just wanted to say I don't comment very often but that I love your blog! It's one I'm always happy to see an update for in my google reader.
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Kathy December 27, 2010 at 12:00 PM
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Suzanne December 27, 2010 at 1:11 PM
I personally couldn't get through more than 25 pages of Freedom, but I know I'm in the minority on that one.
Your post is as entertaining as it is informative. Please keep up the good work and Happy New Year.
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lady t December 27, 2010 at 2:32 PM
You're very welcome,Greg,and Happy New Year of reading to you! This blog has become a great place to engage in always interesting literary dialogue and a lot of fun as well.
BTW,my book preview for January/February 2011 is now up,so you may want to check it out for future review choices:)
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Amy December 27, 2010 at 2:36 PM
Wow...you covered all the bases of the year! Nicely done! Much better than just a list of titles.
What's on your planner for 2011?
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Kath December 27, 2010 at 8:04 PM
Brilliant summation of 2010 - love it! Thanks for continuing to post, please don't stop!! :)
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Lisa December 27, 2010 at 8:10 PM
Great job of summing up the year!
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SariJ December 27, 2010 at 9:27 PM
I love the two most funniest things. You had me laughing; love the fake Twitter post!
Glad you are still blogging as you are always sharp and relevant. I am glad to hear it is as much for you as it is for us your loyal readers. Happy New Year and may you have many books to choose from.
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IngridLola December 28, 2010 at 10:45 PM
This entertained me for quite awhile. thanks!
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Syntaxin December 29, 2010 at 3:43 AM
What's the Year in Review for one book? If I had to spend time reading, what would I read? :)
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Greg Zimmerman December 29, 2010 at 10:14 AM
@Brenna - Thanks, Brenna! I enjoyed your statistical breakdown of the year, too!
@Jenny - Hey, thanks! Really glad you enjoy it - makes all the "hard work" worth it. ;)
@Kathy - Thanks, and Happy New Year to you, too!
@Suzanne - Happy New Year to you, too! Maybe after a little distance from they hype, Freedom will connect with you better? Once it gets going, it's a really quick, fluid read!
@lady T - Great list - thanks for pointing it out! And yes, my favorite part of this blog is the literary discussions. Lots of fun!
@Amy - Thanks! Planner for 2011 is Gone With the Wind, War and Peace and Anna Karenina. My post about looking toward 2011 is here: http://thenewdorkreviewofbooks.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-are-you-reading-in-2011.html
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Greg Zimmerman December 29, 2010 at 10:16 AM
@Kath - I'll do my best not to stop - as long as you promise not to stop reading!
@SariJ - Yeah, that EmperorFranzen fella is quite the humorist. Happy New Year to you as well!
@IngridLola - Then, mission accomplished. Thanks for reading!
@Syntaxin - I'd say Freedom. It's probably not the best book of 2011, but it's the most interesting, thought-provoking, readable and just fun.
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Patrick (at The Literate Man) December 29, 2010 at 11:07 AM
Happy New Year, Greg! Your blog has been one of the literary highlights of my year. Keep up the good work!
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Danielle Zappavigna December 29, 2010 at 11:59 PM
Excellent list! I always enjoy reading your hilarious and insightful posts, looking forward to reading on in 2011, hope you have a great New Years :-)
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TNBBC Super Mod December 31, 2010 at 7:42 AM
Awww... I love the mention of the passing of Saramago as one of two writers you will miss! I am heartbroken that (other than his previously untranslated works) I will not be getting any more new Saramago to read. He was such an amazing story teller!
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Duggan is asked about all of the animal mascots in the company and how miserable the guys who had them would be as they had to handle them on the road. Duggan said that he recalled one of the British Bulldogs yelling at the dog to take a dump while outside in the freezing cold then talks about how the Bulldogs gave the dog beer and also some “downers” when it was barking to loud then talks about how the dog also probably got a few steroid injections from them as well. He then talks about how Jake had a few different snakes play Damien and recalled one night they partied all night at a few strip clubs in Detriot. First, Duggan tells the joke about wrestlers and strippers by saying that strippers are wrestling fans, have good drugs, and a bisexual, which are three things that wrestlers always looked for back then. After a night of partying, they woke up and there was 4-5 inches of snow on the ground and they opened the trunk where Damien was frozen to death as Jake forgot to take him out of the trunk. Duggan also said that a lot of guys disliked Jake and would purposely fuck with his snakes by abusing them.
He is asked about battle royals and Duggan said he enjoyed them. Duggan tells a story about being in one with Curt Hennig, Big Boss Man, and the Ultimate Warrior. Boss Man and Duggan beat on Warrior in the corner while Hennig slides out and ties Warrior’s tassles to the top rope. Warrior tries to leave the corner but can’t break free so Chief Jay Strongbow came out and had to cut them off with a knife. Duggan then said Boss Man, Hennig, and himself had to go up to see Vince after that. Oliver then asks Duggan about ribs they pulled. Duggan said the guys know travel by themselves and use laptops where as they would travel 4-5 in a car and would split hotel rooms.
When asked about the Royal Rumble and how the concept was created Duggan said that he believes it was Pat Patterson who started it and calls him a genius. He then talks about how he can hang his hat on being the first ever winner of the Rumble and how fans today still talk to him about that. He then discusses the differences between how he cut promos back then and the way it is done today. Duggan said the way they did promos were all different and today it feels homogenized as everything is scripted by the same people.
Duggan is asked about the Dynamite Kid as he had a seizure on January 30th. He said that he was a bully, as was his partner Davey, and hated that. Duggan puts him over as a wrestler. He said that guys like the Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage got lost in their characters to the point that they became them outside of the ring.
Oliver asks Duggan about the WWF issuing a fine policy for certain things like throwing your opponent into the guardrail. Duggan said that was true as it was a liability issue because fans were starting to sue as the guardrails moved and could hit fans. He said that they did issue a dress code but that they only had to dress up “a little bit.”
When asked about Andre the Giant, Duggan said that he met him early in his career while in World Class in 1979. He said that he got along well with him but others didn’t and noted how he could be irritable. Duggan tells a story about Andre and how he sometimes had poor hygiene. During their match, Andre told him to come closer and they were about to do a spot where Andre choked him out with the strap of his singlet but instead Andre put the strap around Duggan’s mouth and squeezed it as the sweat was going into Duggan’s mouth and laughing. Duggan said that he actually vomited after that. He also said that he would sometimes step on your hair then pull you up by the arms and how he did that a lot when he wrestled Jake Roberts.
Duggan is asked about Honky Tonk Man refusing to drop the Intercontinental Title to Randy Savage at “Saturday Night’s Main Event.” Duggan said that Honky could be tough to do business with and while he didn’t need a belt, some guys started to become obsessed with the belt, like Terry Taylor. He then tells a story about Savage and how overprotective he was of Elizabeth, even writing down the mileage on her car when he went out and checking it again when he returned. Anyway, they were in Europe at the airport when a fan wanted a picture. Jerry Sags then walked by and ripped a huge fart as Savage went off on him for doing that in front of his wife then put Elizabeth on a plane back home. Blackjack Lanza, who was an agent, told Vince that Savage sent her back home so Vince then put her on a plane to take her back over to Europe and reportedly told Sags that was the most expensive gas he has ever passed.
When asked about Bruno Sammartino leaving the company, Duggan said that he never understood where Bruno was coming from when he was complaining about the company’s direction as if it was not for wrestling he would have probably been working at a steel mill. Duggan said that he made more money wrestling than he would have at anything else before talking about himself and how an investment in a pair of boots and wrestling trunks led to a 31 year career that allowed him to put his kids through school.
Duggan is asked about the Iron Sheik returning and the incident in which they both got arrested together. Duggan tells the arrest story. He just came into the company and the Sheik came up to him and asked for a ride because he forgot his credit card. Duggan agreed and during the drive Sheik had him stop over for beer. Duggan said that he was not a big beer drinker but had a bag that consisted of 3-4 joints and they smoked that then Duggan cracked open a beer and they drove by a state trooper who pulled them over. Duggan said that he was used to living in Louisiana and their almost non-existent open container laws so didn’t think anything of it at all. The cop asked if they had anything in the car so Duggan said that he had a few joints, expecting the trooper to take it then give him a ticket or tell him to leave but the trooper ordered him out of the car and frisked him. More cops arrived on the scene as they put Duggan and Sheik in separate cars and took them to the station. When they pulled out the Sheik’s wallet, they found cocaine so he went in front of the judge and they let them off and they went back to the car and went to drive to the show. Duggan then called his wife to tell her that he got arrested and didn’t think anyone knew about it but the next morning she called him back and said that everyone knows about the arrest. He said that his dad, the Chief of Police in Glens Falls, NY, got a lot of shit from people about his arrest After calling his dad, he called Vince and immediately got through to him. Vince asked “What have you done to us” then told Duggan to turn in his plane tickets and go home as he was fired. He reports that someone told him about Vince telling the talent that he would never work there again as the business was bigger than a “six pack and a blow job.” Duggan said that he hung out at home for a few weeks and was going to have a meeting with Dusty Rhodes but Bruce Prichard called him up and told him to hang tight and not sign anywhere and sure enough he got hired back. Duggan talks about all of his success and how that he still believes he has never recovered from the arrest on a professional level.
He is asked about the TV angle that kicked off his feud with Andre the Giant. Duggan said that Andre accidentally jabbed his thumb in his lip and busted him open. Duggan said that she still has the scar to this day. He said that elevated him from a midcarder to a main event talent.
When asked about the Jake Roberts/Rick Rude feud and how bringing in your wife or girlfriend never ends up well, Duggan joked that Rude wasn’t the only one in the locker room kissing Cheryl then talks about her wife had been on camera a few times and even once beat Sensational Sherri in a match when Sherri was the champ. Velvet McIntyre missed the show due to a blizzard so Lanza asked him if his wife would fill in because she had been in the ring a few times in Mid-South.
Duggan is asked about WrestleMania IV and goes on about how the event has evolved into a whole weekend then talks about how WCW turned him into a janitor but he did not care as he was on TV. Duggan then said that they wanted him out and was surprised that got over so decided to turn him against America to join Team Canada. Nothing at all to do with 1988 WWF.
On interactions with the celebrities at WrestleMania, Duggan said they had little interaction with them but said hi to Donald Trump a few times, who knew the wrestlers but the rest usually sat in their own dressing rooms. He said the celebrities were usually respectable expect for Mickey Rourke at WrestleMania 25. Duggan tells the story of how he was at the hotel the night before the show and went upstairs to check on his daughter and said after a few drinks and without his glasses he saw three guys walking towards him and figured they were all WWE people as the floors were secured and he brushed by them then joked if they had enough room. Well, Rourke got heated and yelled at him so Duggan called him an “asshole” then after that realized it was Rourke. Duggan said he told Rourke to stand up when he talks to him, which is something he claims to say to short people who confront him, but Frank Shamrock and some other UFC guy were there with Rourke and calmed things down. Duggan then said that most of the celebs are respectful, especially the ones who bring their kids to the shows.
Duggan is asked about touring overseas. He talks about the plane rides and recalls a trip where Ric Flair said he had a big day and did not want any ribs or anything other pranks being pulled so when everyone woke up, their eyebrows were partially shaved by Brian Knobbs, who shaved off his own to sell the prank. Duggan said they got Knobbs back on a red eye flight where they tied cans to his shoes and painted his fingernails with Steve Keirn writing “I’m a dick” on his forehead with lipstick.
He is asked about wrestling Hercules and Duggan said that he always a troubled soul who got into a lot of fights. He then tells a story while in Europe when a bartender approached him so say that Hercules was hitting on a transvestite and Duggan told him that Hercules probably didn’t care.
MAY
On whether or not families were allowed in the locker room back then, Duggan said that they were and how wrestlers generally accepted other people’s families.
When asked about Vince’s locker room speech on the dangers of steroids, Duggan said that guys were going to do what they wanted to do without testing and how Dr. Zahorian was giving out steroids. Even when asked by the FBI during McMahon’s trial, Duggan said that he told them he was young and naive and the doctor was handing them out. Duggan did admit that the steroid use was rampant back then.
Duggan says that now the biggest marks in wrestling are the wrestlers themselves as they believe if you are not going all out with cool moves then you are not doing anything. He said that he could start a few chants and have the whole place cheering.
JUNE
He is asked about Haku being crowned King. Duggan said that he is one of the toughest and how he would grab guys trying to fuck with him by saying he would first kill them then eat them afterwards.
Hogan returned to team with Savage to face off against Andre the Giant and Ted DiBiase. Duggan said that he always got along with Hogan even though they were never very close.
On July 25th Duggan wrestled against Andre the Giant in a Lumberjack Match at Madison Square Garden in the main event. Duggan said that was the pinnacle of his career.
Duggan talks about Curt Hennig, who made his debut at the WWF in July. He said that Hennig took the best bump he ever saw during a hockey game in Minnesota. The crowd booed him and he walked on the ice and slipped then fell as the crowd went nuts.
He is asked about the talk show segments and if they are scripted or done on the fly. Duggan said that you would follow the host’s lead most of the time then talks about promo skills are a lost art today.
Duggan talks about Terry Taylor, who made his debut as the Red Rooster. Duggan said that he was talented but always ran his mouth and thinks the gimmick was a rib on him but also said that Taylor half-assed the gimmick and could have gotten it over if he took it over the top.
On the Akeem character, Duggan believes it was created as the One Man Gang wanted to take time off but was going to have a feud with Hogan. Gang went home and came back then Duggan believes that the gimmick was punishment for that but also said that Gang embraced the Akeem gimmick and that is why it got over.
Duggan is asked about the Jacques Rougeau/Dynamite Kid confrontation. Duggan said that the Bulldogs picked their spots and thought that Dynamite had it coming because he always fucked with people.When asked, Duggan said the Bulldogs never fucked with him then said that they an Outback Jack out of the company.
In November, Ted Turner bought out Crockett Promotions and renamed the company “World Championship Wrestling.” Duggan said that they were not getting offers right away and he did not get one himself until Hogan signed with them.
Big John Studd returned to the WWF. Duggan said that he teamed with Studd against Haku & Andre the Giant, who did not like Studd. Duggan said that Studd was leery of Andre and there was a lot of friction there.
Duggan closes by saying a lot of guys are bitter about the business and how people remember the bad stuff from wrestlers but that he is not bitter and wants to be a reminder of how guys like him, Bob Backlund and Tito Santana saved their money and do not hold any resentment.
Final Thoughts: I really enjoyed the stories that Duggan told here. He is an engaging storyteller who is not bitter at all and has a great sense of humor. And Duggan did go off topic a ton in this interview but luckily he was entertaining a majority of the time. But one complaint I have is that you didnt learn much of anything that took place in 1988. This was one of the earlier timelines and interviewer Sean Oliver was not as polished as he is now so he just let Duggan talk and had little command of the interview. Oliver also seemed to be in awe of Duggan’s presence too. They might want to revisit this year in the future.
In closing I recommend this interview but for those you want to specifically learn about 1988 WWF, you might be disappointed. If you want to be entertained, then by all means watch this interview.
You can purchase the video for $20 by clicking on the link below
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While building a remote controlled led beacon for my lighthouse bookshelf, I learned that one single arduino can’t reliably receive commands from an IR module and control a demanding animation on an LED strand at the same time.
The trouble is that both operations are highly time dependent. In simple terms, the IR module needs to be able to interrupt execution the moment it receives a command or the command will be lost or garbled. That is only a problem if the arduino is doing other things that can’t wait a few milliseconds. Unfortunately, updating LEDs is one of those things. The data transmission protocol for most of these LED strands is all based on timing, and you can’t stop in the middle of the stream. And of course, when I am trying to animate the LEDs, I want the arduino streaming updates out to them constantly, meaning there is never an acceptable time to wait around on the IR receiver.
What we need is a buffer. We need something to be free to listen for commands from the IR receiver constantly, and that can store those commands until our LED streaming process has a break to check for new commands. For example, in between LED strand updates, and we want that break to be as short as possible so we can get back to updating LEDs.
Fortunately for us, the serial communications system (called a UART) on the arduino has just such a buffer. When you send something through the serial communications system, it actually buffers what you send in the UART until the receiving end acknowledges that you have something to send and requests the transmission.
So here is how it works: The arduino listening to the IR receiver gets a command, validates it, and then sends an appropriate command out to the LED arduino. That command actually gets buffered in the UART of the IR receiver arduino until the LED arduino requests it. On the LED arduino, each time we finish streaming a set of commands to the LEDs, we take a brief break and check to see if there are any commands waiting on the IR receiver arduino. If so, we grab them and deal with them appropriately, if not, we run the next LED update.
The only hitch here is that the usb connection on the arduino actually uses those pins for sending programs, so as long as the two arduinos are connected this way and powered up, you wont be able to program them through the usb cable. To get around that, I just put a double pole single throw switch between those two connections so that I can disconnect the arduinos from each other for programming by flipping a switch.
Drop by my lighthouse post for some code, and feel free to ask questions!
Did you like this article? Share it with your friends!
Written by Mike
Lincoln says:
September 3, 2014 at 2:17 am
Hi Mike, I too wanted to use an IR remote to control my LEDs but I don’t have a deep knowledge of electronics, so I tried following your project as an exercise but have stumbled into some problems. The one that erks me the most is that the IR communication works fine when the Arduinos are powered through my computer’s USB, but if instead it is powered by a DC adapter (12V 1mA) the IR communication doesn’t work anymore. If you can shed any insight as to why this has maybe happening, it’d be very helpful. Thank you in advance!
Mike says:
September 3, 2014 at 3:12 am
Maybe to start with, do you know where the communication is breaking down? Between the arduinos, or between the Arduino with the IR sensor and the computer?
If I understood things correctly, the arduinos would not be able to have their serial communications pins connected to each other and also talk through the USB port to the computer at the same time, since the usb serial connection uses the same bus as pins 0 and 1. Using pins 0 and 1 are basically the same as soldering wires to the USB connector, so when you connect the arduinos together with them you can’t use the USB port to connect to the computer.
How far did you get? Are you able to plug your IR arduino in to the computer using USB and use the serial monitor to see that you are getting IR codes?
Let me know if any of that doesn’t make sense!
Lincoln says:
October 6, 2014 at 2:47 am
Hi Mike, thanks for the reply, and at the same time, sorry for MY late reply!
I understood that while uploading the code I cannot have the arduinos connected.
The problem comes up when I run the code: It runs fine when I use the USB as the power source, however when I use the DC adapter instead, the IR receiver does not seem to respond!
Mike says:
May 26, 2015 at 9:35 pm
Hey Lincoln! Winter got crazy on me here. How is the project going, get anything figured out?
Alex says:
October 10, 2015 at 5:38 am
I’ve got the exact same problem. I have everything connected up – when I am connected to the laptop I can see in the serial monitor window the remote codes are being sent – and the leds are changing sequences properly.
When I disconnect from the laptop the serial port on the Arduino (that one the leds are connected too), the remote feature stops working – probably due to the serial port no longer being active. I’ve had to put a manual switch in – also a PIR to change sequences, as the remote only works when a laptop is plugged in (not great).
Is there any workaround for this yet???
Alex says:
October 10, 2015 at 3:06 pm
OK I found the problem why it wasn’t working for me, the reason it works when connecting to USB is that more power is being supplied to the Arduino’s & led strip,
I was using one of those breadboard power connectors – but on checking the voltage was being dropped and so was the amperage – connecting the power to the Arduinos’s & led stip strip directly to the power supply, solved these issues.
I did put a capacitor between the gnd and V+ on the led strip though – as recommended by the manufacturer.
