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Classes that you can take anywhere, livestreamed on Zoom, so you can get visual feedback from the teachers and communicate with the other students.
How does it work?
Simply book your spot for the classes you want to join, and all practical info will be provided after sign up. Every Thursday we’ll update the schedule with the upcoming classes.
How much does it cost?
See the price of the individual classes in the description.
F.A.Q. – Frequently Asked Questions
What will I need to watch the videos of the lessons?
To watch the videos, you will need an internet connection to download the files and a video player. You can watch the videos on any of your devices, including laptops, tablets and mobile phones.
Can i watch the videos of the classes later?
All lessons are live streamed to guarantee a better and more interactive experience, and to allow for questions and feedback. A video recap of the steps/moves of the day will be uploaded in a closed Facebook group, but it will not be possible to get a recording of the entire class.
What should I wear?
We recommend comfortable shoes, with a somewhat slippery sole to be able to spin and slide without damaging your knees. You can always upgrade to proper dance shoes, of course. As for clothes, anything comfy works: you will move and sweat, so take that into account.
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Ravinia came out for my annual furnace/boiler maintenance. Always easy. Always professional. Always thorough. I have been so grateful to be a member of the Home Care Club for over 8 years. Ravinia has been always been there for me--quickly--when I've had a home emergency. The Home Care Club has always paid for itself and is so valuable to me. Thank you!read more
"Our" person at Ravinia is Chris. He's professional and communicates clearly. He came to our house today just hours after we called (!) for a sump pump issue. While here he asked about our bathroom faucets, which he fixed six months ago (they're perfect). It's rare these days to be able to recommend not only a company but a particular person at that company. Five stars for Ravinia and Chris. Highly recommended.read more
Best service I’ve had in a long time from a contractor, Danny was very professional and help me decide and determine what to do with regards to coat with multiple quotes. Very helpful and respectful. I would definitely use them again!read more
We contacted Ravinia Plumbing, Sewer, Heating and Electric because our sump pump failed over the weekend and our basement was partially flooded. We called on a Monday morning a little before 10 AM to see about getting someone over to replace the sump pump and Ravinia originally scheduled us for that Monday afternoon which worked for us. Well, we got a call around 20 minutes later with the surprising news that someone could be at our home in 20 minutes. Brian arrived on time and replaced our old pump. He was knowledgeable and took the time to walk through what was replaced and how it should operate. This is our second time turning to Ravinia and on both occasions, from initial call to the service call, they have been courteous and professional. Our work has also been reasonably priced. I do recommend their work on the plumbing side and will be using them again in the future.read more
14:20 27 Jul 22
Ravinia is a high quality company with great customer service and a professional staff of union tradesmen who are fully trained, experienced, and qualified to do any job I have. I've used them repeatedly and gotta say they really know how to take care of a customer. I've had them replace a boiler, install a new hot water tank, service AC and furnaces, add GFI outlets, replace electrical panels, and other things and I know it'll always be done right the first time.read more
Our water heater unexpectedly broke; we called multiple locations and no one picked up the phone. Ravinia Plumbing answered the call, had a technician out within the hour and the new water heater installed within two hours. We were extremely grateful; Dan our tech was fantastic, explained everything clearly to us on what he was going to do and then what to do with the new heater. Would definitely use Ravinia for other plumbing needs and recommend to others.read more
My first experience with Ravinia Plumbing was very positive.. From start to finish it was excellent. Jason B. came to our home to repair a clogged bathroom drain. He started by explaining the process clearly and answered our questions in great detail. Jason B's work was professional, neat and clean. It was a pleasure to have him in our home Thank-You Jason B. great job !!read more
13:07 29 May 22
Cesar assessed the situation and gave us repair and replacement options. He ordered the part and replaced the fan on AC. He was a pleasure to work with- clean and efficient. I'd definitely use him again.The AC has been humming away all week.read more
14:01 20 May 22
This was a complicated repair and Jason did a fantastic job. He was organized, meticulous and thorough. He carefully explained what needed to be done and kept us updated throughout the repair process. He arrived on time and cleaned up when he was finished. I highly recommend Jason and would definitely use him again.read more
20:19 19 May 22
Ravinia technicians were on time and courteous with my AC compressor replacement. They even looked at my other, second AC compressor that started acting up just before they arrived. Turns out is was a capacitor, which was still under warranty, and they replaced that too at no additional cost! (part was under warranty.) We buy a preventative maintenance program for both of our furnaces and AC units from Ravinia, and they always do a great job and treat us right.read more
03:51 18 May 22
Ravinia can always depended upon for great service! Tim S has been to my house before and is always friendly and professional. Eleni C kept me informed when Tim would arrive. I highly recommend Ravinia and have been a satisfied customer for many years!read more
20:05 12 May 22