Thanks – now my WS2812B strip is working fine via remote – I used 1 micro Arduino to control the stip, the other I just used an atmega328 (plus crystal, caps, tsop4838) to send the remote signal via serial.
I bought a pir as well – so the strip can change sequence if it’s pir activated, manually by push button switches or via remote.
Mike says:
October 10, 2015 at 8:01 pm
Fantastic! Glad you got it going, that sounds like a solid setup.
Those LED strips are power hungry for sure. They’ll need a power bus if you string together more than a couple of meters, and they’ll overheat at full brightness white, but I love how bright they can get!
What’s your final project? Feel free to link to a writeup or video or whatever, or if you’d like to write a guest post here I’d be happy to host it!
March 27, 2016 at 12:41 pm
I also have a Little one, six months old now!
I have been fiddling around with WS2811 strips as well. I am planning on making a remote controlled star ceiling for her to grow up with, where one is able to flip through the constellations, Shooting stars etc with the remote.
I bought 20 strips of WS2811´s. There are 30 LEDs in each Strip. I have noticed when using Demo Code that the LEDs work in 3( obviously chained in series) I was a bit dissapointed with this, as I thought I could individually Control each LED. Any thoughts on this Problem?
Anyway, I plan on Building a Matrix with the LEDs and sticking them on a board, from this board I will stick Optic fibre strands to each LED, maybe about 5 Strands to Each LED… totalling 3000 stars. I will then have to work out how I will physically order the Strands in the ceiling.
The hardest part though… is , as always the coding!!!
I am very happy to have found your Lighthouse Project.
I will be trying to follow your instructions.
Thanks for posting it!
Mike says:
March 28, 2016 at 3:32 am
Hey Quint, that sounds amazing!!
I have been VERY tempted to try out a star ceiling. Our second little guy is 5 months old now, and we did a space themed nursery for him. If he had let me sleep for ten minutes now and then I might have even done a super rough prototype by now. No such luck
Sounds like you are taking on a pretty ambitious build! I can’t wait to see progress, please do come back and post links or pictures! Maybe you could write up a guest post or something too!
So for the 3 LED per pixel thing, that is one of the possible formats of these LED tapes. You may already know this stuff, but for the sake of posterity, here is a little background:
You can’t really properly dim LEDs, they are either on or off. The way we make them look dim is to blink them absurdly rapidly. The longer the on time, and the shorter the off times, the brighter the LED seems. They call it Pulse Width Modulation, or PWM.
So the WS2811 is a little microchip that can be addressed (called on specifically among a set), and has three channels of pulse width modulators built in. There is probably a little black chip every three LEDs on your strip, thats what that is.
The little white square LED thing on the tape with the circular front window is actually a package of three LEDs in one package (red, green, blue), its called an SMD 5050.
In the case of the strip you have, you can send a color command to the WS2811, and controls the nearest 3 SMD 5050 LED packages as a unit. It handles all the PWM stuff for those LEDs to get the color you asked for out of them.
There are also strips that have one WS2811 for each SMD 5050, so you can control each LED package individually.
To go a step further, some clever person decided to pack a WS2811 right down inside the SMD 5050 package, so that you have a little white square with a controller chip and 3 LEDs all packed up in a tidy little unit. That thing is called the WS2812 or WS2812b. Some strips use these, which means each LED is addressable individually, and there are no little black chips on the strip, since they are built in to the LEDs.
Unfortunately, that means you are stuck controlling them in packs of three, unless you want to grab new strips. WS2812 or WS2812b are what you’ll want, and you still use the WS2811 controller libraries for them, since that is what they are, just packed in to the LED case. You could probably unload the ones you have on ebay at not much of a loss.
Or, it sounds like you might be able to just spread your fibers out over all three of the LEDs in each ‘pixel’ and maybe get some more light per star?
This thing sounds fantastic! If you need any help adapting the code, please don’t hesitate to ask, that would be the easy part for me compared to the fiber management and stuff!
| 10,802 |
Recognizing that public policy making involves choice, not submission to inevitable facts of life that always have been and always need to be.
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Commentary
A new deficit narrative?
Original Reporting | By Mike Alberti |
Taxes
April 6, 2011 — Over the last few months, the debate over the 2011 budget has been focused on two questions: how much to cut, and from where? In February, Republicans in the House of Representatives approved $61 billion in cuts; Senate Democrats countered in March with $6.5 billion in cuts; by last week, $33 billion had become the magic number on the Hill. Then yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner insisted that $33 billion would not be enough.
House Democrats have been, for the most part, on the defensive, not challenging the fundamental premise that budget cutting is in fact necessary at this time. Recently, however, Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced a bill that would shrink the deficit by more than the $61 billion insisted on by House Republicans, but would not rely on program cuts to achieve that reduction.
Tax brackets under proposed
“Fairness in Taxation Act”
This table reflects the difference between current and proposed marginal income tax rates for married couples filing jointly. The Fairness in Taxation Act would add five additional marginal rates to be applied to income in excess of $1 million.
Current
Proposed
$379,150 - 1 million 35% 35%
$10 - 20 million 35% 46%
$20 - 100 million 35% 47%
$1 billion and over 35% 49%
The proposed bill, called the Fairness in Taxation Act, would create five additional income tax brackets, starting at 45 percent for married couples making over $1 million dollars a year and increasing to 49 percent for people making $1 billion and over (see sidebar). The current top tax rate is 35 percent for people making $379,150 a year or more.
“I want to show that there’s a way to tackle the deficit without doing it on the backs of people who had nothing to do with this fiscal crisis,” Schakowsky said last week in an interview with Remapping Debate.
The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) estimates that the proposed bill would raise $78 billion if enacted in 2011. “It would probably raise more than that in future years, as the economy improves,” said Steve Wamhoff, a policy analyst at ITEP.
That’s $17 billion more than House Republicans would achieve by cutting or eliminating funding for programs such as Pell Grants, Head Start, National Public Radio and high speed rail.
“People pay lip service to ‘shared sacrifice,’” Schakowsky said, “but the wealthiest have done absolutely nothing to sacrifice. I think it’s apparent to all that we have this problem of growing income inequality and the disappearing middle class, which I think is a problem of greater magnitude at this moment than the problem of the debt and the deficit.”
Schakowsky was referring to the fact that, over the last thirty years, income gains have been concentrated at the very top, while wages for the majority of Americans have largely remained stagnant. Currently, one percent of the population owns 34 percent of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 90 percent owns only twenty-nine percent of the wealth, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
“People pay lip service to ‘shared sacrifice,’ but the wealthiest have done absolutely nothing to sacrifice.” — Rep. Jan Schakowsky
“Income inequality is worse than it’s been since the Great Depression,” Schakowsky said. “The ones who sacrifice should be the ones who are most prepared to do so.”
Schakowsky said that she had no illusions that the proposed bill would actually pass, but she is trying to add co-sponsors and raise the bill’s visibility in an effort to make revenue part of the discussion about deficit reduction.
“Republicans have worked very hard for the last two years of the Obama Administration to create the perception that it has to be done through cuts alone,” Schakowsky said.
According to Wamhoff, Democrats are at least partly to blame for Republicans’ success in framing the deficit-reduction narrative around budget cuts.
“Republicans have been hi-jacked by an extreme anti-tax ideology,” he said, “but the Democrats are all over the place. There are a few [Democrats] on the Hill that are talking about raising revenue, but there are also some that are taking a much more conservative approach.”
Mike Lux, a strategist at the political consulting firm Progressive Strategies, L.L.C., agreed. “Democrats haven’t had much of a strategy on the deficit,” he said. “It’s just been reacting to things the Republicans are proposing and opposing the cuts. [The Fairness in Taxation Act] is the single strongest example of Democrats going on the offense when we’re talking about the deficit.”
Currently, the proposed bill has only 10 co-sponsors, most of whom, like Schakowsky, are members of the Progressive Caucus. Several other Progressive Caucus members said that, while they had not had a chance to read the proposed bill, they supported the concept of taxing millionaires and billionaires at higher rates.
High-ranking House Republicans have said that any revenue increase is “off the table,” though the deficit-reduction proposal set out last year by President Obama’s bi-partisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform relied on raising new revenue to account for one-third of a $4 trillion, 10-year, deficit cutting package. Schakowsky, who was a member of the commission, voted against the proposal and issued her own, which proposed to reduce the deficit by $441 billion by 2015 using new revenue for two-thirds of the reductions and keeping entitlement programs intact.
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In the business world, the term leverage is used to describe strategic use of debt. A company or an investor can borrow money and use it to help increase profits. The more leverage you use, the more money you can potentially make. At least in the short-term. Because the downside to using financial leverage is that the more you use, the more you jeopardize your ability to make money in the long-run. It increases your risk of going broke.
This is the same thing that happens when we compromise our integrity. When we decide to do things we consider unethical, as a way of leveraging opportunities. When you lie to save your butt. When you bend the rules to win. When you follow unlawful orders. When you follow lawful orders that violate a more sacred law (the one within you). When you use people as objects for your own gain or pleasure. When you sell things you’re not proud of. When you bully. When you gossip. When you play office politics.
These are ways we try to use leverage to get what we want. It can work. Especially in the short-run. But what about the long-run? What are the chances that using this kind of leverage will ruin you, and the people you take advantage of along the way?
[P.S. If you can, please consider making a donation to help support this blog.]
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So... it's a FLESH-EATING Sponge that looks like a tree that looks like it's covered in ping-pong balls? O. K. Yet again we find that the deep sea provides a surprising legitimacy to all kinds of madness. No doubt Elvis is doing battle with the risen Hitler down there, too.
The Ping-pong Tree Sponge reaches around 50 cm (20 in) in height, most of this composed of a thin stalk. At its top is a peculiar array of ethereal globules at the end of stems emanating from a central body. It looks like some kind of gelatinous explosion that just sort of... stopped. As explosions go, it looks like one of the more comfortable ones.
But those blobs are nowhere near as soft or spectral as they seem. This is where we get to the FLESH EATING.
The swellings are covered in spicules, the tiny structures that form the skeleton of a Sponge. In this case they are hook shaped. Any little crustaceans that touch them are trapped, the bristly hairs on their body caught on the hooks like velcro.
Slowly, ever so slowly, cells in the Ping-pong Tree Sponge move toward the struggling prey to begin digestion. Each cell acts like an Amoeba, using phagocytosis to consume a tiny fragment of the doomed victim. Sponges usually do this kind of thing to bacteria, things small enough to be eaten whole. Carnivorous Sponges use it on much larger fare.
Bit by bit, the Ping-pong Tree Sponge digests its food. Without a stomach or any other kind of digestive cavity, the prostrated wretch melts away on a translucent wiff-waff ball.
It's this slow-motion horror show that allows this Sponge to flourish in the deserts of the deep. As far as I can make out, they are found in the Pacific Ocean at depths of around 2,700 metres (8,860 ft).
In any case, I thought ping-pong was meant to be more fun than that?
Posted by Joseph JG at 12:00
11 comments:
TexWisGirl said...
it is really cute!
5 January 2012 at 16:28
Joseph JG said...
Ha! Not a word I'd thought of, I must admit!
5 January 2012 at 20:51
Anonymous said...
I just love these creatures which look like they came out of a Sci-Fi picture! I am sure someone at some point in time imagined we would meet these things on Mars. Maybe even the thing with their eating habits...
7 January 2012 at 15:05
Joseph JG said...
I know what you mean! It would actually be quite impressive if someone imagined those eating habits, they're just so horribly ludicrous.
7 January 2012 at 20:39
Anonymous said...
Looks like something I'd put in my desk.
8 January 2012 at 03:38
Joseph JG said...
Yeh, it looks like one of those little palm tree type things, except with balls instead of the spiky leaves. This one would also be better at getting rid of any little shrimp you might have flying about at home!
8 January 2012 at 07:19
youdontknowme1212 said...
10 December 2014 at 18:46
Joseph JG said...
I completely understand, good luck!
13 December 2014 at 14:14
Unknown said...
Someone *did* imagine those eating habits! The scary bastard aliens that come out of the deeps in John Wyndham's "The Kraken Wakes' eat by a very similar method. And it ain't crustaceans on the menu...
17 July 2017 at 18:40
Joseph JG said...
Yikes! I'll check that out. Of course, he was pretty good with the flesh eating plants, too
18 July 2017 at 05:34
Unknown said...
Hehehe - yes, he certainly was! As for TKW, I can never hear the word "pseudopodia" the same again after reading it. :)
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When I had the opportunity to travel to Ukraine with Project Kesher, I found myself recalling the magical children’s book by Kevin Henkes, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. The lovable Lilly is so awed by the world around her that many times her only words are, “Wow! That’s about all I can say – Wow!”
Project Kesher is a total “Wow.” Founded in 1989 by the chance meeting of Sallie Gratch, a social worker from Evanston, Illinois and Svetlana Yakimenko, a teacher in Moscow, Project Kesher was established as a grassroots Jewish women’s organization committed to women’s empowerment. Project Kesher develops leaders who become champions for social justice.
1. My first wow: the resilience of the Jewish community. Ukraine is among the poorest countries in Europe. Its modern history is marred by complicit slaughter of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. Russian oppression of minority groups, including the Jews, followed the war. Ethnic conflicts continue to this day in Crimea and the eastern borders of Ukraine. In stark contrast to this bleak backdrop, the Project Kesher women who are mobilizing to promote gender equality and civic engagement serve as beacons of light and hope.
2. Wow, the gender gap is wide. The UN Development Program Gender Inequality Index, which assesses aspects of human development such as reproductive health, economic status and women’s rights and opportunities reveals that Ukraine falls in the bottom half of countries worldwide. Despite the existence of laws supporting gender equality in Ukraine, these provisions are real only on paper. Analysts say this is largely due to women’s lack of education and awareness (especially in rural localities) of international standards in the sphere of protection against gender discrimination.
3. Wow, there’s a lot of work to do. The gender inequality of the Ukraine means that women are particularly vulnerable to suffering the effects of poverty, sexism and disempowerment. Human trafficking has also taken a devastating toll, with thousands lured into suspect offers of employment in other countries, only to find themselves exploited by inhumane work conditions and sexual assault. The psychological scars of trafficking run deep, with high levels of PTSD, anxiety, depression. And what might be considered basic women’s health education, including topics like sexual development, gender identity, reproductive health, birth control and postpartum mood disorders, is largely absent in Ukraine – leaving women in the dark on issues essential to their health.
4. Ukraine, United States, Canada – wow, what? Project Kesher groups conceive, design and implement their program priorities because they best understand the needs of their communities. Members of Project Kesher Ukraine know firsthand the costs associated with the lack of education and services focused on women’s health. Last year they got mobilized, and in their determination to improve knowledge and advocate for services, Project Kesher Ukraine proposed twelve radio shows that would also be archived as podcasts – all focused on essential women’s health issues. The strategy is rooted in the idea that public radio is the single most effective way to educate, effectuate social change, and impact the policies that shape women’s lives in Ukraine. So Ukranian women, in consultation with a small team in the United States, submitted a proposal to the Canadian funding agency, Grand Challenges Canada, which funds “bold ideas with big impact.” Grand Challenges Canada reviewed our proposal and said, “wow, we’re in.”
5. Mental health in every episode. Wow. Really? In one of the poorest countries of Europe that ranks in the bottom half of countries worldwide in terms of gender equality, the women of Project Kesher Ukraine catapulted to the front of the class when it comes to advancing the integration of mental health in women’s health education and services. Project Kesher’s broadcasts create safe spaces for women to learn the facts about women’s health with relevant mental health topics integrated in every show. Each episode focuses on a particular aspect of women’s health – providing important information and space to explore issues and hear others share, in their own voices, how they have made decisions about their lives – whether to have children, an abortion, seek specific forms of contraception, get help for postpartum depression, and so on. The aspiration is that these shows will educate women and thereby empower them to advocate for healthcare that meets their healthcare needs, including mental health needs.
With the celebration of Rosh Hashanah beginning this Sunday evening, Jews around the world celebrate a New Year. It is a time for taking stock. As I pause to reflect on my time in Ukraine this past summer and this collaboration, I am enormously honored and gratified by the opportunity to contribute in a small way to the work of Project Kesher Ukraine. The women of Project Kesher Ukraine are living proof of Margaret Mead’s observation that we should “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Kathleen M. Pike, PhD is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Global Mental Health WHO Collaborating Centre at Columbia University.
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How can I describe the “historic” Black Pink performance, the first Korean (KPOP) group to perform (surprisingly not BTS) at one of the biggest music festival in the world, Coachella. Frankly my expectations were set on low, seeing how Black Pink has been involve in many “concert” scandal where they play a lot of songs on repeat or just mash it up a little bit. Also I feel like this performance was being overhyped by many news outlet, I mean it is a big momment but maybe it’s being overhype a little too much (I do not like how Black Pink was described at these sights as one of the most successful KPop group of all time, I’m sorry but No…. There are SNSD, 2NE1, Girl’s Day, K-ara, Mamamoo and Sistar etc. Heck Black Pink is not even the top of this 3rd Generation KPop wave, that throne belongs to TWICE). I’ll be the first one to admit Black Pink isn’t my favorite KPop band, their concept of girl crush is ok, but part of me was cheering for them because their agency, YG Entertainment, has taken many L’s lately thanks to Seungri from Big Bang and Black Pink popularity must have definitely suffer unfairly due to their sunbae fault.
So without expecting much, I turn on my computer to Live Stream the performance at around 11:26 PM EST. I was sleepy, but I like many others wanted to tune in for this “historic moment”. I thought I would use this as my marker for how successful I think the performance was, if they get me wide awake then it was pretty successful but if I just wanted to snore more then ehhh not so much. Finally after hearing the end of Jaden Smith little autotune performance, it was time for the Quad to hit the stage.
After a brief graphic introduction of the members out came Jennie, Rose, Lisa, and Jisoo. I was honestly expecting half of the members to be wearing Black- Jisoo and Rose both did- and the other half to be wearing Pink, but sadly Lisa and Jennie chose to wear white instead which I guess an interesting choice. Their clothing choices was weird but stylish (espcially Jisoo), but I can’t say much on it cause I’m not a fashion major. I tore open and began to drink my defrosted can of Lugi’s Raspberry Sherbet from the school’s cafeteria, I would definitely need some quick glucose energy. I expected a brief introduction before their start perform but right away, they pull their guns and then Du-Du-Du, I was shot by surprised. Really out of pocket guys…..
My first instant impression was the vocals wasn’t quite as good as the other Coachella performers, no offense I like Rose singing, but it didn’t strike me as very powerful. But it was alright, not a lot of idols have powerful voice of actual Korean singers, KPop groups is more known for their performance rather than epic singing voice. I was surprise to hear mostly girls cheering in the stands, I would think they were a part of the Army or something not Blink, I expected to hear more male cheering. For the most part the crowd didn’t seem that hype, which was surprising because Coachella is set in California and like a lot of Asians are at West Coast. The song was OK but the opening act didn’t really energize the crowd. They cheer weakly at the shooting “du du” part, which is suppose to be the “cheering part” of the song. The background music did more singing for the opening act then Rose, Jennie, Jisoo, or Lisa, they were more focus on dancing.
The first song didn’t really wake me up, the crowd energy was so weak I could feel Black Pink trying to also draw energy out of the crowd throughout that first performance. As they prep for the next song, Forever Young I said in my mind, that was probably the only other song I know beside Dudu and Kill this Love and is the only Black Pink song I have downloaded on my phone.
BINGO! I won the bet with myself. At this point I was getting disappointed, most concerts that I see, they usually talk a little and try to hype the crowd after the opening act, it seem like Black Pink just was going to go straight through without talking which basically would be like listening to an album and not a live performance. That past quickly, Rose carrying most of the song and finally they began to introduce themselves. They just mostly said “thank you” and “thanks for coming out tonight we saranghae you”. It was very limited communication though, Rose definitely speak the most expressing her surprise at the huge crowd. I guess that was to be expected since she was born in New Zealand/British COLONY! Jisoo had terrible english, now I can see what the other member meant when they said Jisoo really don’t like speaking english.
The next few songs Stay and Whistle was almost the same thing, an almost silent crowd and singing. The dances were not bad (I prefer TWICE) and the singing was alright. After Whistle, Rose tried to run around the stage to hype up some energy with didn’t really work. She also said that the crowd was very big and expresses her love for them for coming all the way here like the other members.
Then the members did their collab song with Dua Lipa, the Kiss and Make Up. I honestly like the original version with Dua Lipa in it better, she provides a sort of like missing part of the song. Without her it just felt like something was missing. After that Jisoo, Lisa, and Rose walk off the stage for a bit for Jennie’s single Solo. This was probably the most funny moment of the night, it seem like when she was singing the chorus she was saying “Bitch now I’m solo”, I don’t know if I was sleepy high, but I laugh at that part like pointing a big middle finger to the rest of her band members who was off stage. The member reunited for Kill This Love after Jennie and the backup dancer Solo act. I know Kill This Love broke some Youtube records, but it seem very mediocre. Then Black Pink play their more less well known songs like Don’t Know What To Do and See U Later, first time hearing it for me. Playing with Fire and after that a final talking session where Jennie express her apprieciation for everyone that came and stay for their show, advertising that they would be playing in LA next week for their North American Tour (I think they have one more Coachella performance? Not sure). Rose thanked them in her british accent and so did Lisa and Jisoo spoke literally like three words. They were thank the crowd and hope their enjoy the final two songs “Boombayah” and “As if It’s your last”
That went from a 0, ALL THE WAY TO A 10. OMG THE TURN UP, these final performance broke the uneventful tone of the previous songs. There were running, there was more team up between the four, there was wild dancing like swinging their arms around and around. There was light and it seem like Black Pink seem really interested to be at Coachella now and it really infected, the crowd finally perked up at the final two performances!
For me I feel like Rose standout the most from this performance. Not only did she got most of the singing lines, I mean she is the main Vocalist, throughout the performance from beginning to end she seem to be very into the performance. She seem to be like a person that had a Eureka performance and tried to explain her brilliance to the crowd. Although many of her attempts to hype up the crowd failed, even when she hold her mic to them (should have scoot closer to the crowd) she tried at least. I heard from friends that in recent years, Coachella has not been so lit with many of their crowds being very dry so maybe it wasn’t Rose fault. Add that in with Black Pink being relatively more on the unknown side during this whole music festival (their name recognition did improve with the historic performance branding though). Rose seem willing to take more risk than the rest of her fellow bandmates, running around the stage back and forth twice after the song Kiss and Make Up. She had energy, and I felt it. Her expressions were natural and she seem to have fun while delivering her music and dances. Her little speech with the “we came from different worlds…. and music connect us” was probably the most inspiring thing said in the night (I did not stay for Childhouse Gambeatzie Donald Glover I bet he had some phrase to say too)I would say her hair was the most mess up at the end of the hour-long performance due to dancing and jumping around.
Could have been a little better….
I felt like it wasn’t Jisoo day. She spoke little-not at all when the members were speaking. I know her english wasn’t great, but she seem to be restraining herself from having fun. I felt like even if her english wasn’t the best, she should have just tried her best to pronounce the words. Over here if I have taken anything from my days as an immigrant and an ESOL student, if the audience is friendly, they will eat it up. I make tons of people laugh when I mispronounce WASP, or Trapezoid (I say Traper Zoid). Maybe that’s just me, but I feel like she should have tried to connect with her audience and show a bit of “self-depriciating” comedy to cheer up the crowd by literally speaking English. It’s probably harder than I think speaking in front of crowds of literal thousands. All the english aside, there were some parts of performances I felt like Jisoo didn’t enjoy being on stage and performing in front of probably the biggest crowd yet. While Rose, Lisa and to some extent Jennie ate some of it up, she didn’t seem to be having fun. I felt like the time where she warmed up to the crowd was near the end, that was when I felt like she was finally in to it. Jisoo wasn’t bad, her vocals could use some work (I mean I can’t sing like that so…) but it wasn’t bad, she perked up at the end.
Espcially the end. Maybe this book did not have a good beginning or middle, it had a super strong ending. Starting with Boombayah and the hand circular dances, the members seem to tap into a sudden surge of energy. They choose a really good ending song, As if It’s Your Last, the crowd was probably most energize here. Maybe it was the pressure of being label a “historic performance” that made the members nervous at the beginning. Maybe it was the huge crowd size (Rose gaped that the crowd must have been computer digitalize), but at the end it seem like all of the four members put all of that behind them and do the things they love, dancing and singing. Everything clicked at the end, and the crowd probably notice it too because they were jumping up and down. At the end of the night, I definitely think Black Pink left the audience with something strong to take away, KPop wave is here and NOW in America. For me, the ending is the most important part of any performance for it is usually the ending that people remember the most and Black Pink definitely knew that and made it memorable.
Rating
I’ll give the performance an 7.5-8/10. I came in with some pretty low expectations hearing how Black Pink likes to perform the same thing over and over, but they didn’t do any of that this time. They should have say their “best” song DUDUDU towards the end when they have high energy and not the beginning but it is what it is. It was a good performance, not going to lie, could have been better between the middle and beginnning and could have had more talking and interactions with the crowd in between but it’s honestly fine. The ending matters the most and Black Pink totally “Du DU DU” it there.
Playlist for Black Pink At Coachella
Jennie at Coachella
Rose at Coachella
Playing with Fire Performance
Lisa at Coachella
Black Pink members at Coachella
Jisoo and Rose at Coachella
Comments
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If you are new to Online Forex Trading, then you will more than likely have come across Andy Ireland, and his revolutionary Upto1000percent.com AITradeSafe system. There are not many reviews about this, but early indications are extremely positive. We have been sent a sample of this information, and all is looking very interesting indeed. It is definitely not a scam. Read on for further details on how this brand new Forex Trading System can potentially make some serious financial gains.
Who is Andy Ireland, and What is AITradeSafe?
For many years people have been trying to make money on Forex, without success, although it was also obviously that people HAVE been making huge gains using the platform, Andy Ireland has now brought to the table a brand new course that will teach people interested in this subject.
Andy has fin tuned a profit system that he has been using for a long while, and has now been convinced to teach it to some select people. It was not easy to convince Andy, because as you can imagine, such profitable techniques are extremely difficult to find. Yes, there are many courses that will teach Forex Trading, but 99% are total tosh, and will never lead to a profit. AITradeSafe is different.
How is AITradeSafe Forex Training different?
The reason this is different to what you may already have read, or even purchased online before, is because Andy uses these very same techniques himself, to make serious amounts of money online, and if he is prepared to teach you to do the same, then you REALLY should sit up and listen.
When a man is prepared to teach others to make the same kind of money that he himself makes, and that income pays for his own lifestyle, then only a fool would discount such an offer. Seriously, most successful people who make it out there, would not even attempt to show others; why would they, UNLESS they are in such a financial position where teaching others the same skills, systems, and methods will not bear a negative affect on their own incomes. This is exactly what Andy is now doing.
What will AITradeSafe teach me?
You will be held by the hand and shown EXACTLY how to make money using Forex, and explained the techniques that are safe, hence the name Trade Safe. There is no coincidence there. Andy knows how to make money, and he will teach you how to do this, as if he were sat right next to you.
So what is Forex?
Forex is an international money trading market that trades in currency. Depending on how high or low trading is for particular currencies, will depend on the actual value of that currency. This is the reason why the value of say the £ goes up and down, or when you go on holiday and have to buy Euros, only to find that you will not receive as many as you did last year. This is all dictated on the international currency trading markets; together with a few other variables.
Where people actually make money (simplified version) with Forex, is by predicting which way the currencies will go, higher or lower, buying and selling, and by making a profit on the choices being made.
OK, so Andy Ireland will be teaching us how to do this?
Yes, Andy will teach you tried, and tested methods which consistently make a profit, and the system he is using to teach this, he is calling the AITradesafe method (Andy Ireland Trade Safe).
Conclusion, and does AITradesafe actually work?
With the system you are given a quick start guide in pdf form to print off, which will teach you the basics, and on top of that there are weekly webinars where you can follow Andy Ireland in live trades, which also take live Q&A sessions from users of the AIT system. This will help all those are have maybe never traded on Forex before, because if there are parts you are unsure off, then at least you can then watch Andy Ireland going through the questions live on screen.
We have been fortunate to have a sneak preview of what is being offered by Andy, including live profits being made, and what we will say is, that if you are genuinely serious about making profits using Forex, then this will be the best training materials you will ever come across – seriously. This guy really knows what he is doing, and the fact that Andy is prepared to show others these techniques is amazing.
255 comments
February 4, 2013 at 10:03 pm
It has been a few years since I traded using forex. I stopped because I could not really understand it. This may be different, but it would need fully teaching, as you can quickly become lost in it all.
Thanks
heather whitson says:
February 5, 2013 at 12:37 am
Hoping this works better than another course I bought in 2011, which just lost me money.
Ellie says:
February 5, 2013 at 1:44 am
Thank you for another informative blog post. Forex has always been an interest of mine, so looking forward to seeing what other people use.
Ell
Whalley says:
February 5, 2013 at 7:04 am
Looking forward with interest to this. I tried bonus bagging which worked well, and this could be worth looking into.
Darren Carr says:
February 5, 2013 at 7:13 pm
I am very interested in seeing how this works. Do you know when the actual launch date for ai trade safe is?
February 6, 2013 at 3:11 pm
A few weeks.
February 5, 2013 at 10:37 pm
How is the different to other forex tutorials out there already? I have many a time been tempted to indulge, especially now that there are literally no interest rates on our savings, and myself and my husband have been searching for a while now on better ways to invest, instead of shovelling our nest egg in the savings account at our building society, which is doing us no good at all, and is being eroded by inflation. Kathy x
February 6, 2013 at 6:15 am
I have not heard of Andy Ireland in the Forex arena, but then again why would I. I have small traded for a few years and I am in profit, but never made the big bucks.
February 6, 2013 at 9:43 am
Great blog you have here man, are you looking to sell it, if so how much?
February 6, 2013 at 3:10 pm
Not for sale, and you couldn’t afford it
Clive says:
February 13, 2013 at 6:39 am
I have not traded Forex before, but this system does look good. Can anybody tell me if it is guaranteed to make you money?
February 13, 2013 at 1:04 pm
Hi Clive,
The website explains that it does guarantee to make you money, but as always make sure you read the details.
Chris says:
October 21, 2013 at 12:16 pm
What is ‘guaranteed’ about this course is that you will be trained to stick to the ‘trading plan’. If you do this much, you won’t go far wrong. Best course any of us are likely to come across. Honest, reliable, powerful back up and is very sensibly priced. Five Stars.
February 13, 2013 at 8:28 am
I am very tempted. I got the letter this morning, and it is like most sales letters that I get sent, but I always look for the guarantees more than anything, so like I say I am tempted to give this ai tradesafe a go.
Anything else I need to know bout it?
February 13, 2013 at 10:15 am
I HAVE traded Forex markets before, and even though I have seen this type of software before, this looks a little bit different, which is telling me to take the 30 day trial that is offered on the website.
I am sure that there will be days when the system loses money, surely not every day can be a profit day?
Lee says:
February 13, 2013 at 10:51 am
I must say I am intrigued by this. I need to make money at the moment, after being made redundant.
Does anybody know if there is a way of testing it before using real money?
February 13, 2013 at 1:03 pm
Yes, you can paper trade before using money, to make sure that you are totally up to speed with how the trading works.
This is probably the best way, because you don’t really want to be using real money until you have learned exactly how to make the profits.
Ben of Spurs says:
February 13, 2013 at 11:44 am
I have just gone for it, and will spend a day or so looking through the aitradesafe website that they point you to.
It all looks good so far, even for a newbie like me, but the proof of the pud, as they say, will be in the easting.
Optimistic that this will turn my finances around…………..
Ben ; come on you spurs
February 13, 2013 at 1:05 pm
Well done on taking the plunge.
Let us know how you get on.
Not sure about the Spurs bit, though haha.
joe mcdermott says:
March 9, 2013 at 10:56 pm
ben youve had 4weeks now. has it turned your finances around. does it do what it says on the tin
neil says:
February 13, 2013 at 2:35 pm
Is this red light green light thing just for the first month to get the ‘gurantteed money, and then will we learn a different way to forex?.
Rich says:
February 13, 2013 at 11:10 pm
Exactly what I was wondering. Anyone know?
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 14, 2013 at 2:32 pm
Hi there Neil, Tim Lowe’s office here.
The AITradesafe indicator is not just for the first month – you will continue using it for as long as you continue with the course. There are however many different ways of trading once a trade has been entered, and it is these different techniques that Andy will be teaching as the course progresses.
I hope this is helpful!
February 14, 2013 at 6:07 am
this does look like something that can be followed, although for someone who has not done this trading before are there video tutorial and techings?
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 14, 2013 at 3:08 pm
Tim Lowe’s Office here. The system is aimed at beginners as well as those who’ve already had some experience with Forex trading.
Each month you will receive tuition in both pdf and video format. There are also a twice-weekly webinars to attend (which you can watch the recordings of if you aren’t able to attend the live webinar). There is also a helpdesk where you can ask Andy any questions you have about Forex trading and what you are being taught. You definitely are just left on your own to ‘figure it out’.
Evarne says:
February 15, 2013 at 6:56 pm
I do hope we AREN’T just left on our own to ‘figure it out'(your reply of 14 Feb)! Not exactly a comment which inspires confidence!
Graham Morris says:
February 16, 2013 at 4:40 pm
Everyone seems keen to comment, but as yet no one has corrected what I assumed was a typo….. I am not thinking it was not a typo…
Can someone confirm if we are indeed left on or own to work it out or not?
Graham Morris says:
February 16, 2013 at 4:41 pm
I am now thinking it was not a typo…
Tim Lowe's Office says:
March 6, 2013 at 11:44 am
whoops! You are quite correct – you are NOT just left on your own to ‘figure it out’!
Cam says:
February 14, 2013 at 7:55 am
I watched the video on the sales page and all it shown was winning trades but what about the trades that lose, they cannot all win surely?
Has anybody got any details on that?
February 14, 2013 at 2:57 pm
They do NOT all win, but more win, than lose, which is why the page guarantees that you will make a certain amount of profits.
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 14, 2013 at 3:03 pm
If you take another look at the sales page, and watch the video, you will see that we don’t skirt around the issue of losses.
Take a look at the video at time point 2.42. You’ll see that Andy had some losses the previous day. He says “a slight blip yesterday, it does happen from time to time, but just move on and forget it.” In the prose, we also say the following:
“Anyone who tells you that there is 100% zero risk with any trading system is not telling the truth but with AITradesafe, as long as you follow what you’re shown, to begin with, there is absolutely no risk to your own money!”
Firstly, I should explain that we have a special deal with a Forex broker to the effect that, for the first 30 days of live trading with them, they have agreed to underwrite a £300 deposit. This truly means that there is no risk to your £300 – if you lose money, they will match your losses up to £300. Because of this ‘safety net’, Andy will show you an aggressive trading method which you can use to make up to £3350 from your initial £300 deposit, in the first 30 days. This is a great way for you to build up a substantial trading bank from just a small deposit, with no risk to your own money. Once that special offer is no longer in place, Andy will show you how to trade on a less aggressive basis, so that you are trading with a minimal risk.
Now Andy’s method is 60-75% successful. This means that some of the time, you will experience losses. It’s just a fact of trading that not all trades will be profitable – there is always a risk that you will make a loss (and if you look on our disclaimer on the AITradesafe website, you will see that we state that). However, so long as you follow Andy’s method, the majority of your trades will be profitable, so overall you will be ‘up’.
I hope this answers your questions and that I’ve intrigued you enough that you will consider purchasing AITradesafe. Remember there is a 30 day money back guarantee so really there isn’t any reason to not give it a go.
Sam says:
February 15, 2013 at 4:04 am
In the last response from Tim Lowe’s office it mentions that there is a special deal with a Forex Broker to underwrite a deposit of £300. I assume therefore that a credit search will be carried out, and if they note that I have previously been bankrupted within the last 6 years, that they will decline to underwrite the £300 deposit. In that scenario, would I still be able to set up an account with a Forex Broker, but use my own funds without being underwritten…or will they decline me an account completely?
Thanks in advance for your reply, Sam.
February 15, 2013 at 12:40 pm
Why would you be credit checked if they are underwriting the losses anyway? You would be depositing £300, and THAT is the total amount of your liability, I would think, so no need for a credit check.
Even if this were the case, it still does not stop you testing that the methods work for the month in the demo mode, which all trading software offers you.
Sam says:
February 15, 2013 at 1:17 pm
Thanks for the comment. The reason ‘credit check’ came to mind was because Tim’s office was talking about ‘underwriting’ your £300 deposit… I certainly hope that what you have said is the case, as I am definitely interested in looking at Andy Ireland’s training. I am a complete beginner to forex, but it is something that has always interested me.
Paul says:
February 15, 2013 at 11:02 am
I made the purchase of aitradesafe subscription yesterday, and have to say on first impressions, it definitely looks doable. Clear instructions, and you are advised to test demo everything first, and my first tests on the demo have already shown profit *well they would be profit if I was live which I am not*.
I am extremely optimistic about this now, will be doing much more testing before the months out, but looking good, and I may add that I know nothing about trading, and the likes.
nico says:
February 15, 2013 at 12:33 pm
hi. a quick question. Is this another one of those schemes that seems relativley simple untill you sign up, but then becomes so complicated and time consuming that you give up and put it down to experience. sorry to be sinical, but once bitten………..
February 15, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Forex is not a scheme, it is a fact, people make money with it, some do some don’t. Andy Ireland does.
The guarantees protect you, should you change your mind and find that what was advertised was not delivered.
If you look at the videos on the sales page, it shows you what you will get after you sign up, so surely there is no harm in testing it out for a month, and if it does not work you get a refund.
If it does work, ? , then you have an income that you would not previously have had.
You are protected on this, both ways it seems.
nico says:
February 15, 2013 at 1:00 pm
Thanks for the prompt reply.Having looked at the video and read the comments on this site and others, I think i will give it a go. As you said, no harm in testing it out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Thanks to all for your comments, great site, will keep you posted.
Keep up the good work
February 16, 2013 at 1:38 pm
I work 9-5 so would I still be able to use this system?
Is this something you can do in the evenings or are there specific times where it is best used?
Thanks
February 18, 2013 at 5:00 pm
Hello, Does this system guarantee to work? I have read the page, and Andy Sounds like he knows what he is talking about, but still there are lots of systems out there that promise profits but dont deliver, do you guarantee this?
Tim Lowe says:
February 18, 2013 at 6:50 pm
Sorry for the short delay.
You can trade anytime the markets are open which effectively means almost anytime however the best time is probably early morning (7:00am – 8:30am).
My advice is to get the product and see if it fits in with your schedule, if not then no harm done as you can get a refund inside 30 days.
February 19, 2013 at 9:27 pm
Thanks for that Tim.