Ravinia Plumbing has become my go-to for my plumbing needs. With the difficulty of getting a general contractor with the high demand environment I called Ravinia to re-configure the plumbing in a full bath-to-powder room conversion to get that potion of the project addressed. Jason took the extra time to explain exactly what he was doing and why, which puts the customer’s mind at ease. He even addressed several aesthetic questions which were very important to me. And my general contractor that came in to do the remaining work commended the plumbing because everything was buttoned up and ready for them to tackle.read more
17:50 06 May 22
Ravinia just installed a new A/C unit for my home. Jeff J. was very helpful in selecting the right unit and answering my questions. Rick & Danny arrived on time & ready to work in spite of the horrible weather. They were very professional, efficient and respectful of my home. The job went great! Thanks for the quick service!read more
We hired Ravinia Plumbing for the first time. This was a complicated job that involved removing 2 water softeners from underneath a bathroom vanity, which took up the entire vanity space. The job had to be done in 2 appointments. Chris and Jon were very professional and knowledgeable. We were very happy with their work and would hire Ravinia again for any other plumbing job.read more
So glad we found this company they have been extremely professional and fair priced. We are extremely happy with the jobs they have done for us!read more
17:04 23 May 21
very capable & professional. I now understand why they are rated N0. 1 in the NS
Chris and Joe came over my house on Dato Ave (Highland Park) today to check out a sewer smell. I was extremely impressed by their knowledge, courtesy and professionalism. Best Ravinia techs I have had come over up to date. Thank you to both of you! Ravinia great job hiring these gentlemen.read more
Chris came out three times (separate issues) this month and did fabulous work. Very professional and pleasant, and did a great job all three times. We will always call Ravinia when needed and especially ask for Chris if he's available!read more
We had Jason of Ravinia come in today to build a slightly complicated bypass for a water softener. The picture below is a small example of the craftsmanship & professionalism of Ravinia Plumbing. Jason was on time, patient, kept the area clean, & explained to my wife and I the work he did and didn’t do.Not only am I happy with the work, the price was fair and what I would expect for the work and materials.Ravinia is our go to from now on.read more
I reached out to Ravinia Plumbing on the weekend via their website, and they got back to me immediately on the next business day, and they were able to send someone out to my house that day! The job ended up being a lot longer and more complicated than anticipated, however, Chris T. and Joe were patient, helpful, and friendly the entire time. Thank you!read more
Called because first floor furnace didn't seem to be heating correctly. They came out that day in the mist of a cold snap. Our service tech Todd was terrific--he let me follow him around while I explained what I thought the problem was and then he took the time to explain and show me what the actual problem was! I got a great education and really appreciated his expertise and willingness to share. Thanks Toddread more
Jeff and Chris at Ravinia Plumbing were amazing! They were professional, informative and solved our plumbing issues quickly and correctly. We had a frozen pipe that they were able to bring back to working order and also fixed our shower fixture that wasn’t properly installed when we bought the house. Jeff also helped us figure out where else we should have additional insulation installed around bathroom plumbing pipes and drains. I highly recommend using Ravinia Plumbing and will definitely call them again with any plumbing issues that arise in the future.read more
We purchased a home and our inspector gave us a list of things that needed to be looked into/installed/repaired/replaced.We called Ravinia for plumbing, electrical and HVAC services. All three professionals were excellent. They arrived on time, were very competent, hard working, and equally important - They were honest and conscientious people who did not overcharge, and did not look for services that were not really needed. In fact, one of the professionals said - your inspector was not correct. This is in good condition and does not need replacement. I mean... How refreshing is that?! After some bad experiences with other companies, honesty is very important to us. We highly recommend this company. We joined their Home Care Club, and we intend to use them as long as we live in the area.read more
I called Ravinia at 9AM on a Sunday for emergency service. I got a call back in less than 10 minutes, and plumber was out by 11AM. Our toilet had broken and self-repair was not possible as the shut off was not working. Plumber showed me charges before work started on an iPad. Very professional. Within 1 hour toilet had a new quarter turn shut off and toilet fill valve was fixed. Due to COVID-19 plumber took proper precautions and we were comfortable. Really impressed with overall service.read more
16:08 13 May 20
I've used Ravinia Plumbing and Heating for years. They arrive on time, their employees are in uniform and respectful. They tell me the costs upfront and explain everything before they start work. I highly recommend these guys; they solve the problems and keep our house running at peak efficiency. They put in a new high efficiency furnace and my heating bills dropped by a third during the first winter!read more
When we could not pin-point why we had a small, small back-up of water in the unfinished basement, we called Ravinia at 11:00 a.m. for a standard service appointment (not an emergency call). The service representative - - Joe H. - - was at our home by 12:00 noon. He was knowledgeable, courteous, professional, thorough, efficient, and effective. His work was outstanding - - and his insights were excellent. Turned out Joe H. determined our matter to be a no-biggie issue. We now have peace of mind, thanks to Joe H. To top things off, our neighbor needed her car battery jumped - - Joe H. finished his Ravinia job and turned into a good neighbor. In less than 10 minutes, Joe H. solved the car battery matter. Great service representative and a great person, too. Thank you, Joe H. Thank you, Ravinia.read more
Teresa Gaglione