As you can probably tell from my questions, I am a complete novice to all this so does that mean I would have to be infront of my PC for that duration? Reason I ask is that I leave my house at 8.00am so could I put a trade on and then leave it or check via phone later on?
andrew says:
February 19, 2013 at 10:18 pm
hi i tried email Tim lowe”s office i had a question ,what is the platform? and another question is this binary trading? do you have
proof of earnings?
ps you email address doesnt work on your news letter
many thanks.
Tim Lowe says:
February 20, 2013 at 12:18 pm
You could do as you suggest. You would put a trade on and set a stop loss and take profit point so that you know your maximum liabilty and maximum profit. This is to protect against not being able to use your phone to access your account for some reason like being on a train in a tunnel. The system will email you at the point that you ought to exit but if you do nothing the automated stop loss/take profit system will protect your account.
Steve says:
February 20, 2013 at 5:47 pm
Can anyone tell me where to get more info about this product? When I go to the website (http://www.upto1000percent.com), it’s asking me for a password which I obviously don’t have…
Thanks in advance
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 26, 2013 at 12:14 pm
a password will be generated for you.
Lynne says:
February 20, 2013 at 7:04 pm
How do we get the password to sign up for this£
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 26, 2013 at 12:15 pm
Dave Roberts says:
February 21, 2013 at 10:07 am
I have signed up for this course, First impression I get from Andy is he is Genuine and its not a scam! I am looking forward to the future and Im sure Andy will teach me to trade properly but only time will tell. The good thing about it is, he is teaching me in Installments just the way I am paying him I can leave at anytime. Okay Tim Lowe’s advertising makes out it is simple as red and green, easy peezy stuff but I have to disagree, the system does work but much better with the knowledge that will be taught to us over the next few months. After saying this I think most attendancees will Fail because it is not all done for them they have to put in effort, it not the holy Grail, there are rules, and they will have to think for theselves. For those who want to learn I suggest you join for a month its basically free, if its not for you so What. For those who think its sitting back hitting the 2 buttons on your keypad and your bank account will be flooded with money think about this, If this was the case the way things go viral these days the whole of the UK would be sitting at home pressing green and red buttons and the whole world would come to a financial crisis within a month.
Tim Lowe says:
February 21, 2013 at 2:33 pm
Please use this link which will get you set up with your own password:
Gary g says:
February 21, 2013 at 10:14 pm
Looks interesting on the surface. I am going to wait until the end of the month when I get paid if that ok.
G
February 23, 2013 at 11:21 pm
Haha, indicators for forex are ten a penny. I visit forums where 90+ percent are losers n the forex game, and most have tried indicators similar to this, some even gone bankrupt.
Tell me, how is the different. Pro forex trader.
If so good then why not let people just buy the indicator, instead? I have tried loads of indicators in the past,mine main forum I frequent GIVES THEM AWAY for free.
Please, if to are confident the indicator works, sell it to me, instead of a yearly subscription.
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 26, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Hi there,
if you read the sales website, we make it clear that this product is intended for the ‘everyman’ and also the complete beginner. The course has been created to help people who’ve never traded before (or who are at beginner/intermediate level and still learning).
It would be quite remiss of us to offer the indicator to people who’ve never traded before without any kind of tuition.
By the sounds of things you are a pro trader, so of course it wouldn’t be of interest to you!
Waves dave says:
February 24, 2013 at 8:30 am
Everything is advertised as easier than it really is, are there people on here that have used this system yet, or not.
I’d rather just hear from people who have used this before I commit
February 25, 2013 at 7:21 pm
The system only launched just over a week or so ago, and therefore, as advised the majority of users will be trialling in what is a ‘safe mode’ until they have understood how it all works, so no doubt it will be a few more weeks before any results have been shown by users.
Thanks,
February 24, 2013 at 10:27 am
Excellent web site you have here.. It’s difficult to find good reviews on anything Forex related, unless it is written by the promoter, so this does interest me.
Can I definitely cancel my subscription to this course after the first month, even if paying by debit card, because I have had a few issues in the past with subscriptions that just kept on paying out, and want to maybe give this a trial.
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 26, 2013 at 12:19 pm
yes – absolutely you can cancel your subscription at any time. You simply let us know by email or telephone and we cancel any future payments being taken.
howdy says:
February 24, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Having never even seen a forex platform before are you saying I could easily pick this up. Yeah yeah, I know you said a child could do it, but really, I have never traded anything, not even sure how I was on your mail lost, but it sure would be great if I could do it, and it wasn’t a scam.
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 26, 2013 at 12:21 pm
Hello there, absolutely you could pick it up. The vast majority of the customers who have purchase the product have never traded Forex before and are picking it up quite nicely.
Andy gives twice weekly webinars which show you exactly how to trade, and there is a full helpdesk on the site for you to ask any questions you have.
Remember you have 30 days to trial it in any case, and if you decide it isn’t for you, you can simply ask for a full refund of your first month’s payment – so there really isn’t anything to lose by trying it out.
February 24, 2013 at 3:06 pm
I have ordered this ai. Trade safe and just cannot get to grips. The videos just go too fast and not in enoughh detail for me. Not done nothing like it for and the ad said it would be easily but just cannot understand help please.
February 25, 2013 at 7:19 pm
There are actual webinars, details ones in the members area, that will probably give you a better understanding on how this all works.
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 26, 2013 at 12:22 pm
Do watch the live & recorded webinars, and don’t forget to make use of the support site to ask Andy any questions you have. He will be more than happy to help out with any questions.
Dave Roberts says:
February 28, 2013 at 9:31 pm
I have never traded before problem I have is, we are going over things in the webinar that people really should have learnt by using the quick start guide. if you cant get to grips with the simple starting guide what hope do you have?
I have not traded too mcuh because I work away alot but I have increased my £5000 demo account to £5241, I have had some nice trades so far.
May 18, 2013 at 8:26 pm
I haven’t purchased this yet as i’m waiting to get paid first but will defo try it.
i always believe in going over the same info over an over again until it eventually sinks in.
Also theres alot of free stuff on the internet where you can pick little bits up from different people to give you more of an understanding.
February 24, 2013 at 11:34 pm
I have bought the V Sytem from Tim Lowe and it does what it says on the tin and so I will probably give this Forex system a go to boost my trading across the day. It probably isn’t quite as easy as the copywriter suggests, but Andy seems kosher to me and Tim does check these out before putting it to his list. 30 days trial, its worth a go.
February 25, 2013 at 7:20 pm
Thanks for the comment,
Let us know how you get on with the AITradesafe system. It will be good to see some actual results.
Rams departed says:
February 25, 2013 at 1:14 am
Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give try this system. I already work so I am right in thinking that it can be done before going to work?? I mean I don’t have a great deal of spare time, and myself and husband have looked at it all and seems to be what we need, but we both work, s yea we just thinking if we have enough time that this program needs to make it worthwhile. We could defy do with the extra money, and we are always looking for ways to make extra money like most people. If you would please let us know for sure if we could maybe fit this in around our jobs then we thank you.
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 26, 2013 at 12:26 pm
Hi there,
Just like you the majority of our customers have full-time jobs, so they need to fit it around their every day lives. Most people choose to trade Forex before they go to work, between 6am-8.30am, or in the evenings when they get back from work. The markets are active 24 hours a day (except at the weekends), so you can trade anytime that suits you really.
February 25, 2013 at 6:10 pm
Hello, would I be right in thinking that no previous experience at all is required to trade? And if this is correct then how long should it take to get to the levels advertised in terms of income made?
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 26, 2013 at 12:28 pm
Hi there,
yes you are quite correct – you don’t need any previous experience, in fact this product is specifically aimed at beginners. We generally suggest that you trade in ‘practise mode’ for the first 2-4 weeks, so that you get to grips with the system. Then you should follow the trading plan in order to make up to £3350 from £300 in 4 weeks.
February 26, 2013 at 12:05 am
OK, i invested in this service 2 days ago, and finding that it is a little difficult to understand, but sure i will get there. i am going to watch the seminars today, which are a few hours long when i get the time as the manual does not provide any real details for a novice which I need.
What i did want to ask was in demo mode on the software does it still show you profit and loss, so i know if what i am doing is working correct?
Another problem is that on the manual does not explain id details any great details about how to make the profits or i am missing something somewhere.
Lots to understand and the manual did not explain very much so hoping the videos will do it for me.
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 26, 2013 at 12:30 pm
Hi there,
if you’ve purchased the system the best way to get answers to these type of questions is to submit them directly to Andy via the Support Centre on the website.
All the information you need is in the manuals but if you need anything clarified just ask Andy via the Support Centre.
The demo mode will show you the profit & loss just like a live account does.
February 26, 2013 at 4:10 am
Does anybody actually know as it is not mentioned in the sales material if this indicator avoiding what is known in the trade as double painting? a lot of Forex indicators are blighted by this, and even though I have read and seen loads of systems like this one the guarantee is catching my eye Please let me know then I will probably order and give this a trial Thanks Barry
Tim Lowe's Office says:
February 26, 2013 at 4:37 pm
I have checked with Andy Ireland, and he has told me that this is a real-time indicator so should avoid double painting.
Andy says:
February 26, 2013 at 4:58 pm
I was going to ask the exact same question as you. I too have read and see a lot of issues with the double paint on other signaling systems.
trev p says:
February 27, 2013 at 11:43 am
Should u wish to cancel during 30 day guarantee period what phone no. or email address do you use many thanks trev
Tim Lowe says:
February 27, 2013 at 2:53 pm
Beacuse it is usually it is a bad idea to put phone numbers or email addresses on open forums I will have to answer like this: the email address you would need is on the ‘Contact Us’ tab on the AITradesafe customer helpdesk.
trev p says:
February 27, 2013 at 3:13 pm
thanks tim thats fine
February 27, 2013 at 12:09 pm
Has somebody got a password to gain entry to the website please, it is asking for some kind of password that I just don’t have.
Please??
February 27, 2013 at 1:50 pm
Welcome to our website.
Tim Lowe mentioned a link above where you can apply for a password, to gain access to AITradesafe explanation page:
Darren says:
February 27, 2013 at 5:59 pm
It would be fantastic if it works like the copy sells it. I’ve never earned a living without hard work, responsibility & stress.
February 28, 2013 at 8:55 am
Having working online for a while, obviously Forex is one subject that gets mentioned a lot, so as long as the garantees are genuine, I think I’ll give this a go.
I will let you all know how I get on. Rob
jason says:
February 28, 2013 at 5:10 pm
Hi there,
Has anybody got any results from AITradesafe yet? Also how much pips can you make weekly on this easly.
Tim Lowe says:
March 1, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Jason, please note that the very first customers have had this just TWO weeks in total so any results should only be with a practice account.
That said we have had some good feedback, I have copied the saliant points here from a few people:
I joined on the 25th of February and started trading on the 26th (dummy account) My results so far: 26th 6 pips 27th 46 pips 1st of all let me tell you how refreshing it is to find someone who is really willing to help others succeed.
Hi Andy. Just quick note. About me age 64. Been trading for a few years now. You have done what all the other courses have not. Live trading. Well done.
Traded Aud….sold at 10 points profit. So total for day 41 points.
Here are my results:
Euro/Dollar to 21st Feb
Pound/Dollar to 20th Feb
jason says:
March 1, 2013 at 4:24 pm
The 23 trades and 27points from what dates?? can you give the brack down on both euro/dollar and pound/dollar and how many points you made daily and what times so we all know when it would be best to trade.
jason says:
March 2, 2013 at 11:39 am
Hi there,
Can you please enplane how you achieve the trades below was this in one day or over a pried of a week??
Here are my results:
Euro/Dollar to 21st Feb
Pound/Dollar to 20th Feb
Tim Lowe says:
March 4, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Please note that I, as I said before,I was copying and pasting customer comments from our webinars. It was not the customer posting here.
I do not know the answer specifically but as at the time of writing the product had only been released two weeks prior then 2 weeks is the longest time frame those results could have applied to. That said I recall that it was more than one day’s worth, so please assume it was 2 weeks.
Andrew says:
March 2, 2013 at 8:29 pm
Skeptical.com. Reminds me of Sky bet, place a free (recommended) bet, you win, you become hooked and eventually lose.
Andrew says:
March 2, 2013 at 8:46 pm
Money back promises are also just for your peace of mind. What they don’t tell you is that very few people although unhappy will not ask for their money back and carry on subscribing. If people like this who are already Millionaires really care about the average man making money they would give you a real Free trial such as 3 months without taking a penny from you just to prove that it really works then take a larger monthly payment from you, they would have nothing to lose! So why don’t the already wealthy put their money where their mouth is? This post may not get published or i will get a sarcastic reply. The products are all online so really there is no loss associated to let people try for Free.
March 3, 2013 at 1:35 pm
Hi Andrew,
Your comment IS published, we have no allegiance to this product, or services, so no reason not to publish, unless the comment was untrue, or placed just to cause a reaction.
Unhappy people will continue to pay £89 a month and carry on subscribing?
Why on earth would any intelligent person do that? It is a nonsense to suggest that. Although people ARE responsible for their own actions, and this would not be the fault of any promoter.
Also, why should anybody who is training you to earn a living offer a free trial? Like you would get a free trial to sky tv?Again, that is a nonsense statement. Nobody on this earth owes anybody else anything, just because it is asked for. Everybody has the option to click the advertisement off, if they don’t like what is offered, or the terms by which it is offered.
Just out of interest, and thinking about that comment, it is a well known, and proven fact, that when something, a service for example, is offered for ‘free’, the tendency by the user, is to often devalue the information, which they would not do if it were a paid option; or that a user will not place the required emphasis on it’s merits, and thus will not place the needed emphasis to achieve results
That is just human nature, although not a progressive trait.
Actually though, the fact that you can get your money back at the end of the first month IS a free trial.
Why don’t you give it a go, let us know the results, and then you can be as skeptical as you like. It is like all business opportunities, you read what is on offer, and if you don’t like it, you click it off. If you do decide to continue with the offer, then, look at the guarantees, and in this case, the guarantees offer a full money back guarantee in the first month AFTER you have seen the system in action.
I don’t think potential customers considering this service can ask for anymore than that: and to claim the only potential downside is that a user might ‘forget to cancel’ is just clutching at straws, really, and looking at any angle possible, not to try something that has already guaranteed you cannot lose out.
It has also not been unnoticed that every comment you have made so far on this website takes a negative stance.
If you have no intention to try anything, and are just intent on migrating your own negativity onto others, then this is not the website for you, and is probably indicative of your results so far.
March 3, 2013 at 11:59 pm
I have to agree with the admin on this. Having read the description, the guarantee looks plausible to me. I plan to do for the first month rigorously, and then consider if I works. If not then I would cancel and get my refund. Seems fair enough, especially as I have never done trading before, and hope to give it a fair crack of the whip once I have understood the tax side of things, which I have been looking into online for the last hour or so.
jason says:
March 3, 2013 at 2:42 pm
why is nobody replying to my post.
March 3, 2013 at 4:55 pm
Hopefully Tim or his team wil answer this on Monday.
Tim Lowe says:
March 4, 2013 at 1:57 pm
I have now replied.
Jay says:
March 3, 2013 at 9:37 pm
I am teetering on the edge of joining this, and the profits advertised look good. After the first month there is more training yes, but lets say after 4 months of this training, how much should the student then be making?? Should the profits go up every month after each module of training, and if that is true, then what is the scale of profits month on month after learning the new skills taught in each monthly module, because if I am learning enough in month one to make £3000+ every month, then what incentive is there for me to keep paying, unless more profits are made with what is being learned??
March 3, 2013 at 11:21 pm
Hi. Good question, I would be more than happy with 3000 a month, so why would we have to continue to pay the subscription after the first month, or would we be able just to pay for one month if we are happy with that level of income??
Vince says:
March 23, 2013 at 10:46 am
May 18, 2013 at 8:39 pm
Good answer
Tim Lowe says:
March 4, 2013 at 2:41 pm
As the sales copy says the aim is to take newbies and teach them multiple methods so that they have an armoury of tools good enough to make them a professional trader if they wish.
The more methods and skill you have the less likely you are to make a mistake. I would prefer a heart surgeon who had allsorts of techniques in his bag that he would probably not need for my operation rather than a bloke who only knew how to do the exact operation I happened to be having. Its just safer!!!!
We do not say and I would advise against believing that you can make £3,000 EVERY month from the initial startup system.
There is nothing inherently wrong with it BUT it uses the fact that the brokers will guarantee any losses you make for the first month of having a live account, therefore it is ‘safe’ to make trades with large amounts of your starting bank at risk because you cannot lose it BUT after that it would be your money at risk so we suggest much smaller amounts of risk to the bank.
The trading methods are identical but for smaller percentages of your bank.
That said, if you had traded your £300 into £3,000 you should then be able to trade £3,000 into another £3,000 with very little risk.
Obviously you should expect to make more each month as time goes by but how much depends on how much effort you want to put in. Many ‘full time’ tarders actually only trade a few days a month, ist your choice.
There are three reasons to stay subscribed, (1) you will learn more advanced methods and work towards that highly skilled and therefore more likley to succeed long term professional status; (2) everybody will always want questions answered and help because as your knowledge grows and develops situations crop up or things occur that you will want advise on – this is part of what you get and; (3) the trading template that works with the trading software is only licenced to you for as long as you are subscribed so if you choose to unsubscribe then the template will stop working. This is still the case after you are fully trained but then the cost drops to £29.95 monthly.
We feel that this is a tiny price to pay for what the template helps you do as it gives you signals you could not obtain in any other way unless you were a real 10 year ‘city veteran’.
March 3, 2013 at 11:45 pm
Can somebody please explain to me how the tax implications work with the profits that are created? Is trading classed as actual gambling, and therefore completely tax free. Currently I am employed, and slightly concerned how this would work with Inland Revenue and taxation?
Tim Lowe says:
March 4, 2013 at 2:45 pm
Forex trading is usually taxed as ‘Capital Gains’ on the basis that if you held a sum of money that went up in value that would be a Capital Gain. However we use a ‘spread betting’ brokerage which is slightly different software classed, as you say, as ‘betting’ (which is odd but the way its done) hence no income tax, unless it is your sole source of income.
March 4, 2013 at 11:41 am
Can this be paid with paypal?
Tim Lowe says:
March 4, 2013 at 4:15 pm
One off payments are easy enough with Paypal but subscriptions like this are a nightmare to monitor and cannot be easily automated with websites so I am afraid that no you cannot use Paypal in this case.
jason says:
March 5, 2013 at 9:52 am
no you havent repled to my quctions below
Can you please enplane how you achieve the trades below was this in one day or over a pried of a week??
Here are my results:
Euro/Dollar to 21st Feb
Pound/Dollar to 20th Feb
Tim Lowe says:
March 5, 2013 at 12:21 pm
I have told you everything that I know alreday. You need to scroll up to your original question which is where I posted this answer:
Please note that I, as I said before,I was copying and pasting customer comments from our webinars. It was not the customer posting here.
I do not know the answer specifically but as at the time of writing the product had only been released two weeks prior then 2 weeks is the longest time frame those results could have applied to. That said I recall that it was more than one day’s worth, so please assume it was 2 weeks.
Needman says:
March 6, 2013 at 10:26 am
Hey there just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know I have joined, and even though I have never done this type of stuff before, I will post results back as time permits. I am excited by it.
March 6, 2013 at 12:13 pm
Good luck,
Let us know how you get on.
joe mcdermott says:
March 6, 2013 at 5:31 pm
if you could, would be interested to hear how the man off the street gets on whom hasnt as much done anythink like this before. a bit like myself.
Tim Lowe says:
March 7, 2013 at 10:23 am
Joe
Obviously you caq try it for a month and see how you get on, if not for you then you can have a refund so nothing to lose really.
I have also pasted these customer comments which might help:
This past week has resulted in my having trades that have produced an overall profit at the end of every single day. In total, I have made 51 points. Considering that I only joined just over 2 weeks ago and have never traded before, then I am pleased with my progress.
In my opinion, AITS does exactly what is claimed & I shall be more than happy to continue my subscription.
Personally, I am finding that AITS is doing what is claimed. Today I had not a single unprofitable trade and ended up with 12 points profit. Yes, it does take some practice to get to grips with the QuickStart technique – but it isn’t difficult & you simply MUST stick to the rules.
For what it’s worth, I decided to give it a whirl at the end of last week and it seems feasible so far. I’m still in the learning stage and have made trades not in line with the rules, but, even so, I’m at a 60% success rate and in “profit”. I’m slowly getting to grips with it, though.
I joined on the 25th of February and started trading on the 26th (dummy account) My results so far: 26th 6 pips 27th 46 pips 1st of all let me tell you how refreshing it is to find someone who is really willing to help others succeed.
—————-
Hi Andy. Just quick note. About me age 64. Been trading for a few years now. You have done what all the other courses have not. Live trading. Well done.
Traded Aud….sold at 10 points profit. So total for day 41 points.
Here are my results:
Euro/Dollar to 21st Feb
Pound/Dollar to 20th Feb
Just come of the 3rd webinar and several people even newbies ARE making money AND there are some experienced traders on the program, i am new to this but i can say that Andy Ireland is a genuine and helpful guy, i got stuck on the template not downloading correctly and Andy rang me up on the weekend and talked me through it, great guy.
March 7, 2013 at 4:13 pm
Can you help me please? I subscribed to AItradesafe thanks to your letter, and duly received the welcome pack. I have managed to delete it and have no idea how to get back to the site. I have sent an email to the admin off but fear this is just an automated mail box. Please help.
Tim Lowe says:
March 7, 2013 at 5:10 pm
Oh dear!!! The [email protected] email address goes directly to the young lady in charge of admin so she will deal with it for you!!!
I have emailed her to look out for your email as well.
Gary Park says:
March 8, 2013 at 4:44 pm
From what I have read so far, I am interested in going forward with this. Is there a one off price otion instead of paying monthly, and if there is does it come at a discount rate?
Tim Lowe says:
March 8, 2013 at 5:23 pm
I am afraid not, it is priced to be fair and reasonable but many parts involve us in an ongoing monthly cost, for example the software company we employed to develop the template based on our formulas know it is valuable so wont do it for a one off fee, they get a percentage every single month the template is in use.
joe mcdermott says:
March 9, 2013 at 6:24 pm
when people state i made 49 pips ot ticks, how much is a pip or tick worth actually and are these pip/tick the same thing
Tim Lowe says:
March 10, 2013 at 10:30 am
Points and pips are the same thing. How much depends on how much you place to trade for each pip. So you MIGHT say that you will stake £1,000 per pip and be a millionaire next week… but no system is perfect so sometimes you lose (with this maybe 30% of trades lose a little) so sensibly you stake small amounts per pip, say £5, so that to begin with at least, the odd losses don’t scare you into quitting. Its great when you make £500 but if you lose, say even £100, most beginners get worried.
By the end of a few months you would maybe be using as much as £20 a pip BUT that is entirely down to you, practice and how confident you feel in what you are doing.
joe mcdermott says:
March 9, 2013 at 6:26 pm
even points are sometimes mentioned
March 12, 2013 at 11:32 am
I’m watching this site like a particularly excited hawk!
March 13, 2013 at 9:56 am
You actually make it appear really easy, but is it easy and foolproof just to follow the red and greens shown in the vid. If the win rate is 70 percent, then the red and greens cannot always be right, is that correct. I read up on forex markets and it looks tricky to make money from but this looks like it does the work for you, and wondering if it is foolproof.
March 13, 2013 at 12:08 pm
No system will win 100% of the time, although, as you probably realise that is over 50% is a profit.
Tim will probably confirm, it is the amount of wins, and the amount of losses (in pip/point terms) that will decide the overall profit.
IE: A loss of 5 pips one day, could be superseded by a win of 22 points the next, which would cloud the win percentage’s favour over and above the win/loss percentage ratio.
IE2: again, if over a week the 30% of losses lost 5 points (when the system lost), and the 70% of winning trades made 10+ points, then the ratio of win/loss even though 70%, could still mean an overall higher profit margin than it seems when comparing percentages.
Tim Lowe says:
March 13, 2013 at 4:03 pm
Yes, you have got this about right.
In essence we aim to have winning trades 70% or more of the time just using the 4 light template (some of the later month’s training will fine tune some things to get the wins at more than 80%).
We also want losing trades stopped out for small losses and wins well managed to be bigger so that the effective return on money traded is much more than you might expect with a 70% strike rate. The holy grail would be no change in account value 30% of the time and big gains 70% of the time. This is unlikley but ultimately what we aim for!!!
Nick says:
March 13, 2013 at 5:12 pm
Hi – loving this system, and am about to take the plunge, will let you know how it goes. BUT one question hope you guys or Tim can answer:
Thanks
Tim Lowe says:
March 14, 2013 at 1:07 pm
You load Andy’s template into MT4 and use it with your own broker, we suggest GKFX to start with.
Nick says:
March 14, 2013 at 1:09 pm
March 22, 2013 at 10:55 am
is this all easily explained. i’m not the best on computers and only have a basic laptop
Keith says:
March 14, 2013 at 4:15 pm
I joined on Feb 19th as an absolute beginner, after a difficult start in understanding the rules of the system I have stuck with it and practiced on the demo daily I have now become efficient and now winning 80% of my trades. I will definitely be continuing into the second month and very shortly going live. Andy is very conscious of the newcomers with no experience and during webinars will not let the more experienced members, who want to speed things up, over rule those who are finding it more difficult to grasp. Overall I am more than very confident that if I stick to the rules I will make plenty of profit. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
March 14, 2013 at 7:19 pm
That is great to hear, thanks for your feedback, I am sure it will help other members.
Shaz Q says:
March 14, 2013 at 10:06 pm
I joined last month. Finally I’ve got something I can sink my teeth into. I’m enjoying every moment. Its about patience and discipline, money will come. I’m chipping away at learning the rules at the moment and there is no doubt once I’ve made entering and exiting trades the aitradesafe way second nature big money will come. Im so glad I joined.
Andy is genuinely interested in teaching people to trade safely and efficiently. The course is delivered in chunk sized monthly modules perfect for anyone who has zero knowledge of Forex trading.
I see myself as Andy’s apprentice. Everyone knows a good apprentice has a good chance of becoming a master.
Aslong as one is willing to put the effort in and has the ability to control emotions and manage risk then success is assured.
March 14, 2013 at 11:12 pm
I’m still reading through the recommended reading list and enjoying learning this new subject whilst feeling encouraged by the recent positive reports on here.
All the best to everyone!
:O)
March 18, 2013 at 10:10 am
When people have finished the years subscription course with Andy
Ireland, how are people to make money from this? Also what indicators will people follow then to make a profit?
Thanks
Tim Lowe says:
March 18, 2013 at 3:00 pm
After a year you will know how to trade without needing anymore help from Andy. You will have allsorts of tool at your disposal by then but if you still need the indicator it costs £29.95 a month
Chris says:
March 18, 2013 at 5:05 pm
Can this be traded on the 1 and 4 hour timeframes, and how many pairs are you trading
Many thanks
Tim Lowe says:
March 18, 2013 at 10:57 pm
Keith Arnold says:
March 18, 2013 at 6:13 pm
One slight disadvantage that I can see is that if you practise trade for a whole month,then cannot make money when you go live, your money back guarantee has expired.
March 18, 2013 at 10:05 pm
I’m half way through the Japanese Candlestick book recommended on Andy’s website and can now see some interesting similarities between the author’s four levels of criteria which identify certain possible patterns, and the four lights indicator of Andy’s.
I shall continue reading this eye opening book until I have the funds to invest in Andy’s course.
This is becoming almost believable.
PJ says:
March 19, 2013 at 2:42 am
You stated earlier that we can get money back after first 30 days. Is that the £89 or the £300? Bearing in mind that if we paper trade for the first month we will not know real results until after 60 days. I assume the safeguard on our £300 bank is during the time we actually go live trading?
Tim Lowe says:
March 19, 2013 at 5:38 pm
You can get a refund of your £89 for the first 30 days.
The £300 safeguard is when you are live trading so don’t open a live account until you are ready to use it!!!
PJ says:
March 19, 2013 at 11:47 pm
Yes I realised that we could get a refund of £89 in the first 30 days. That’s clear. But if we are advised to paper trade for the first month then it will be 2 months before we know if we are going to be successful at it or not and by that time one would have paid 2 x £89 without any chance of a refund. That was the point I was trying to clarify
Tim Lowe says:
March 20, 2013 at 11:50 am
Many people do struggle with live mode at first when it is real money, for some reason they become excessively cautious OR start gambling but the system cannot help you with that, you need to stick to teh rules yourself.
March 19, 2013 at 5:28 pm
I tried emailing you on one of your websites, but got no reply. I am trying again.
Could someone who has no real interest in learning the full package just carry on trading with the four lights indefinatly?
The profits gained are enough if they are as stated.
Finally, what kind of precentage gains could i make if trading full time just the lights/indicators?
I am asking as a few people want to know this it seems….including some friends of mine.
Tim Lowe says:
March 20, 2013 at 11:53 am
Yes BUT you do have the know the basics, obviously!
Plus we don’t sell the indicator on its own so you would still have to pay the monthly fees, even if you ignored the training and support.
Almost everybody will eventually want to know more because humans are inquisitive so don’t write yourself off on learning more!
Tim Lowe says:
March 20, 2013 at 11:55 am
Sorry, didn’t answer on % gains. The indicator alone will give you a strike rate of 10%-15% LESS than doing everything else we might teach.
March 19, 2013 at 11:00 pm
will the software work on a basic laptop?
Tim Lowe says:
March 20, 2013 at 11:55 am
Tony says:
July 13, 2013 at 3:58 pm
Saturday, July 13th.
Just bought the system but in my eagerness I didn’t think about using it with my mac. (I don’t have a PC since it broke beyond repair.) I know that one can use Metatrader on a mac but obviously not with Tradesafe. Any details on how to get around it – you mention ’emulation software’.
joe mcdermott says:
March 20, 2013 at 2:23 pm
i recentley got a email from a learn to trade company inviting me to a seminar in my local town.
would this be to do with what you are intending to teach us? they also say they have a 87% strike rate overall, am i a bit confused or is this a completely different thing.
Tim Lowe says:
March 20, 2013 at 3:30 pm
Same marketplace I believe, Forex market but different teachers and methods. Probably a firm called ‘Knowledge to Action’. I gather they are quite good and the seminar is free, however I gather they sell you a multi-thousand pound seminar whilst you attend the free part.
chris says:
March 22, 2013 at 12:21 pm
Hi if you want to get the refund within the 30 days how do you go about it
Tim Lowe says:
March 23, 2013 at 4:40 pm
You need to email [email protected] within the 30 day period. Please be careful to do so well in time as the whole system is automated so you get month 2’s videos and so on exactly 30 days after you first subscribe and are charged automatically on that day 2 by your bank, not by my company.
Vince says:
March 23, 2013 at 11:08 am
Only slight problem I can see is that if one you paper trades for the 30 days then one has to assume that “real time” will be exactly the same. You will be outside the guarantee period when you go live. You should take Mr Lowe comment with regards using real money as definite. It is a very different feeling when the money is actually yours!
I have also experienced systems that seemed to indicate good profits in test mode but did not when live!
This is not a criticism as I haven’t tried this yet but it is worth bearing in mind. You will have to be unemotional and disciplined.
March 23, 2013 at 1:30 pm
No promoter can control other people’s feelings, that is a personal responsibility, surely, and is not a problem, as such. It is about personal control.
You have made other postings which are just negative, and designed to put people off, without merit, which have not been approved for the reason that they are incorrect. We leave that type of talk to other forums, and websites. We focus of facts.
The paper trading is advised for 2-4 weeks, so if this works for you after 2 weeks, and you feel confident, then you still have 2 weeks left of the guarantee to trade live without risk.
From what we have read, this offer is about as close to covering your back as you will find with an offer such as this, and finding unnecessary negatives to pick holes will not be tolerated, because they are not there to begin with.
There is no risk in the first month, fact, and therefore if you demo mode for 2 weeks, then try live for 2 weeks, you are still not risking anything, not a penny.
Vince says:
March 23, 2013 at 7:48 pm
First as it my second post I can hardly be accused of a –
“other postings which are just negative”
I also deliberately said -“This is not a criticism as I haven’t tried this yet”
March 24, 2013 at 12:55 am
You made 2 other posts yesterday, one at 11.29 am, and then another at 1.20 pm, not approved ( although they are in the admin area ) both of which were designed to discourage people from joining Aitradesafe, with scare-mongering, and both of which were most definitely criticism, and for something you have not even joined.
Please stick to facts.
March 23, 2013 at 11:03 pm
joined the programme yesterday and hoping it does what it says on the tin, ive downloaded the templates as instructed and read the quick start manual an viewed the videos. Ive not seen in anything ive read how to actually get started using the demo in practice mode. The manual an videos show you how to trade and what parameters to use but they dont seem to walk the complete novice by the hand. I have 30 days if i work this out cool if i dont then i will ask for a refund.
March 24, 2013 at 10:40 am
I am watching this scheme so I will be interested in your experiences.
Please keep us informed on how it works out for you.
Not quite as straight forward as the ad. suggests?
Steve says:
March 24, 2013 at 8:40 am
I am very interested in joining the programme, but am concerned,not by the cost, but how much time is required to study and learn he techniques. My current job contact ends on 31 May and I am seriously considering taking the summer to learn this and other trading techniques. Are people able to learn this whilst holding down a full time job?
If I do order now can I delay the first month to start on 1 June?
Appreciate any replies
Tim Lowe says:
March 25, 2013 at 3:28 pm
I’m sorry no you cannot order now and delay the start as everything is automated. May I suggest simply ordering when you are ready.
Most of our customers do have full time jobs and fir this around their work. Of course it takes awhile to leran things and it will be slower at firts but I think it is worth persevering.
March 24, 2013 at 9:26 pm
Just viewed the video were you are shown how andy users the IATradesafe software to trade, now i would say i am an intelligent person, i have a degree in psychology and i build websites, but the way andy describes his actions and why, he may as well be speaking Mandarin Chinese, sorry but this course in my opinion is not for the novice who has never traded before. If you have traded in the past then yes this is for you.I have a feeling if i do not grasp this within 14 days I think i will be asking for a refund sooner than i thought.
March 25, 2013 at 3:26 pm
Not quite “so simple a 12 year old could do it” then.
Shame, the if something looks to good to be true………
March 26, 2013 at 12:01 am
No a 12 yr old wouldnt stand a chance with this, i think whoever made that comment needs to rethink that one.Once again ive gone through the manual which ive printed and put into a folder, ive viewed videos relative to my time on the programme and i must say its bloody hard going. As far as the videos are concerned you may as well just be sitting in a room with andy watching him trade, he has to keep so concentrated he doesnt talk most of the time and when he does he doesnt make sense.
The quick start manual doesnt really explain it like you where teaching a complete novice, you sort of have to work it out for yourself.
Im getting disheartend very fast now,it seems this course is not what its advertised to be.
Not enough information to help the blind to forex see.
VJ says:
March 24, 2013 at 11:08 pm
Just wondering how much time do we usually need to spend daily looking for the right signsls yo enter and exit the trade. And how often do we get these signals daily?
As I am working full time mon to fri, can devoting few hours every day on evenings be wnough to make pips?
Thanks
Tim Lowe says:
March 25, 2013 at 3:29 pm
A few hours every evening will be fine to make good returns. My best advice is to try it for 30 days and see, as you have nothing to lose.
March 25, 2013 at 3:00 am
I bought the AITradesafe system and I have managed to download the GKFX Template successfully and I have also downloaded the AITradesafe template but when I go back to click on the GKFX template nothing happens the message I get is waiting for update. I have tried to re download the AITradesafe template again with no success. I have also tried to restart the computer but am still not getting anywhere. Please help as I woul like to start learning ASAP. Thank you.
Tim Lowe says:
March 25, 2013 at 3:25 pm
May I ask you to please use the dedicated AITradesafe helpdesk as Andy is available there specifically to help you. This site is not ‘ours’ and is purely an independent review site.
CB says:
March 26, 2013 at 1:49 am
I am seriosly considering this program but I live in australia what are the ramifications of using this program while living outside the u.k. ie can I still use GKFX brokerage & is my 300 still guaranteed, is there any other downsides ?
Tim Lowe says:
March 26, 2013 at 10:28 am
You can still use GKFX but you would need to ask them about the gurantee as I don’t know and their site is not clear on the subject. My guess is that they have a different offer for Aus.
March 26, 2013 at 10:18 am
Im getting frustrated with this course now, its not for the novice and its not spelt out clear enough, so if youve never done forex before you will struggle big time.(unless your a 12 yr old i guess)
Ive emailed admin and they are about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike so it looks like i defo will be getting a refund and moving on.
Tim Lowe says:
March 26, 2013 at 10:26 am
Yous say you have emailed ‘admin’, however admin is exactly what they do so no surprise that they cannot help with trading queries. You have unlimited access to ask Andy questions by asking questions on the dedicated helpdesk.
I have to say that there are literally hundreds of people saying how easy this is so maybe you have missed some crucail thing that Andy can help you with on the helpdesk.
March 27, 2013 at 11:33 am
Hundreds of people saying how easy it is? They must be the lucky ones who can decipher a badly written course…and there lies the problem, this course seems to be written for people who have had some experience or who have read a little about forex.To the newbie this course is like handing over a dictionary in the vulcan language and saying “there you go get on with it”
I agree andy means well trying to teach and help people earn money but maybe if he laid the course out as if he was teaching a classroom full of kids, yes use parrot language thats how the newbie will master anything he learns .
Tim Lowe says:
March 27, 2013 at 5:01 pm
We’d love to help you to understand it and honestly believe that the course does explain everything.
Andy is more than willing to go through with you all that you think is confusing or missing and if it needs it to modify the course. He had a University lecturer assist him with the layout and content so he feels it is spot on but is always looking to improve.
Tim Lowe says:
March 26, 2013 at 10:30 am
Just to put the other side of this point, I copied this from the makemoneyforum.co.uk
I “signed up” with Andy’s program a month ago,read the Quick Start Guide several times whilst just watching the screen to see how it ticked. As Tim Lowe stated, you can learn more by “doing,” and by having the Demo account to use mistakes cost nothing, and if you can work out what went wrong you will learn a lot.
The second monthly payment has just gone out of my account, but I have NOT traded every day – I was away for a week of that time, and certainly not traded every day in between.
Several comments above ask for results, and I appreciate Dave’s detailed account of his progress, well done !
My progress? Demo account only, Trading at £2.00 a pip throughout –
Best Trade = £161.90 Worst Loss = -0.20p. Profit –
I’m no brain surgeon either, as some commented above, but I will say –
1. Give your self time to understand how the screens “TICK.”
2. Watch the Webinars. the Q-A sessions are very useful and the info.
3. Only trade when there is Movement (sounds obvious)pick your graph!
6. Take Andy’s advice “Trade what you see, not what you think.” and stick to the Rules.
CONCLUSION – I am a learner with next to little previous knowledge and have lost a lot of money with so called “Opportunities”
This is the best thing since the proverbial sliced bread, for me, and over £300 profit in 2 1/2 weeks is the best “profit” I’ve ever made off a Computer screen. O.K. -I’ve got to take off the £89′s !!