I have used Ravinia plumbing for all of our plumbing needs since moving into our new house and they have always been fantastic. Everyone who has worked on our place has been kind, professional, and just overall great. I have to give a particular shout-out to Phil. He was here recently and did an excellent job. He answered all of my questions, was very engaging, and did a great job. I haven't regret using Ravinia and I don't see that changing anytime soon!read more
Joe is a straight shooter direct honest and competent in his skill set. I highly recommend that you request him for sewer work.read more
Ravinia Plumbing, Heating, & Electric is a first class organization. We have been working with Ravinia for years. They always have the clients best interest in mind. Their employees are skilled and professional, and their managers and staff provide top notch service to their clients. I would use and recommend Ravinia to anyone who desires the very best in their homes.read more
I am a member of the monthly home club and it is well worth the money. I called Ravinia late at night when I noticed an alarm beeping indicating a failure on my primary sump pump. Ravinia paged the plumber on call who returned my call within several minutes. After talking me through the situation, he determined that my back up pump was working properly and scheduled a service call for first thing the following morning. The technician, Phil, was fantastic. He spent a great deal of time and effort explaining to me how everything works. He also uncovered other plumbing-related issues that were in need of repair. Before he did work, he gave me a clear quote of costs. Great technician. Thanks Phil!read more
We just had Ravinia Plumbing and in particular, Joe Hutchcraft out to rod out our sewer line. Joe was so professional and explained the entire process to my husband and me. He used the camera to make sure our pipes were good and solved our problem. We will always refer Ravinia Plumbing to friends and thank Joe for all of his work.read more
Rick did a quick analysis of the situation, and pointed out some options. We brainstormed one solution that I've already incorporated, and that Rick said he would use in the future, too. He also noticed a couple of other things which we discussed that was also indicative that he was keeping an eye out for us, the customers, and our best interests. I much appreciate that! I was very satisfied with the service.read more
They are prompt, courteous, clean, efficient, happy to answer questions, offer alternative solutions where appropriate, reliable and effective. If having to call the plumber is a necessity, this is about as positive an experience of that kind as I have had.. Always a Positive Experience..read more
This review is for Joe Hutchcraft in particular, a plumber with Ravinia. He came to our house today to rod the sewer line, and was fantastic to work with. He explained everything clearly, showed me a video of the line, and did a professional job. Cost even came out to less than expected. I'll be asking for him by name for any work in the future.read more
Joe was early to our appointment. He did a thorough job explaining what he was doing. I located the clean out in from of my house and cleared the dirt in advance. Joe had to work around a shrub (not easy). He gave me a honest answer on what needed to be done, got the router to work and the scoping and routing job was completed successfully. I was very happy to ensure my sewer drain is clear both in the house and all the way to the street.read more
I have been so happy with my service lately - we have needed 2 service calls in the past month (for unrelated things). One case was an emergency over a weekend, and we were able to set up same-day service, which was amazing. Jeff was our technician for that visit, and he was very helpful and able to explain the whole service to me in a clear and precise manner. He was also lovely to be around and was very patient with my 4 year old son and his endless curiosity. The other visit was scheduled during the workweek, but right before Thanksgiving, so it was really important to me to get prompt service for my broken kitchen sink! Chris was our technician for this visit, and he could not have been nicer or more helpful. Not only was he able to fix my broken sink, but also took care of some other nagging plumbing issues around my house (one of which was a faucet I tried to install myself, and ended up doing a poor job - I have learned my lesson and will call the professionals next time!).read more
Charlie Genest was on time, very professional, knowledgeable, thorough and explained what he was doing as we were going along. That’s worth five stars all day, any day.read more
If you need plumbing services Ravinia Plumbing & Heating is the way to go! The technicians are punctual and even call ahead to let you know they are on their way. I love having that kind of prediction. Both technicians we have dealt with were friendly and very professional. They came in, did the work efficiently, cleaned up and were gone. So thanks for that. I feel very comfortable recommending you!!!read more
Bar-none the most professional P&H organization I've encountered since becoming a homeowner ~20 years ago. The Best of the Best in Chicago! I highly recommend their services.read more
We are very pleased with the quality of the work, the explanations that accompanied it and the positive, polite nature of both of the technicians. My only concern is that I had to call back to schedule the 2nd part of the service call because no one had called me after a full week of waiting. I believe there was a miscommunication.read more
Excellent service, professional, would definitely recommend! Communication is important. Talk things through with them and ask questions. They are consultative!read more
We had to have our air conditioning unit replaced. David did a spectacular job and it was a pleasure working with him. He answered any questions we had and did a good job of explaining our new thermostat. He gets very high marks from us!read more
Everything was fine. Technician arrived on time. Cesar was very proper and friendly.He did his work to inspect my heating system in a very professional way, I am very grateful for the Home Care Club and for the savings in the price I paid today, Thank you very much. I am a loyal Ravinia customer.read more
Your technicians are always on time. They are courteous friendly and very neat. Your service is extraordinary. You Are honest and trustworthy. We will continue to use you. As far as I'm concerned, you need no improvement.. Keep up what you are doing.read more