Do make use of the Money back guarantee and give it a whirl, – “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Rating: 4.6/5 (5 votes cast)
March 27, 2013 at 11:26 am
i was expecting a reply like this to bolster support for the course..
March 27, 2013 at 11:37 am
Not every person who tries the course will find it for them. But one thing I can tell you, is the amount of people who are watching this thread is extremely high, and unless people were making this work for them, then this thread would soon know otherwise,
If you are not happy, and are struggling to understand the course, either ask for support from the promoters or ask for a refund.
I could not get skiing at first, when all around me, even elderly people and 3 year old children were whizzing past me on the slopes. it took me a good few years to understand what it was, and it was only through practice that I am now up to an acceptable level.
Surely learning, and spending the time to learn about increasing your finances is worth the effort.
Please ask for the support you need via aitradesafe, as the promoters will be able to see what you need.
Tim Lowe says:
March 27, 2013 at 4:58 pm
Well with all due respect I am hardly going to agree with you am I?
Eve says:
March 26, 2013 at 9:35 pm
Please don’t laugh but this is a serious question.
Can a woman do this?? All sounds great but I always think this pe of thing was more for me?
March 27, 2013 at 11:27 am
Gender doesnt come into it anyone can take any course man or women.
March 27, 2013 at 12:47 pm
I don’t know that much about Forex, but I do recognise that to ‘stay the course’ its not about how many pips, nor how much money one makes – its all about how well one manages risk.
It is generally recommended that the MAXIMUM risk on any one trade should be NO MORE THAN 2% of the bank. I know trailing stops CAN help to mitigate risk, oftentimes the most risky time of the trade can see the stop getting dangerously close, and so the ‘safety net’ of a trailing stop doesn’t help the risk.
On this assumption to use a pip value of £2.00 with a stop of 10pips, 10 X £2.00 = £20 would require a bank of £1,000 and the risk would be no more than £20.00.
A 20 pip profit would show a profit of £40.00, but what is more important is that it is a 4% increase of the bank.
Lets now look at the results applying these rules to a bank of £300. Working to a stop of just 10 pips, the pip value is 0.60p which is equal to a 2% risk and, if successful, equals, working to a 20 pip target, a 4% increase, a 20 pip profit, on £300 figure is £12.
Overall, as some correspondents have stated profits of 250pips + working with a bank of just £300 at 0.60p is good, but if the stop does not reflect 2% risk, then surely this is a recipe for disaster.
Clearly, to turn £300 into £3,500 in the space of 30 days less 8 days worth of weekends, looks a dauntingly impossible feat.
Tim Lowe says:
March 27, 2013 at 4:55 pm
Whether your maths is right or wrong doesn’t really matter as I am afraid you have missed an essential point.
There is zero risk to the bank no matter if you put 100% of it on one trade. This is because for 30 days the broker underwrites your £300 and will top it back up to £300 should you lose money.
We make it very, very clear that this is an aggresive trading plan for 30 days but only whilst there is zero risk, after that we return to more conservative risks in line with your expectations.
The idea is to get people off to a good start and with a decent bank that they didn’t have to put in which helps enormously with their psychology.
April 5, 2013 at 4:39 pm
Hi Doubters and Sceptics!
I have just completed my first week with Andy.
He has the patience of a saint. He is a plain talker and calls a spade a spade. Admittedly, I have been in Forex for 4 years,I HAVE been on some of the flashy ‘Trading Workshops’…and some absolutely shocking ones…and, to their credit, some actually honoured their ‘money back guarantee’ I have experimented and wasted £££ with ‘Robot Traders’ and had the pleasure of a ‘private mentor’ for 2 years so I AM familiar with the mechanics of trading.
But something wonderful happened this week…MY FIRST WEEK with Andy has realised a 28%, thats NOT 2.8% its TWENTY EIGHT PER CENT increase on my ‘Live Bank’ For me, this is frankly AMAZING!
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I’m sure that if Andy was around four years ago, I too, would probably have been as doubtful and sceptical as some of the correspondents here.
Frankly if I HADN’T been lied to, ripped off and cheated I would NOT be praising ANDY IRELAND….he is a breath of fresh air in an industry that concentrates only on selling the sizzle and not the sausage, in my opinon he is a one off.
Howey says:
March 29, 2013 at 12:52 pm
Wish me luck, I’ve taken the plunge! Thanks for all the advice.
Cliff says:
March 29, 2013 at 4:16 pm
I’ve just taken the plunge and am really enjoying learning about something new with a healthy chance of making some money and learning a new and exciting business!
The negativity from a number of people on this site is staggering. Their stand point is SO negative I doubt they will ever really succeed at anything in life because their mind-set is so far off base!
I know Tim Lowe from afar as he ‘pesters’ me every so often with various ideas that he has or is about to bring to market. If I had had the money available I would have ‘joined up’ on a number of occasions. Tim Lowe I believe has integrity. I understand, that he researches and develops products super thoroughly before launching them. He has NO interest in a failing product and the associated knock-on effect that would surely follow.
To be honest, I would have lost my temper with some of the closed-minded individuals on this thread.
I, and many others, appreciate the opportunity to be able to engage in something exciting, potentially very profitable and fully doable at a low entry cost.
March 29, 2013 at 5:27 pm
Thanks for your input, Cliff.
Let us know how you get on, and we wish you success.
March 29, 2013 at 5:22 pm
The opportunity is fantastic. The way the course is written and projected as a teaching is rubbish unless you have past forex experience.
March 29, 2013 at 5:26 pm
Come on, that is your opinion. Everybody has different learning levels, and learn in different ways. Some learn by doing, and take it in better that way, rather than reading.
We also offer opportunities that work, and come up against the same; in that people learn in different ways, and get frustrated sometimes. We are all guilty of that.
I know you have purchased, have you tried the trading yet?
March 29, 2013 at 5:51 pm
if i sat down and taught you something say for example how to build a website from scratch and get it online all within 30 mins something you have never done before, i would teach you step by step and explain everything i do in a video whilst showing you. I would not explain in the way that i do it when im building the site as i would would miss crucial info out that would lead to you making mistakes. And yes im using the demo trader but finding it hard to decipher instructions from the video.
March 29, 2013 at 5:56 pm
It might be the case of you asking Andy Ireland for some bespoke help. He probably would oblige.
March 29, 2013 at 6:05 pm
I did and it was as clear as mud.
Look the opportunity here looks great im not knocking that at all.
The way the it is taught is imo not good enough for a forex novice to grasp.
Ive done courses on subjects that were alien to me, but because i was walked hand in hand every step of the way through the way it was all put across i learn and can now do what i learnt as second nature. Basically the teacher used the principle as i explained in the last post.
This course does not teach in that way , guess work is needed as to how andy arrived at a certain point.
March 30, 2013 at 12:02 am
You ask for help and you just get told to view the videos, no direction as to what video they just seem to want you to spend time searching through them untill you find what your looking for.
Decision made im asking for a refund after 7days!!! that says it all really.
Paul Carr says:
March 30, 2013 at 1:36 am
Wow, you must be the most negative person I have ever heard. You sound like a child who can’t get her dolls head to turn the right way!!!!! Stop moaning, get your refund, then lets get back to sensible debate here, because I am definitely interested in taking this up.
March 30, 2013 at 9:13 am
Good luck with that , a 12 yr old child can do this!!!
C.L. says:
March 30, 2013 at 8:25 am
Well said Paul.
Chrissy have you actually asked for specific support regarding a question? I had NO experience in forex and i have picked this up. what is so hard to understand about placing an order 3 pips away from the trigger candle when 4 lights are the same colour??? it is explained what a candle is, it is explained what a pip is, it is explained how to open an order and how to close an order. It is explained how to use the software sufficiently enough for us to make a trade. So what dont you get is beyond my comprehension. STOP MOANING AND SPEND THE TIME LEARNING!
I have contacted Andy and had my queries fully answered. Your posts are giving people the wrong impression and it seems you are not going about things the way the course asks us to. I am enjoying this course. Andy makes no bones about not being a teacher and asks we take account of that. his honesty is refreshing but here you are making him sound like an ogre and refering to his project of helping people as ‘rubbish’. That in itself is rude. With any course some people may never ‘get it’. maybe you should try and help yourself as Paul says and get a refund so we can all get back to an unbiased reveiw. I read your a psychologist. maybe that is what is preventing you seeing the wood for the trees!
March 30, 2013 at 9:18 am
If questioning the fact that a course is not as easy for the newbie as the sales patter suggests and alerting people to that fact before they buy makse me a negative person then i must be just that.
March 30, 2013 at 9:22 am
hi Chrissy, please can you send me a support ticket and make yourself known to me in that ticket. i have had no requests for help from a chrissy you see but i guess your username may be different. i have read your emails on here and i felt so bad about your posts i have scoured support tickets last night but dont find any which may fit the bill as to being from you. please send me a ticket and let me know exactly what you need to understand.
Olly says:
March 30, 2013 at 1:46 pm
Nice to see Andy here. I have been putting off joining this for a few weeks, and it is always interesting to see other people’s thoughts. One thing I will say, regarding some of the negativity, is that surely you have to try it before judging? and if you have tried it, then you are in the thick of it, so you cannot revert back to sales page quotes because you acted on it? Now it is a case of accepting the help that is available. I am hoping to join this week, once I have been paid.
March 30, 2013 at 2:15 pm
So I bought the package 2 weeks ago. I was really excited to start the process. Downloaded all the software and installed and ran as expected. Printed off quick start and read through it several times. Feeling I had an idea of what to do I sat at my pc all day watching and waiting ( in demo mode). So I work out of the office 2 days a week giving me 3 days and evenings free to practice. I have spent all my free time trying to make this work. I have watched 3 webcasts (recorded not live) and picked up some information there. I have also sent 3 support tickets and had them answered. My problem is this. When I follow all the signals and then lose I want to make sure what I did was correct. Ie I have understood the information I have learnt. I asked if I could send in a screen print so Andy could see where I entered the trade and what happened but he said no.
So within 2 weeks I have made 4 demo trades I have lost 2 and won 2 the problem is the losses far exceed the profits. But I don’t know if I’m doing the entry / exiting correctly or not. Also with regards the webcasts they are not structured and clearly have people on different weeks so going forward that gap will increase. To sustain training for people on all levels you would have to restrict entry to certain weeks so as to be able to progress all students.
Put simply I’m not sure I can make money from this yet. I have another 2 weeks of perseverance before deciding on whether to refund or not. I have to say I have learnt lots and have quite enjoyed it but whether I can afford to go further if I can’t make profits in demo is another matter!
March 30, 2013 at 3:50 pm
Thursday 24th feb video an introduction to the the software is a complete waste of time, you cant see any actions andy is doing on screen because there is a box entitled “instant poll” smack bang in the middle of the screen for the whole of the video.
March 30, 2013 at 4:28 pm
Andy Ireland has already asked you to send him in a ticket, identifying yourself, so that he can HELP you.
Your constant negativity is not helping anybody. And if you do not accept the help that is offered, then nobody else will be able to offer assistance.
Gunners says:
March 30, 2013 at 3:22 pm
8 days ago I joined and although I did understand the concept, the rules, and the signals, it is the exiting a trade I am stuck on. I am also watching the webinar/s but I need to know how to tighten up so I can extract more profits (I am in profit so far on demo), but it is the losses that can be quite high. If some clarification can be given for exiting the trade, whilst tightening at the same time to increase where profits can be obtained as well as decrease potential losses, then this could be a real winner in my mind.
March 30, 2013 at 9:22 pm
Andy here. I cant understand all of this negative stance Chrissy.
I cannot see that you have sent any support tickets in. i cant find a single one. I have even contacted several members today ( spending 3 hours looking to see who may fit as i am trying to help you) to see if you are one of them, but no, you arent. Again send me a ticket and make yourself known, please i want to try and help.
Even after i post here this morning you do not appear to have asked for help but say my course is rubbish.. I find that hurtful and I really dont think it is fair to class my work as rubbish when you utilise 20% of the offer. I am trying to help you and i dont wish to alienate you but but are moaning about a lack of support? And as for a 12 year old doing it, yes it has happened.
Chrissy please let me help you if you need it. If you dont want to ask for support fine, but tell people here that you havent done it rather than try to make your opinion the one thats correct.
Also no, it isnt right to say the sales patter is misleading and your trying to help others avoid it when you only skim read it. You have your opinion and fine, but it does not help others. Perhaps they may find it easier than you, as others have!.
Sorry to be terse but i am upset; my integrity and work is being diminished by somebody who hasnt utilised my service correctly and
as the tone of some posts above suggest, please be positive and SEND ME A TICKET FOR THE HELP YOU NEED!
Catherine, we have now defined the live trade sessions so as to help all comers. One session will be beginners, another day advanced. As chrissy points out, in a course we need to do it in bitesize chunks; but in an ever changing, dynamic subject we also have to accept the need for adaptation. I know i have the knowledge but i know i am not a teacher and thats why this is ‘our course’ not just mine. Ask me and i will try to deliver what we want at that time…can anybody who is on the course help me out here and tell people how much effort and time i put into the webs…?
I always ask which way we want the next webinar to go so as to ensure we are getting the correct info across.As i say this is just as much your course as mine. As a human entity i really cant do anymore, other than tell you what i do, if you are able to see what i do in the markets, you will get there.
We all have to realise, we ourselves have to put the effort in and believe we can do it just as Michael Johnson said in my last post.
last time i say this, Im real, what i do is real, you can find me online, just google, so i will not defend myself anymore. if you want help i promise i will do that! what more can i offer. If you cant be bothered to do that Chrissy, then get a refund!
please all have a good break,make the most of it and remember, life isnt short, its how we choose our time in the long life we have.
March 30, 2013 at 10:13 pm
hello, this one is to Catherine,
it is about the screenshot. i didnt say no because i meant no you cant, i said no you cant because the support ticket simply wont allow you to post a screenshot. sorry for the misunderstanding.
if you need to check any trades then firstly please look at page 29, the tick boxes. if every box is ticked then you know the trade is relevant. if they are ticked you feel still didnt go your way let me know and i will help you.
i hope that clears the screenshot matter.
the webcasts have taken a bit of a change of direction in some ways. they were origianlly to show me trading .but i have taken it upon myself to also try and answer questions if nothing is happening trade entry wise.
so no, no real structure but all within the course.
March 31, 2013 at 12:19 am
and finally, out of 11 emails i have sent to people today, and going through nearly a hundred support tickets, posting on here several times but still i have not one piece of direct contact from Chrissy. I have spent nearly all day trying to sort this. you have seen the posts Chrissy as you have replied twice here today, but are determined to ignore them. as paul carr says and cl you are just negative full stop.
whoever you are Chrissy, and im beginning to feel a set up, please contact admim and they will happily arrange your refund. I feel I have taken up far too much time trying to help somebody who doesn’t want to be helped and thrown this thread of course. I am sorry you feel the way you do but this negativity just isnt helping the people who want to try and make this work.
i am not beating myself up anymore to try and help you. im bushed, you win,please leave
March 31, 2013 at 2:15 am
You cannot help people who don’t help themselves, we all know that.
There are a lot of people here willing this to work, and who appreciate the help, and support.
Alan Smith says:
March 31, 2013 at 7:40 am
I am in my first month with Andy, and find him a real genuine guy.If ever i have a problem, i send a support ticket and he answers that same day.He is very thorough and patient in his webinars and i am definetly in for the long haul and i have no doubt that by the end of it i will be a proffesional trader.Like i say in Andy we trust.
March 31, 2013 at 4:40 pm
just taken a quick look at this,
Alan,many thanks and yes, we will get there, I will be with you.
take care
March 31, 2013 at 6:39 pm
It is inspiring to see somebody so passionate about their product as Andy is. I am lookin forward to giving is a go this week, and looking forward to the challenge and training.
March 31, 2013 at 7:56 pm
Hi i joined the programme 7 days ago, so the last week ive had the quick start manual printed off (read it and highlighted bits i needed too) and got stuck into the videos. This coming week i will start to master the software through my demo account. Im no stranger to making money online, not enough to quit my day job which i absolutley hate but enough to let me go out and buy anything when i need it. but ive never tried forex so im a complete novice and looking forex to hopefully a regular monthley income which will allow me to quit my job and be able to do as i please on my terms. Im not an idiot and i dont expect to be able to do that for at least 12months.
April 2, 2013 at 1:45 pm
I’d love to do this but am absolutely broke.
I’ve waited two weeks for a refusal from my local credit union who initially said they’d lend me the money to get started.
I’ve got no way of finding the first months payment but will enjoy reading this website which gives me hope and an incentive to keep on keeping on.
Good luck,
April 2, 2013 at 2:29 pm
Hi if admin or Andy Ireland is reading could you explain why my card has been refunded when i never asked for a refund i just enquired about contacts details for a refund if i decided on getting one after 30days (So i would know who exactly who to contact)
Here is the email below to prove ve not asked for a refund
Add to contacts
Thank you for your email, I can confirm that we have refunded your full payment of £89.95 back on to the card with which you paid. Please allow a few days for this to show in your account. We can also confirm that we have cancelled your subscription so that no further payments will be charged to your account.
Regards,
Hi who do i contact for a refund ?
is it this email or another ?
pls advise
regards.
April 2, 2013 at 2:56 pm
Tim, or Andy’s team will probably look into it, and respond directly.
Although what it does show, from a review point of view, is that there are no problems getting refunds should a customer decide to do so, after trying it for a month.
April 2, 2013 at 3:20 pm
Yes its all sorted now, just a misunderstanding but yes it does show that people who think its not for them will have no worries about being refunded.
Update- im starting to get to grips quickly with the AItradesafe software, all i need to do is have a bit of luck and start winning lol good job im on a demo account for now. hehe
Craig says:
April 3, 2013 at 5:39 pm
I am very curious about this software and purchasing a subscription – am I right in saying that it must be completed through use of a credit card?
Also, how quickly would a complete novice such as myself be able to pick this up and start making a living off this, say I was trading for an average 6 hours per day, using £1 pips?
April 4, 2013 at 7:30 pm
Yes credit card mate, if its not for you they will refund you within 30days, I only asked for a contact mail address in case I thought its not for me, and they gave me a refund, which I didn’t want but ive sorted in now.Im a novice ive had this software for 2 weeks, took me a while to get there, you get £5000 in a demo account, was £130 down after 5days of learning to use the software, day 6 and I clawed back £82 within 2 hrs. Im learning fast but I got lucky too I think…onwards and upwards I hope .
April 3, 2013 at 7:47 pm
Enjoying the course big time but getting a little confused as to the fact the software alerts me to a possible buy but at the end of play its really a sell and visa versa, too regular for my liking to be honest.
April 6, 2013 at 8:55 am
Hi Franki, sorry to have to post this but please ensure you have read and understood all the information at your disposal. the Alert has been explained in detail in the FAQ section as to why it does this. can you please take a look in there. many thanks Andy
April 7, 2013 at 8:01 pm
Ok andy will do, btw you have been very helpful each time ive sent a ticket to you through the aitradesafe website.
Im getting my head around how the software works I went from a -£190 to -£23 in 3 days with the intial £5000 demo money so I guess im getting mu head around this at last
April 11, 2013 at 10:27 pm
Is this turning into another one of those dreams which after a few weeks just slowly drifts away?
I hope not.
Keep posting guys.
April 19, 2013 at 9:02 pm
gt, this has always been sold on the fact it is a 12 month course. dreams driftng away?. far from it. people are spending time learning after the realisation it can work.
i can assure you that initial posters here are no longer posting as much as they would rather be taking control of their future.