Servicemen have always been courteous, professional, and polite. With the exception of once, the job was done efficiently and well. Scheduling has been prompt and responsive. And, they always are nice to my dogs who like to 'help'.read more
The technician this morning was WONDERFUL! He was timely, extremely professional and knowledgeable. He did a great job of explaining the issue and how it was fixed. One of the best technician's I've encountered and I've had a lot of service men.read more
Todd was my Tech. He was very good. Spent considerable time doing my A/C Unit and explaining as going along. I really appreciated his courtesy of cleanliness as it COULD NOT have been muddier after the rains. I thought he did a great job. Thanks.read more
Many thanks to Joe at Ravinia Plumbing for helping work out the issue and providing advice on how to avoid another mishap. I will be using Ravinia again and recommend Joe to others. I just hope I never have to use them for this type of repair again (flood in our basement due to plumbing blockage / back-up)! :)read more
22:34 24 May 19
I called Ravinia and got someone to come out same day. Joe was amazing in helping troubleshoot our water issue, explained things as he went along and wouldn't give up before he fixed everything. These guys are great and I will recommend them in the future to anyone who asks.read more
22:05 21 May 19
Our experience was very good. David was our technician and he was excellent and very friendly. So far, we love our new Cor Thermostat that he sold us. We also would like a sales person to come out and give us a quote on a new Comfort height toilet.read more
05:11 21 May 19
I was very impressed with the technician's knowledge and attitude. He spent much time making sure everything was working properly before he left. He also made sure that when they returned in the fall my dehumidifier would be properly serviced.read more
14:28 06 May 19
Kevin is a highly professional representative of your company. He explained his work thoroughly and to my understanding. I have every confidence that the annual cleaning of my boiler is of high quality, and I often speak highly of your group of companies.read more
Very quick response today by the electrician after the heavy brass chandelier came loose from the ceiling during cleaning. It was very precariously hanging by only the electric cord and resting atop 2 ladders when he arrived. He worked quickly to put it back up and ensure no damage to people, floor and furniture.read more
We have had excellent experiences with Ravinia each time they've been out! Our technician this time was polite, efficient, and explained his findings clearly. He had the work completed in the time he quoted and made sure to go over all of the repairs before he left in case we needed follow up.read more
I was told my window of time for the technician's arrival was 1:00-4:00. I called in the morning to see if I could get a better idea of the time but that wasn't available. The technician arrived at about 4:00 and was worth the wait. Rick was very thorough and seemed to be very knowledgeable. He was very neat and very helpful.read more
We were very pleased with today's technician. He arrived on time and was both friendly and professional. He explained what the options were and did the one we were comfortable with. We would appreciate having him return, should we have a problem.read more
Last Friday morning we lost heat because our nest thermostat was giving an error message that it wasn’t receiving power. It was cold and we needed someone to come out same day to fix it. I called Ravinia at 9am and they came by at 1030. They fixed the thermostat and we have not had any issues with the recent polar vortex that hit Chicagoland. It was the best $169 we spent. Thank you Ravinia for saving the day and our family from this arctic chill. We know who to call next time! Next time, I’ll just request that the techs take off their shoes. I had to do some cleanup after they left.read more
It seemed to be very good. The technician was on time and answered all my questions. My husband died unexpectedly a month ago and he had always taken care of the service calls. I really appreciated the time the tech took to help me out.read more
During the many years we have used Ravinia's services, we never have been disappointed. Every person who has come to our house was skilled, timely, friendly and efficient. One should expect reliability from a service provider. That word sums up our experience with Ravinia.read more
We purchased new a/c & furnace from Bishop in 2014 and have had excellent service since with regard to annual maintenance. The furnace inspection which was done 10/15/18 was done by JACK. He was on time and was probably the best tech we have had. He explained everything, even things we already knew but it was a good "refresher" course and he was just a very pleasant person.read more
ella joe
Nick replaced our leaking water heater today. He explained clearly and thoroughly so many different aspects of its operation but also patiently answered other questions I had about the plumbing. It was impressive how very knowledgeable he is. What a pleasant experience having someone so professional and friendly and efficient working in our home!read more
Bob cam to the house and my wife said got right to work. He was able to clean both Furnaces and let us know what was going to be needing replacement fairly soon. He has honest with his assessment of what we needed and even helped us take advantage of specials that were currently available.read more
13:10 27 Dec 18
My experiences with Ravinia have always been very positive, and today was no exception. From prompt timing, expertise and ease of explanation - the replacement of our sump pump was flawless. Our technician, Jason Innis, was the consummate professional and a true asset to the organization.read more
Just had my furnace, a/c and hot water heater replaced. Nick, Charlie, Victor and Jon did a great job! They were very courteous, friendly and professional. One thing is that any of the technicians that work for Ravinia always leave the job site clean when they leave. They always cover their shoes and put down protective mats or cloths to cover the carpet or hardwood floors. It is VERY much appreciated! Also Ron, the salesperson that I was working with, is easy to work with and very helpful with any questions that I had. Thank you for a great job! Kevin Saiki.read more