Paul says:
April 14, 2013 at 11:01 am
Posts have certainly decreased GT. Makes you wonder
April 14, 2013 at 2:12 pm
Posts are usually at there highest level at the time of promotion, and as it is nearly 2 months since the launch, a drop off in posting is natural. As with any promotion, unless new launches are made, then existing customers will be getting on with their purchase.
April 14, 2013 at 2:13 pm
Here is the blog address of….. (Content removed, we won’t be advertising other blogs, thank you..)
Ben says:
April 15, 2013 at 11:00 pm
Hello everybody. i am looking for some advice on the aitrade system On another forum/blog Andy Ireland the forex guy is helping the blog owner, and he still not make any gains. Can somebody, anybody please let me know if this works or not. There are conflicts everywhere I read.
On the ad blurb is shows just watch the lights and if that is the way it works why does it seem that nobody is making money with this? If people were making all this money then surely people would say so. I have not read anywhere else as yet that they have made real money and most people are saying it is very up and down and I really want to see people say it works for them. Nobody is really saying this, why?
Andy himself is coming across as sincere. It’s just that he seems to be putting out fires from people saying they are having problems and not making any money.
April 19, 2013 at 9:07 pm
ben, the blog poster himself admits to not always having followed the rules.
yes of course the bad points get published and that takes up my time. Why do i try and put these fires out? not to defend my method, i dont need to. it provides a good income for me and mine, but it is to try and help those struggling see the light. this is easy-but not simple.
once you strip away ones ego and take a breath, take time, it becomes a lot clearer. of course trading works, its this countrys biggest asset!
patience and discipline are utmost.
April 16, 2013 at 11:57 pm
I don’t think the question – does it work or not – can be answered in reality. It will work for some and not for others. On one blog I’ve been following the chap only made a decent profit on his first week. Since then, as he has developed more “skills” he seems to have gone backwards. However, to be fair, was he not following the rules when he thought he knew better?
I find it very difficult to believe the 4 lights would show anything other than a trend. And that was a trend that was already in the past. Like waiting for a No 10 Bus but they only have the numbers on the back! You only know you have missed it when it has already passed you. It would still be up to you, with a good slice of lady luck.
After all, if it was that easy, why do financial organisations spend millions on bespoke computer systems.
It still a relatively new “opportunity”. Wait a few months and see.
April 19, 2013 at 8:56 pm
hi Patricia, the 4 lights take away the guesswork. i can assure you that i have several people making profit using this method, including myself. but as with any method, it can be down to how it is applied.
you are slightly misguided in the way banks do things. bespoke systems are meant for their own prop traders. i can assure you i have been told by several ex city and bank traders that my method works equally as well, and the knowledge i give, the banking staff may not have. maybe the reason why i have made money in up and down markets and the banks sent us into a crisis..
if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.
patience and discipline is the key patricia. if you have any questions please send me a support ticket.
today i have met with several people on the course. all doing well and one chap, with no trading experience, able to make over 200 pips a week. how, by being realistic and putting effort into using the method.
Alan Smith says:
April 17, 2013 at 4:17 pm
Ben, i am in my second month and know far more than when i first started. There are trades now that i would not take where as in the first month i would have done.Although waiting for the four lights is the main factor as you learn you find there are other factors to consider.I say give it a try,you are guaranteed £300 back in the first month from the brokers and Andy will refund your first month subscription back if you think its not for you.I also would advise you not to go live until you receive your second module.Iam still on demo and just keep practising and slow but sure i am starting to get winning trades more often.Hope this helps
April 18, 2013 at 7:28 pm
Im also trading on a demo account, im not convinced yet that the software does as it says on the tin as I lose more than I win but having said that , Im only on first month so until I learn more in months 2 and 3 ive decided not to open a live account until that time and I would have had 8 to 12 weeks practice on a demo account whilst at the same time monitoring the softwares effectiveness.
April 19, 2013 at 8:59 pm
Franki, if you are not convinced then maybe you are subliminally hindering yourself?
several people are making profit from this and looking to the future months where they will learn more. I have met with people today and the overiding factor with this is a positive attitude towards it.
take the time and i will ensure we all get there.
April 20, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Thanks Andy, a lot of the time the software advises a possible buy which turns out to be a sell and visa versa, this could be down to bad luck/ bad timing on my part , that’s why I said im not going live until im sure im doing everything correct and I see the software perform as im hoping it will. Im not subliminally hindering myself, im just very careful in all my business ventures.
April 20, 2013 at 9:07 pm
hi franki. please ensure you have read the FAQ section on the alerts. and then please post back here your findings.
April 21, 2013 at 11:17 am
Yes I get that andy and I follow the AItradesafetrade entry rules as provided in the qs manual.
I always though you didn’t have to buy to sell or sell to buy as all you are doing is betting on the price either rising or falling.
I go by the lights as instructed. if they are all green yet I see the price fall are you saying when one lamp goes red I should consider a sell?
Still im enjoying learning all about trading and really do want this to work so I don’t have too
Andrew says:
April 21, 2013 at 6:51 pm
I personally take a longer view of this than I think most people have. I have also been reading on another blog that seems to have been specifically set up, and people are asking for refunds left right and centre, maybe so but maybe also tha the advertising was not as specific as it could have been but one thing is for sure, one month is not long enough to get any benefit from this I don’t think. This is a learning process and am willing to learn from Andy. I think he is genuine, and I think he knows too that the advertising made it sound more simple than it is. More training is needed with this, which Andy gives us. I don’t think it would be for everybody because not everybody is willing to learn or willing to pay to learn, but all I know is that if Andy makes this work then at some stage what he knows will be passed to us learners and it will click.
Alan Smith says:
April 22, 2013 at 5:12 pm
Well said Andrew hear hear
Brotek Cards says:
April 24, 2013 at 1:48 pm
Sounds good, and the comments by andy who I assume is the owner are good explanations. Very tempting to try this system now. I’ll have another check over the details before jumping in.
(Link removed by Admin, please refrain from dropping links, thank you)
Cain says:
April 24, 2013 at 4:57 pm
Am I right in the thinking that I just need to follow the coloured lights and act accordingly. I have tried other indicator template structures in the past without success but they did not come with guarantee. Do I need to be at laptop for this all the time or can it be done on an android tablet and still work the same?
April 26, 2013 at 9:54 am
No its not just a case of looking for green or red lights as the sales pitch would have you believe, there is a lot more to it than that. I use a laptop so can not comment on android or tablets sorry.
April 27, 2013 at 4:53 am
Hi franki, the sales letter isnt incorrect. It is a matter of looking at the red or green lights. In order to enhance our understaning of trading we cover other aspects i note in earlier posts you say you were having issues. Maybe this simple misunderstanding of the lights is one of them. Let me know in a support ticket if that is the case
Paul says:
May 9, 2013 at 3:18 am
All gone a tad quiet now which I am afraid does not do anything for confidence. Don’t tell me…all been on holiday and all the rest busy making big bucks… yeah ok… so no newbies of late then? Sorry but I think I will pass this one
May 9, 2013 at 1:34 pm
It is natural that the bulk of comments come when a product or service is launched.
It is unnatural to expect participants to give a running commentary on their progress, unless asked to do so.
Why don’t you take action and try yourself. It has no risk, after all.
June 12, 2013 at 12:54 pm
I am on the aitradesafe course, personally I think you are wise to pass this opportunity if your looking for the masses of people on this course to stand up and say they are making a fortune. problem here is the advertising of this course by TIM made it look simple and it is not. you need to take your time and learn and understand the system, demo account until your confident. On listening in on the webinars it comes quite clear that 50% of the people can not take on board simple action explained to them. these people ask the same questions over and over again. 50% of the webinar is directed to people who simply can’t read the quick start Guide lines. you will get someone live trading after their first week after being told many of times not to. then complains he has lost money!
I would imagine only 10% of people on the course will actually be successful if that, 50% being accounted for above, other reasons would include some will never be able to understand or follow the rules or be prepared to learn how to trade properly. people will automatically bame the tools when things go wrong thats why they end up on sites like this.
You don’t need a 12 month course to show you how to press a button when you see 4 lights and press another one when you see one of those lights go out. I am here for the long haul I believe in Andy and his methods.
I took Tim’s advertising claims with a pinch of salt, I took him up on his money back guarantee to take a look what was on offer, in my month trail I liked what I saw and heard and committed myself to the 12 month course. I suggest you do the same what do you have to lose? seams you cant be bothered to do that to find out for yourself.
I have said this before on this site but it amazes me how many people actually believe the Holy Grail exists. Could you imagine what state the country would be in if there was such a thing that would easily make you guaranteed money by pressing a button when 4 lights appeared? the fact is our economy would come to a grinding halt while everyone packed up their jobs to get rich press buttons on their pc.
Paul says:
May 10, 2013 at 6:45 pm
Simple. I have been following this forum for a while regarding this scheme. As far as I am concerned the jury is out until I feel that this may have it’s merits. from the mixed views I have read so far the jury is still out. I am afraid I do not subscribe to your reply that participants would not give a commentary unless asked to do so. the nature of the beast is that if something really is that good they would wish to shout about it and share the joy”…especially to participants already using this forum.
I just feel that when the likes of Dave C go quiet and we get no more positive feedback then things just aren’t as rosy as they are made out to be.
May 10, 2013 at 6:57 pm
We have been running websites like this for about 15 years now, and unless people are asked to write, then they tend not to, UNLESS a promotion is being rolled out by a promoter.
We get a lot more comments on our own products, because we receive a lot of emails, and testimonials, etc, and therefore we ASK customers to participate, and share their experiences, which of course helps everyone else.
As this system (AITradesafe) is not our product, we can of course not ask participants.
I also think that another main difference here, is that the promoter of AIT has live webinars with the author every week, and therefore the vast majority of claims, questions, and the likes gets asked directly, and live to them.
Alan says:
May 16, 2013 at 12:23 pm
first time here after receiving the mailshot about a week ago. I’ve studied the information and it looks promising. As far as I can tell there seems minimal risk as regards taking a trial.
I may well give this a go, though I’ve not made a firm decision as yet. My main concern is that many people on this blog have failed to follow up with a review, despite having ‘bought in’ 2-3 months ago. I may be wrong but this isn’t altogether encouraging. …
At present I am trialling ‘bonus bagging’ and it is working out very well so far. Profits are not large but the risks involved are as near to zero as you can get.
Anyway I shall follow this blog with interest, and wait for some first hand reviews before making a final decision…
May 19, 2013 at 5:25 pm
Well i couldn’t resist and joined up using my credit card which i’m trying not to use.
To all the naysayers please be quiet as you nearly ruined my chance of success to come.
I’m a big believer in whatever you purchase does work you just have to work hard at it until you succeed and keep going over material over and over again till it eventually clicks.
i bought this last night and went through most of the material which didn’t take long and andrew is very clear on what to do its so unfair that people are slating him and yes a 12 year old can go through the steps and get it right first time to be quite honest i thought it was so bloody simple,i think the only problem a newby would be confused about is getting around the platform which in one sitting becomes very easy,my advise would be to go on the internet and have a look at ig index free videos of using a platform as they are all pretty much the same also it helps to get a bit knowlege of the candlesticks by watching the free videos on babypips.but you dont seem to need to do this with this course.
I’m not an experienced trader i am just starting out but have watched lots of videos about the stock market and now feel i’m ready and so excited to start trading my demo account when it opens tonight.
Andrew has live sessions and i got through half of the first one but from what i seen people are making money as he has chat where anyone can talk or even chat amongst themselves.i will be an evening trader probs from 6pm till 9.30.
Andrew is funny and you get a warm feeling from him and feel that i will be able to ask even the most stupidest question if needed.
i would strongly recommend anyone to just try this as you have nothing to lose and dont let other people put you off the chance of success.
Eugene says:
July 29, 2013 at 12:39 pm
Like others I am interested but I don’t have a clue regarding trading although it claims a 12 year old can do it. I would be keen to listed to testimonies of newbies
jerry says:
July 24, 2013 at 2:55 pm
The publicity for this seems to have died down. How is everyone doing?
July 25, 2013 at 6:22 pm
I am just about to start this. After reading a fair amount about it. I am hoping I can fi it in around my day job.
July 25, 2013 at 9:28 pm
I am looking to maybe try this, but I would like to hear that it has worked for people, can anybody please vouch for this working for them and did you make any losses before making the profitable trades?
August 3, 2013 at 10:07 am
i can vouch for it working. and yes i had a lot of losing trades in the beginning and still do get them. but the course goes on to show you how to manage these.
i can honestly say that the majority of people who joined are still with me after all this time and are asking they be allowed to continue after the 12 month course finishes, so i guess i must be doing something right.
it comes with a cast iron 30 day money back guarantee so you stand to lose nothing but your time. i hope this helps you.
Joe90 says:
July 26, 2013 at 1:04 pm
It would be nice to get a reply from Vivien, as she has had over 2 months to try this out, whats your verdict Vivien ?
August 17, 2013 at 12:40 am
I’m doing ok up to now with the tool we are given it seems to help alot.
like most i seem to drift away from the rules but still getting there,i’ve been on my demo for a while now which is great as trading with £50 per pip,it seems to move 4 points and i’m done for the day,i have now reduced to £1 per pip as can learn better without thinking about the money instead i think about the pips,i use my other platform ETX for guidance alongside GKFX.i’m unable to make it on his live webinars but do watch the recordings,but all in all it seems to be a nice little tool to work with,hope this helps
July 26, 2013 at 3:37 pm
In for a dollar, in for a pound. I have subscribed, and looking forward to starting this now I have read the initial bumpth.
July 29, 2013 at 5:20 pm
Hi there,
I’m seriously thinking of jumping into this, but I have a question regarding the £300 which is ‘underwritten’ by the broker. Tim LOwe mentioned in an earlier post that the £300 would be ‘topped up’ even in the event that the whole amount was lost on a single trade. Presumably, the ‘top-up’ would not occur until the end of the 30 day period of live trading? Otherwise, it would be possible to simply use the money again within the guarantee period.
Perhaps either Admin or Tim could calrify?
July 30, 2013 at 5:17 pm
I am interested. Just a few questions if I may.
1. Not counting the £300 start up what is the ideal start up bank size and what % per trade of the trading bank do you use?
2. I read somewhere that the template works for multiple timeframes and for all different markets but i wondered whether it was actually designed and perhaps worked better for one in particular like the EUR/USD?
3.What is the smallest amount you can trade per point/pip with GKFX? Thanks in advance. C
Andy I says:
September 27, 2013 at 4:47 pm
sorry for the ‘very’late response but i thought i would to answer this question for any others.
1. well this is a good question. it all depends how much you want in return really but a good bank size would be £2k-£5k
2. the template is designed to work on all the major pairs in forex, along with gold silver brent crude. The EURUSD is a good pair because the spread is very low so if trading above £10 a pip it can save you money on the spread.
3.the smallest amount is 50p per pip.
September 14, 2014 at 12:45 pm
Is this closed now then?? Shame I was very interested. I have dabbled a bit of forex but never really had a serious go.
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Kraft Hockeyville presented Morinville for Hockeyville organizer Wayne Gatza and Mayor Lisa Holmes with a cheque for $25,000, monies the community received for finishing in the Top 10. From left: Councillor Nicole Boutestein, Paul Smith of Smith Music (Hockeyville song), Stephen Dafoe of Morinville News (Hockeyville video), Wayne Gatza Organizer of the Morinville Kraft Hockeyville, Joe Kozakewich, Sales Representative Kraft Canada Inc. and Mayor Lisa Holmes. In front young hockey players Kayla Kluss, Alyssa Palma and Owen Kluss. […]
Local News
The week in photos
Aug 31, 2015 Comments Off on The week in photos
Rotary District 5370 Assistant/Area Governor Brad Mastaler, Rotary Club of Morinville President Sheldon Fingler, member Danielle Reed, Livia Kummer — Rotary Exchange student from Switzerland, and member Shelley Porter pose for a photo Aug. 26. Kummer has just arrived in Canada for her one-year stay in the area. Last Wednesday was her first Rotary meeting in Morinville. […]
Local News
Aug 31, 2015 1
The Morinville and District Chamber of Commerce will hold their annual Golf Tournament Sept. 14 at the Cardiff Golf and Country Club. Participation for the 18 holes and steak dinner is $100 a player or $400 per team. Dinner on its own is $40. […]
Active Living Fair hits this week
Aug 30, 2015 Comments Off on Active Living Fair hits this week
The annual Active Living Fair takes place Thursday, Sept. 3 at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre in conjunction with the Town’s open house. Thirty-five tables have been reserved for organizations and local businesses offering health, activity and awareness. […]
Letter: Back-to-school safety tips from Morinville RCMP
Aug 30, 2015 Comments Off on Letter: Back-to-school safety tips from Morinville RCMP
Over the next few weeks, many of Alberta’s students will be returning to classes across the province to start the new school year. The Morinville RCMP would like to remind students, parents and drivers of a few safety tips which will make the return to school a safe one for everyone. […]
Aug 27, 2015 4
According to the 2nd quarter reports from the photo radar contractor, a total of 43 hours was spent in this particular site and resulted in 351 tickets. Looking at the total stats for the 2nd quarter (April to June), 43 hours represents 9.5 per cent of their total hours logged for this quarter and 351 tickets represents 44.5 per cent of the total 788 tickets issued for this quarter. […]
Local News
Town wins Health Education Award
Aug 27, 2015 Comments Off on Town wins Health Education Award
The Town of Morinville is the recipient of the Providing Health Education Award.
Melonie Dziwenka, FCSS/Community Program Coordinator said she received an email Aug. 25 from Patrick MacQuarrie, Program Officer – Communities Choose Well, Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA). […]
Local News
Movie night feeds those in need
Aug 26, 2015 Comments Off on Movie night feeds those in need
Eight boxes of food were hauled out of a truck into the waiting hands of Food Bank volunteers Aug. 25. The donations were collected the previous weekend by Sturgeon County residents John and Jeanne Hudson at their annual movie night.
“This is our third year – always on the same Saturday night,” siad Jeanne Hudson. “It is an open air lawn chair movie night. We invite friends and family.” […]
Local News
Concerts praised, photo radar and RCMP reports questioned during quarterly report
Aug 26, 2015 Comments Off on Concerts praised, photo radar and RCMP reports questioned during quarterly report
Council received the second quarter report regarding Town operations and budget updates from Town Administration during their Aug. 25 meeting. It is a wide-ranging document with information from many Town departments and operations, including Traffic Enforcement and outcomes from Cultural Centre events and programming, as well as capital spending. […]
Local News
Aug 26, 2015 Comments Off on Morinville Council briefs
After one response during a public hearing and little debate, Council unanimously adopted land use bylaw 13/2015 to accommodate a new duplex development along 101 Street and 97th Avenue within the bounds of the Coeur de Morinville Area Structure Plan. […]
Local News
Rec centre update results in many questions from Council
Aug 26, 2015 Comments Off on Rec centre update results in many questions from Council
Council received a significant Recreation Centre update at their first meeting since summer recess. CAO Debbie Oyarzun revealed that Administration will be making a recommendation at Council’s Sept. 8 meeting for the architectural and professional services to move ahead with the planning portion of the project. Oyarzun also noted the town has received 114 responses to their RFP (Request for Proposal) and that 17 companies agreed to attend an eventual on-site meeting to discuss their capabilities and ideas on the concept. […]
Local News
Morinville Youth Council Bylaw passes first reading
Aug 26, 2015 Comments Off on Morinville Youth Council Bylaw passes first reading
A Bylaw to creat a Morinville Youth Council received unanimous first reading at Council’s Aug. 25 meeting. The Bylaw was developed by Administration with the encouragement and direction of Councilor Brennan Fitzgerald, who has been championing the idea for some time. […]
Local News
Council goes its own way on organizational review recommendation
Aug 26, 2015 Comments Off on Council goes its own way on organizational review recommendation
Council has decided to delay endorsing administration’s recommendation that the town seek the consulting services of Keldar Leadership’s Darel Baker to develop a CAO-Council Relationship Framework. The goal, identified in last year’s organizational review, was to “create clearer expectations in the individual roles which contribute to fostering a respectful and effective relationship between Town Council and the [CAO].” […]
Local News
Aug 25, 2015 Comments Off on Morinville Army Cadet tops in platoon in Vernon
Morinville’s Cadet Liam Allard was the top cadet in 23 Platoon during the three-week Basic Expedition Course at Vernon Cadet Training Centre (VCTC).