Very pleasant experience. Our tech, Terry B, was very professional and responsive as always. We appreciate that he's been to our house before and value his serviceread more
I was incredibly impressed with the timeliness of our service. They came out that very morning to assess the situation and immediately called a service guy, Joe, to proceed with the job which he came within a half hour! Joe was cordial, explained the situation in layman's terms so both my husband and I thoroughly understood what needed to be done and why.read more
In July an air conditioning failure is a compelling problem. Your team responded promptly and efficiently to fix our concerns (which turned out to be a clog of cottonwood buildup!). We're now cool, comfortable, and able to enjoy our home together. There are6 of us--ranging in age from 11 to 86! Thanks!read more
Bob was our technician, and he did a great job. He has serviced our home before, and we're always impressed by his professional knowledge, his thoroughness in taking care of our boiler or ac system, and his friendly manner when he's answering our questions. What's most reassuring is his method of double-checking his work.read more
Ravinia installed a new air conditioner a few days ago. We've been in our house for 17 years (we built it in 2001), and our AC has always been pretty weak. We found that the entire experience with Ravinia was very good, from the initial estimate to the installation. Every person came on time; it was easy to schedule; the technicians were very knowledgeable . The total cost was high, but we hope that the new systems solves our cooling problems.read more
Your service representative, Joe, was very professional, courteous and customer focused. He came in to do a superb job, not just a job. I was extremely impressed with him because he took the time to explain to me in detail what my issue was, how he was going to fix it and that he wasn't leaving until 100% customer satisfaction was achieved. What a breath of fresh air!! Joe is a keeper.read more
The sales person, Ron Mrowiec, did an excellent job in defining our heating and cooling needs insofar as equipment is concerned. The installers did an excellent job on the installation insofar as explaining mechanical aspects, doing the installation itself, and explaining the workings of our fancy new thermostat. I couldn't be more pleased. The pricing was higher than anticipated, and higher than one of the competing bids, and I would have been happier if Ron/Ravinia had provided a larger discount, but I bought from you because I had/have more faith in Ravinia.read more
Saturday at 1:00 I noticed water coming up from the floor drain in the basement, I called Ravinia and was told Ray was on another job, but could be over by 2:00. Needless to say I was thrilled that someone was available so quickly. Within a half hour Ray called me to say he was on his way and would be to my home shortly. When he arrived he was pleasant, remembered being at my house for other service before and he got to work rodding the sewer drain from the street toward the house. We talked while he worked and explained to me that roots are always growing and this maintenance should be done on a regular basis. I truly appreciate the prompt and efficient service on a Saturday afternoon. Thank you Ray and Ravinia Plumbing for being consistently dependable !read more
Ravinia Technicians installed a new AC unit today at our home. The technicians arrived on time and got to work quickly. We discussed the particulars about what was to happen, made sure the correct unit was to be installed and they went about the business of getting the unit installed. It took about three hours to get the project finished. Upon completion of the process the technician and I discussed the warranty and a few other concerns and all were answered. I had scheduled the installation a few months ago and had no trouble picking the date that worked best for my schedule. We feel the price is comparable for our Carrier AC unit.read more
not sure if my previous note came through! Rick came to service our boiler. He was very nice and explained that it was time for a new one. Then Jeff helped us select a new one, followed up with me several times during the process and could not have been more kind and helpful. Roy and Don then came and spent a day installing the new boiler. We were incredibly appreciative of their expertise. They were so patient explaining to us how everything worked. We were delighted with the whole process. thank youread more
I have the utmost respect and confidence in Bishop heating and plumbing. I have used them for many years. They bend over backwards to be of service. Years ago we needed new furnace in middle of Christmas and frigid cold. They supplied heaters etc because furnace had to be ordered and it's was middle of holiday. We really appreciated their care fir our comfort. They have the best servicemen. One is nicer than the other. Always a pleasant service call ..read more
Excellent, courteous, personable. Kevin has been our air conditioning tech for several years and I trust him to help me get the most out of my investment. Tour water heater tech who came out a few months ago was the same, as is the furnace tech who has serviced us several times. I recently had a couple of Sears techs come out for washer and dryer service and your men are simply better in every way.read more
As you know there are many heating & plumbing companies in the north shore. I will continue to use Ravinia because your staff are courteous and efficient. When Roy was here, he remembered me from before and I felt like a valued customer. Besides remembering me, he did an excellent job, cleaned up after himself, and was courteous. Thanks Ravinia job well done.read more
15:26 30 Dec 17
Most disappointed with our seven year old Carrier units, installed by a previous co. Have spent $3,000 on repair, and as seniors have been without heat during the coldest times. Technician, Roy, was very pleasant and no nonsense.....got the job done well. Also appreciated the part picked up instead of waiting for it to come in. We have done $$$ business with Ravinia since making the switch. Some of the service is excellent, [in all areas] a few I would not want back in my house.read more
11:56 29 Dec 17
We had been a customer of Ravinia Plumbing & HVAC for many years, but switched to another provider after having some service problems with Ravinia a number of years ago. However, we recently needed to replace both our furnaces, both our AC units and our water heater in the midst of renovating our home, and called Bishop Heating & Cooling for one of our quotes. Jeff from Bishop called back to let me know that they had been acquired by Ravinia, and that he was aware of my service concerns with them from in the past, but he'd like to win my business again. Jeff spent significant time in preparing a couple different quotes for us, making sure I understood the differences between the two quotes and the advantages that either option would provide for our home. His knowledge of the equipment, the efficiency and comfort advantages of each, and all the details required for installation was well beyond what any of the other providers was able to offer. In addition, he responded quickly to my emails and calls to prepare us for our decision. Once we decided to use Ravinia, Jeff accompanied the installation team -- Charlie, Dan and Don -- to our home to walk through all of the details and make sure all would be installed correctly. Don, the installer of the water heater, was extremely efficient and thorough in his work, making sure we were without water and hot water for as short a time as possible, and correcting some related plumbing issues in the process of installation, which significantly improved our hot water situation in the home. Charlie and Dan were similarly thorough and detailed in their work, making a complicated installation of very high-tech equipment quite painless. And all of the installers were very friendly, presentable and timely throughout the installation process. At the end of the installation, Charlie was very helpful in getting us familiar with the new system and how to use the thermostats and online app to manage our comfort settings. Ravinia has definitely won our business back with a very different service level than had been provided under the direction of the previous owner.read more
Technicians are very professional and willing to explain and answer questions. They arrived on time (within the time frame they had predicted) Scheduling service was simple. I have only one suggestion, since I had scheduled the service several weeks in advance, I would recommend a reminder email the day or two prior to appointment. I always put my appointments on my calendar, but actually called on the day scheduled to double check if someone was coming since I had no prior reminder.read more
Gary from Ravinia Plumbing and Heating came right on time. He introduced himself and took off his dry shoes as not to dirty our carpet. He was professional and friendly and took the time to explain what needed to be done and the cost of the repair upfront. He even checked the sump pump with recommendations. He was thorough and finished in a timely manner. I hope the next time I call Ravinia Plumbing and Heating, Gary will be our serviceman.read more
Most recent 2 experiences: Larry B for furnace maintenance and Danny for plumbing. Can't speak highly enough about both these guys. They are both so knowledgeable, friendly, helpful, and informative. I request them and they are one reason I've appreciated Ravinia so much. Not the only reason but a big factor. They use initiative to solve problems and are expert at what they do. The scheduling team is always as helpful as they can be in meeting my needs and this past year I've had over and above service in re to some issues that arose after I had a new HVAC system installed last year. Several follow up visits were made to make things right and it was very helpful to me.read more
11:11 18 Dec 17
You responded to my service request very quickly. I experienced a flooded floor from a leaky pipe on Wed and by thurs. a plumber was at my home fixing it. The leak was in a difficult area requiring cutting into my wall. The plumber was very efficient. He found the rusted pipe deep in the wall, changed it and cleaned up very effectively. He obviously knew what he was about. I am very grateful to have this over and very satisfied with the quality of the job. Thanksread more
Rick C called to say he was on the way, arrived on time, was courteous & informative. He was thorough, vacuumed & removed & cleaned the parts that needed cleaning. He cleaned the area where he worked before leaving & insisted on covering his boots when he came inside. We were pleased with the work he did & would recommend him. We would recommend him & your company.read more
01:42 14 Dec 17
When I called for a basic inquiry the phone was answered in a friendly and professional manner. They took the time to let me explain why I was calling and then asked me specific questions. While my heating situation was not an emergency, they scheduled a technician in the afternoon, within 3 hours!! Fast response, and a great service call that solved my issue at a fair price.read more
I called Ravinia Plumbing because I have a specific brand of wall toilet system that I thought was leaking. Other plumbers were hesitant to try and service the toilet. The technician, Jeff, who came out to the house was excellent! He was very friendly and knowledgeable. He answered all my questions. It turned out that it wasn't the toilet that was leaking, but the shower next to it in which the drain had not been installed correctly. Jeff had to cut the ceiling in the area below in order to access the plumbing and do the repair. He ended up spending the morning doing the work. He also checked the other shower drains in the house to make sure they did not have the same issue. Thankfully, they were installed correctly. Throughout it all, Jeff was wonderful. I really appreciate all he did. I am so glad I found Ravinia Plumbing (on the internet) and made the phone call to them. I would not hesitate to call them again.read more
I have used Bishop Heating & Cooling for the 23 years I have lived in my house. It was easy to schedule the appointment on the phone for a day that was convenient for me. The technician Bob, showed up on time and efficiently completed work on the AC annual maintenance. Bob has been to the house before and knew exactly what to do. He conducted himself in a friendly yet professional manner.read more