Cadet Allard is a member of 3061, 1 Combat Engineer Regiment, Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps, Morinville, Alberta. The cadets parade every week 9610 Morinville Drive. […]
Local News
Aug 25, 2015 Comments Off on Morinville RCMP Warn of CRA phone scam
Morinville RCMP are making residents aware that a Canada Revenue Agency phone scam is once again active in the region. Police say the scam involves someone calling a resident and claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency. The caller then demands money for overdue taxes and threatens arrest if the request is denied. […]
Morinville News
Re/Max offices mixes old and new on 100 Avenue
Aug 24, 2015 1
Larren Monti stands in front of the newly finished Re/Max offices on 100 Avenue, pleased with the project he has been involved in since the beginning. The 4500 square foot, two-story building is home to most of the Morinville Re/Max branch’s real estate agents. […]
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Kava Kava (Piper Methysticum) is a shrub plant from the pepper family which originates from islands in the South Pacific, where it has been cultivated for thousands of years for ceremonial and medicinal purposes. Hand-harvested kava roots and rootstock are peeled, cleaned with water, chopped up, and then sun-dried. The kava roots are then ground into a medium grind to be used in the preparation of the beverage.
The active ingredient in the plant is called kavalactones, which are concentrated in the roots and rootstock. There are over 20 kavalactones that have been identified, but there are 6 that occur predominately in kava. The level of kavalactones can be identified by a 6 digit number, its chemotype, in decreasing order of presence. Understanding the chemotype can help to determine the potential effects that particular kava will have when consumed.
Why do people drink kava?
There are many reasons that people consume kava the world over. Traditionally in Oceania, kava was consumed for ceremonial and religious purposes. As knowledge of kava and its effects has spread from the pacific islander diaspora to travelers throughout the world, kava has been consumed more and more for social and anti-anxiety therapeutic effects. You may have noticed that a kava bar has opened up in your neighborhood, as so many have across the United States in the last several years from coast to coast. Many people’s first encounter with kava is at a bar such as these, where people congregate to drink kava, socialize and relieve stress, in an alcohol-free environment.
In kava bars, it is prepared in a tanoa (traditional method) or large buckets and then served in a coconut shell or similar cup.
Kava being prepared in the traditional method in a tanoa
How does kava make you feel?
Kava can have a variety of effects, depending upon the cultivar (strain) consumed and the amount consumed for a kava session. The main types of effects can be described as either heady, heavy, or balanced, as in a combination of both heady and heavy.
Heady refers to the more sociable or euphoric effects that can be felt when consuming these types of kava. The drinker tends to be more relaxed and sociable, while still being able to have clarity of thought.
Heavy refers to effects that impact the body, relaxation of the muscles, release of tension, and a heaviness to the body. For very heavy kava cultivars, this physical sedation effect could be described as having “couch lock.” Some kavas have an analgesic property that can cause temporary numbness in the mouth when consumed, similar to that of a small dose of novocaine from the dentist.
Balanced refers to kavas that have a combination of both heady and heavy effects that fall somewhere in between.
What does kava taste like?
Kava tea generally has an earthy taste, which some drinkers also describe as cashew-like, grassy, chalky, or peppery. Traditionally prepared kava tea (raw kava root powder brewed and manually extracted in water) is typically consumed quickly in 6 to 8-ounce “shells” or bilos (“bilo” is Fijian for “cup,” usually in the form of coconut shells), often with a piece of fruit, such as pineapple as a chaser.
Bilo of freshly prepared kava tea made using dry kava powder and strainer bag
Is kava tea safe to drink?
Yes, if consumed correctly and in moderation, kava is safe. Kava has been consumed for thousands of years by pacific islanders with a history of being safe to drink.
In the early 2000s, there were reports of cases where patients that experienced liver toxicity had consumed kava, along with other potential supplements. In 2002, the FDA issued guidelines for use of kava but did not ban kava in the United States. As a result of the same cases in question, Germany did ban the import of kava in 2002 which then reversed the ban in 2014, due to “lack of proof of safety issues with noble kava” according to Planta Medica.
The AAFP published that, “Short-term use of kava is recommended for patients with mild to moderate anxiety disorders who are not using alcohol or taking other medicines metabolized by the liver, but who wish to use “natural” remedies.”
They also stated that “Researchers concluded that liver toxicity is rare and idiosyncratic, with the majority of reported cases resulting from the combination of kava with other hepatoactive agents; the benefits of kava seem to outweigh its risks.”
Consumption of kava is not recommended for those who regularly consume alcohol, are pregnant or nursing, are under the age of 18, have a history of liver issues, or are on antidepressant medication. Please consult a qualified medical professional about the potential use of kava if you meet these conditions or have other concerns.
FDA Disclaimer: This product is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease and has not been evaluated by the FDA. Excessive consumption may impair one’s ability to drive or operate heavy equipment. Not recommended for pregnant or nursing women. Keep away from children. Ask a healthcare professional before use if you have or have had liver problems, frequently use alcohol or taking any medication.
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The pandemic of 2020 swept the world fast. And so the remote working model has entered employers’ lives rather suddenly. And the necessity to move quickly gave staff less time to comfortably think out the fine prints. Zoom calls, virtual team building events, BPM software and other collaboration tools are just some of the efforts … Continued
19 March 2021 By: Natasha Lane
Whether your team has gone remote due to the pandemic or you’ve always been working with remote employees, everything going on in the world has made burnout all the more probable. Add to that the fact that remote work can inherently cause work-life disbalance, long hours, and short to no breaks. It can be a … Continued
18 February 2021 By: Guest Post
The coronavirus pandemic changed virtually every aspect of life. To safeguard the future of business, organizations will need to consider shifting to remote work to ensure continuity and successfully meet the needs of their customers. This will require business leaders to modify their recruiting and hiring processes. They will also have to be innovative in … Continued
Let’s play a little game of word association. Summer: vacations. Workplace: cool coworkers. The year 2020: complete and utter craziness that disrupted everything under the sun, including the two things mentioned above. Even if your first two word associations were different, it’s safe to guess that we had similar ideas on the last one. And … Continued
1 May 2020 By: Jessica Wise
From online interviews to working from home from the start. This is what employers need to know. Even under traditional circumstances, interviewing and hiring can be a rigorous process. But, in an increasingly digital world, many management teams have decided to go virtual. Unfortunately, this doesn’t change the fact that there are still resumes to … Continued
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CHICAGO—State houses and governors throughout the U.S. have put forth bills aimed at cutting education, firing teachers, and curtailing their union rights. A similar bill pending before the Illinois Senate would virtually end teachers’ seniority for job security, severely limit their ability to strike, and allow school boards to unilaterally impose working conditions.
But while in many states this would sound like the start of a new round of fighting between a Tea Party-backed governor and the labor movement, here it is quite different. In Illinois, voters bucked the national trend and retained “friends of labor” Democrats in both state houses and the governor’s office. The legislation was passed unanimously in the Democrat-controlled House.
There are no protests outside the capitol in Springfield like the historic labor mobilizations in Madison and throughout the country. Instead, the leaders of all the major teachers’ unions in the state are endorsing this anti-teacher legislation.
The proposed law, SB 7, has as its crowning achievement (from the vantage point of teacher-union enemies) the end of seniority in determining teacher layoffs. SB 7 would end “last hired, first fired,” and determine layoffs based on each teacher’s performance—which, of course, is determined by management. The law would only enforce seniority if there were a “tie” in performance.
The reality of how such a “performance-based” system would function was exposed last year when Chicago Public School CEO Ron Huberman illegally fired 1300 teachers without regard to seniority, in violation of the union’s contract. Principals targeted higher seniority teachers—meaning higher paid teachers. The Chicago Reader ran a series of articles chronicling the firings of several highly accomplished teachers who had broad support among parents and students.
The elimination of teacher seniority in layoffs will give a green light to school boards to get rid of more expensive higher seniority teachers regardless of performance. Initially, this provision will not apply to members of the Chicago Teachers Union until the outcome of lawsuits filed by CTU against the illegal firings are settled, though it will for teachers in the rest of the state—severely weakening CTU’s legal and bargaining options.
SB 7 also places draconian restrictions on the Chicago Teachers Union’s ability to strike. The new law would require 75% of the membership to vote to authorize a strike. That means that all eligible members who don’t vote would be counted as an effective “no” vote.
The bill also applies a series of “cool-off” periods that would delay any Chicago teacher strike by six months. And the bill would also increase probationary periods before tenure for all Illinois teachers. It would give the Chicago Board of Education the right to unilaterally impose a lengthening of the school day.
On the heels of the historic labor mobilizations in Madison, Wis., where labor showed its massive potential in fighting the anti-union agenda, one might ask why Illinois teacher-union heads are not only accepting concessions but endorsing them. The answer is that these union tops are taking the wrong lesson from Madison. Instead of seeing it as a struggle that must spread, they view it as a conflict that must be avoided.
Illinois teachers-union leaders proclaimed the law as a victory since it does not contain the worst provisions proposed by anti-union organizations. CTU President Karen Lewis wrote a letter to the membership in support of the legislation, which read, “On Dec. 3, 2010, three groups backed by millionaires—Stand for Children, Advance Illinois and the Illinois Business Roundtable—slammed down an education “reform” proposal in Springfield dubbed ‘Performance Counts,’ which had one main goal: union-busting.
“In an unprecedented effort, the three unions—Chicago Teachers Union, Illinois Federation of Teachers, and Illinois Education Association—joined forces to stop these millionaires from turning teaching into a low-wage, high turnover job. Had they succeeded, the goal of high-quality education for all students would have been lost forever. Had they succeeded, Illinois would have been the next Wisconsin. The initial proposal laid out a plan to outlaw using seniority as a factor in staffing decisions, make tenure nearly impossible to attain and more improbable to keep, eliminate the right to strike statewide, and, for Chicago only, prohibit permissive bargaining issues.”
The teachers’ union leadership apparently believes that by taking concessions now they can avoid worse concessions later. This strategy is something like a person allowing a tiger to eat his arm in the hope that the tiger will be satisfied. But the taste of that arm only wets the tiger’s appetite.
The mainstream media has applauded the legislation, as it would weaken the unions. At the same time, they have called for more flesh from the teachers’ union. On April 14 the Chicago Tribune ran an editorial endorsing the proposed education “reforms,” but at the same time it said, “Those reforms, should they be signed into law, don’t mean lawmakers can pat themselves on the back and figure their long-term job is done. It isn’t. Too many Chicago students need help right now.
“That’s why we’re glad to see a separate bill that would offer private school tuition support to as many as 30,000 Chicago school kids back on the Senate’s agenda.”
The Tribune views this education reform law as the first round in the decimation of public education; labor leaders should take them at their word. The ruling class and their henchmen have become emboldened, not pacified, with the proposed new law and labor’s surrender.
The last thing Chicago teachers, students, and parents needed was an emboldened Rahm Emmanuel, the mayor elect. Emmanuel, even before assuming office, has made it clear he has union busting on his mayoral agenda. Emmanuel has announced that he will appoint as CEO of the Chicago public schools Jean-Claude Brizard, the head of the Rochester, N.Y., school district, who in his tenure there sought to bust the teacher’s union through concessions and charter schools. Emmanuel has also declared war on the city’s other unions, demanding they take concessions.
Although the proposals in Illinois are not as extreme as in Wisconsin and Ohio, Illinois’ politicians have accomplished for the ruling class what the Tea Party governors have not—labor’s submission to concessions.
In order to successfully fight back against the anti-worker assault foisted on teachers and other public workers labor, must adopt a new strategy—breaking with its dead-end dependence on supporting the political lesser evil. The lessons of Illinois may ultimately be more important than the lessons of Madison for the labor movement.
> This article was originally published in the May 2011 print edition of Socialist Action newspaper.
U.S. twin billionaire parties win 2022 elections: How the system really works
November 16, 2022
The rich just spent $18 billion in the midterm elections. A look at who benefits from the policies of the two parties shows why—and that working people lose no matter which party prevails in U.S. elections.
U.S./U.N. out of Haiti! No U.S. aid to Haiti dictatorship! No to deportations! Haitian asylum now!
October 7, 2022
Haiti’s mighty slave revolution, which declared its independence from France in 1804, horrified racist U.S.rulers, who have sought to crush Haitian independence for over 200 years.
September 14, 2022
Art build and political conversation to build an independent mass feminist movement rooted in anti-capitalist and anti-racist struggles.
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Leasing or renting commercial property is extremely important. Without space, your business cannot operate. It is a significant financial legal obligation that can last many years. Hidden costs, obligations and other financial pitfalls must be known prior to signing your lease. There are many commercial lease considerations to look at before signing. Each and every lease, lease renewal and ease assignment should be drafted, reviewed and explained to you by a commercial lease lawyer in Calgary, Alberta. We are here when you need us at any stage of entering into a lease 403-225-8810.
Standardized commercial leases are often drafted by lawyers for a landlord and contain provisions that protect them but not tenants. Even if you cannot change the terms, it is very important to know what the consequences of signing are. Leases drafted by landlords without the help of a commercial lease lawyer may not protect the landlord.
Types Of Leases Our Lawyers Deal With
Our commercial lease legal team has dealt with leases involving restaurants, pubs, retail, office warehouse, manufacturing, professional, medical, agricultural, industrial, residential, and farming.
Lease negotiations: adding terms to protect you
Lease negotiations: getting rid of terms that put you at risk or cost you money
Lease negotiations: getting you more benefits
Lease review: explaining the commercial lease to you so you can make an informed choice
Lease drafting: ensuring the terms that are negotiated are legally binding
Lease advocacy: helping you to enforce your rights under the lease
Lease advocacy: helping you to reduce the consequences of beaches of a commercial lease
Lease litigation: We will represent you in court to protect your interests
The most frequent issues we identify for our tenant clients are related to personal guarantees, additional rent inclusions, common area costs, indemnifications to the landlord, the terms for renewals, and end of lease obligations. While this is a basic overview of some more common issues, there are subtle terms that can cost you thousands.
How our Lawyers Help Landlords
A lease that is properly drafted by a commercial lease lawyer will offer protection to landlords. Landlords often miss common area expenses or additional rent items that should be properly paid for by tenants. Proper drafting can help protect a landlord form financial loss in the event of non-payment and save the landlord headaches and expense at various times during the lease. See our video on midnight movers.
Commercial Lease Lawyers in Calgary: Value and Peace of Mind
We know that every client has their own needs and concerns. Our commercial lease lawyers will work with you to ensure that your lease or renewal is a success. Connect today at 403-225-8810 locally in Calgary, Alberta, we can be called toll-free at 1-877-225-8817 or email us directly here.
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The holiday season is fast-approaching, and a bit of additional income would go a long way to fund the influx of Christmas presents for family and friends. Around the holidays, many turn to part-time, seasonal work to earn some extra cash.
Seasonal hiring typically occurs a couple of months leading up to the season, so it’s crucial to get a head start if you’re looking to keep busy. Before the seasonal rush, begin your job search with our recommendations for the best seasonal jobs of 2019.
Whether you’re in need of a full-time or part-time job for fall and winter, plenty of retail establishments are on the lookout for seasonal workers every year. As Christmas nears, shopping centers quickly become jam-packed with people crossing items off of their wishlist.
You won’t have trouble finding seasonal work at various retail establishments. Best Buy and Target are common retail stores that frequently hire seasonal employees, given the demand for their product offerings during the holiday season. You can expect to find a large selection of retail job listings, ranging from gift-wrapping associates and customer service representatives to managerial positions. Due to the widespread availability of seasonal positions in the retail industry, you won’t struggle to find work that fits your needs.
Do you consider yourself capable of lifting heavy items and enjoy lending a hand to your local community? Becoming a delivery professional is the perfect match for you. The sharing economy app GoShare connects local delivery professionals with customers and businesses who need help with moving and delivery projects. GoShare offers one of the highest-paying wages in the delivery driver industry, averaging between $42 to $67 an hour plus tips. In addition, GoShare lets you be your own boss, allowing you to set your own hours and work only when you want.
Seasonality spikes during the summer due to the large wave of apartment moves and home improvement projects. However, on-demand moving and delivery service is highly desired regardless of the season. You can apply to become a delivery professional if you own a pickup truck, cargo van, or box truck. Helper and courier positions are also available for people who own small cars and SUVs instead. GoShare is available in most major metro areas with strong retail partners, such as Costco, the Salvation Army, Pier 1 Imports, and Homegoods.
Tourism Support and Theme Park Workers
If you’re an avid traveler interested in sharing your knowledge and experiences of various tourist attractions, look for open seasonal positions in the tourism industry. It’s common for local historical sites, theme parks, and national parks to hire additional support during peak vacation time, typically over the summer and winter.
If you enjoy spreading your wealth of knowledge on various travel sites and hold strong interpersonal skills, start searching for job postings on Indeed and CareerBuilder, or take a trip to your local museum and ask around.
If you want something a little more entry-level, try looking into a gift shop job at local attractions. Theme parks will be hiring everything from ride associates to restaurant staff to keep up with the holiday rush.
Tutors for numerous subjects are in high demand during the fall and spring semesters of the school year. Whether you excel at math or English, look into finding part-time tutoring work that fits your expertise. If you specialize in a topic beyond the broad subjects such as Management Information Systems or Physiology, colleges across the nation offer tutoring positions for specific courses of study.
One of the major highlights of a tutoring job is its flexible scheduling. It usually requires dedicating a couple of hours per week to teach a student based on his or her schedule. Nowadays, there’s even greater convenience since seasonal tutoring work can be done online through websites that utilize live video software like WyzAnt and VIPKid. If you enjoy teaching and helping children and young adults, part-time tutoring should be right up your alley.
Whether you’re into rock and blues or EDM and hip-hop, you can expect numerous music festivals held over the summer and fall season. Regardless of music genre, a range of seasonal jobs are open for various festival venues. You can travel to big music festivals and fairs running across the country, but it’s also not hard to find several job opportunities locally as well.
Depending on your expertise and work experience, you can find flexible part-time or full-time positions that fit your skillset. If you specialize in art and visual expression, music festivals are always looking for designers and photographers. Perhaps you have retail experience, and can assist with ticket sales or merchandising. Or, you may consider yourself creative with strong communication skills, in which case a marketing or sales position should suit you perfectly.
Additional Resources
Looking for more information about ways to supplement your income? Check out these additional posts from GoShare.
How to Start a Moving Business
The Best Gig Economy Jobs and What to Avoid
Top 5 Reasons to Deliver for GoShare
How to Get Hot Shot Loads for Pickup Trucks
Pros and Cons of being a Gig Worker
Tax Tips for Gig Workers in 2019
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