As usual, outstanding service!! Technicians are prompt, courteous, and knowledgeable!! Customer service from the office personnel is also outstanding!! I had been a customer of Mahoney Plumbing and Heating since 1986 and when it merged, then sold to Ravinia several years ago, I became a Ravinia customer and have always been extremely pleased. It has become an integral part of my "professional service family."read more
The company called to say that the piece needed for my job was found to be defective when the technician was examining the parts for the job. Although I appreciate the call to let me know that they would be showing up later, I would have appreciated it more if they had checked the parts the day before and let me know. I already had my day scheduled and was without a car as I knew I wouldn't need one. When the technician did show up (I think it was Andy), he was pleasant and profssional and answered all my questions and spoke with my husband over the phone. He did a great job, cleaned up and was pleasant to interact with.read more
Ravinia Plumbing came when they said they would. Dan explained what the cost would be, with or without parts. Luckily we didn't need any parts because as customers we are always trying to keep our costs at a minimum. Dan assessed the situation, corrected the problem and was on his way. He has been here before, so I was comfortable to have him here. He is nice and polite and you should be happy to have him as one of your repairmen. You have always tried to schedule a visit as soon as you can - and you succeeded again. Thank You.read more
This last experience I had with Ravinia was as positive and always. Both Jeff and Dave R were here to do plumbing work and they did an excellent job. Both were so professional, knowledge, and determined to get the job done even though a few obstacles presented themselves. I truly have never worked with such great contractors and I am so thrilled that I found Ravinia. I am pushing my brother in Wilmette to join "the club" as well!read more
We have used Ravinia for the past 18 months and have been very happy with the service. We are members and I always think you are on the expensive side but there is nothing like easy scheduling and technicians that are on time and pleasant. Customer service is very important to me. I do think some are better at this than others but overall satisfied. Everyone likes promotions so I think you should continue to do coupons and include members since we often refer you and call you every time.read more
My experience today was the same as always. It was very easy to schedule an appointment. The office called me with enough time to leave my office and get home to meet the tech so I did not have to wait around for them. The tech was super friendly and knowledgeable. You guys are a pleasure to do business with.read more
I appreciated how fast Ravinia was able to schedule a technician to come out and take care of my clogged sewer pipe! I called at approximately 7:30AM and was advised by the representative that she would have someone out first thing,.. between 8 and 9 in the morning, same day. The technician was polite and flexible in my requests, and took care of the problem very quickly. And, advised what needs to be done as far as annual maintenance to help assure future problems can possibly be avoided and or reduced in severity. This information is helpful,.. being proactive is important as a home owner.read more
Technician, Eric, was running a little late so called-always appreciated. I had to get something somewhere by a certain time and technician waited for my return as we cross paths by about 10 minutes. He was very kind, efficient and didn't make me feel guilty for having him wait a few minutes. He identified the problem and solution quickly. Thanks!read more
I called Ravinia at 1:30pm and Brian B., the tech, arrived about an hour later. He completed everything within 30 minutes and explained any issues. He also explained what to do in the future. Charge for services was reasonable. Everyone at Ravinia is consistently the best at everything they do. We have been using Ravinia's services for over ten years, and as a member we will continue to be a member in the future.read more
The technician, Jason, was extremely skilled, professional and courteous. He was very expeditious in diagnosing the problem and completing the work (installed a new hot water heater, brought a couple of valves up to code, and rerouted the ice maker water line) in ~2.5 hours. It was very easy to schedule service. I called around 7:30 am and the work was completed by 3pm on the same day. While Ravinia is not the "cheapest" game in town, the work is always high quality and can be counted on.read more
Steff Hall
Terry came to see about our toilet was was very slow to review. Initially, he saw that we needed several new parts for the tank, but after installing those parts he found that the toilet was still not working properly. He called the office and asked them to send out an additional part. He then had to remove the tank, take everything out and reinstall with the original new parts and the additional part. He did a great job. The toilet is working fine and he was very careful to keep the area clean. Great job.read more
Very good. We called and were able to get an appointment quickly that fit our schedule. The technician's were friendly and able to diagnose our problem and correct it on the spot, after confirming estimated costs (which was really important to us). They spent time with me understanding what work they thought was worth doing, and what alternate options we might have in order to save money (which is also really important to us). JJ and Joe did a great job and corrected our drainage problem. I'm looking forward to seeing Lake Silver in our backyard dry up and disappear.read more
Thank you so much for the excellent care you showed my mom and me. The technician always arrived when he said he would, he was always friendly and was knowledgeable. They worked with us to use what they could that was not damaged in the flood. We even had the supervisor check in with us and the technician. We are thankful for your help and support .read more
Tim was here today to service all four AC units. It takes a long time and endless trips up and down stairs and in and out of house! He was also here recently to help with an evaporator installation for one of the units, which resulted in many hours outside in rain and cold! His work and concentration are amazing! Very pleased with him and his work, and appreciate all the info I learned along the way!read more
Nick and David did an unbelievable job in replacing my spacepak system. Timely, professional and friendly. Highest quality job - exceptional attention to detail. Worked long hours the first day to insure system was cooling before leaving for the day and then returned the next day to balance air flow and recheck everything. Jeff Johnson has also been great through both the sales and installation process quick to follow up and everything. I have never been disappointed with Ravinia service but this experience has been the best by far.read more
Charlie came to my house on October 27, '16. Originally, a different date was scheduled, but Ravinia called to reschedule another day and was very kind to make it close to the original date. Charlie arrived here on time. In fact, he was waiting in my driveway when I got home from work. He was very thorough, very helpful, and is/was always nice to see and talk to. That's why I request that Charlie be the technician to come and do my furnace work. I think that the fees charged are comparable to other companies.read more
Reed arrived on time after calling when he would arrive. He was very polite and informative about what was wrong with the air conditioner and gave me a quote before working on the unit. He also checked the filters and suggested how often we could take care of them to get better air flow from our unit. I will highly recommend your services to friends and use Ravinia for other needs with heating, air conditioning and plumbing.read more
Jose Guerra, electrician, completed 3 projects with exceptional service. His advice necessitated a return visit in order install specialty bulbs with greater performance than those sold by a supplier. I am extremely satisfied. Cesar, heating and cooling technician, performed a clean and check on my furnace with noted courtesy and attention to my questions regarding humidity. He has serviced me in the past including when an house emergency occurred. He made arrangements for Ravinia Plumbing to fix the problem which was not within work domain.read more
Ravinia/Bishop has worked at my house for over 30 years, and have always been pleased with service. From annual service of heating/air, the installation of new water heaters and furnaces to major plumbing projects. The quality of work has always been 5-star. Technicians arrive in a timely manner and are always friendly and professional. Scheduling appointments runs smoothly and prices are competitive in the area. I plan to continue working with Ravinia/Bishop, and frequently recommend them to friends.read more
Great service from Kevin H., the service technician. He arrived as scheduled, and did a thorough inspection of our furnaces and thermostats. I appreciated that he covered his shoes with paper booties as he entered my house. He answered my questions about ways to try and save money on my heating bills this winter, & I felt confident with his expert knowledge. He also took the time to explain what is the new Ravinia Plumbing & Heating Family of companies and how my new membership gives me options and benefits. I will absolutely ask for Kevin for the Spring inspection of my air conditioners.read more
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Expert Tips on How to Find a Reliable Electrician in the Chicagoland Area
Date: April 6, 2020
Do you know what they call the medical student who ranked lowest in his graduating class? That’s right – “Doctor.” The same logic could be applied to electricians. Do you want the individual who barely passed his certification or who has no license at all? Never! Improperly wired homes risk fire and other serious hazards. But how do you find a reliable, professional, licensed electrician in the Chicagoland area?
Here are some tips for finding a good electrician.
Go to the Better Business Bureau, www.bbb.org. and check out contractors’ information with respect to licensing, insurance, visual proof, time in business, workers’ compensation, complaints, violations, best business practices, self-disclosure, and customer satisfaction. Determine if these complaints raise red flags for your project.
Discuss the professional’s experience. Electricians often specialize in one or more fields. Ask how long the electrician has been in business and what percentage of his experience falls in your area of need.
Confirm the electrician carries, at a minimum, liability insurance. If the professional employs other electricians, ensure his employers are covered under a worker’s compensation policy if these individuals will be working on your project.
Check references. Ask the electrician for references you can call to verify their satisfaction with the professional’s work. You may also consult organizations like Angie’s List, Best Pick Reports and Google Home Services to read recommendations and ratings for contractors.
You would not trust your health to a poorly educated physician; likewise, you don’t want to trust critical electrical home repairs to a poorly rated electrician.
Schedule An Appointment
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Learn more ways to save on the services you need.
For more information, go to Reviews and Ratings
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December 5, 2022
While Wi-Fi (or “smart”) thermostats have been around for a while, still less than 50% of U.S. homes have them. But many more are considering Read more…
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The new class of truck is growing, not electric vehicles (EVs) but compact. Hyundai Santa Cruz joins Ford Maverick bringing back the “mini truck.” You remember them, the Chevy LUV, from Isuzu, Dodge D50, from Mitsubishi, and Ford Courier by Mazda. Of course there was Toyota Pickup, and Datsun 620 truck. I use to call them “motorized wheelbarrows” because of their size. But they were useful, got good fuel mileage and you could reach tools in the bed floor without a ladder. Most had diesel options from the oil crisis of the 70s. Hyundai, doesn’t call it a truck, it’s a Sport Adventure Vehicle or SAV.
Izzy and I drove the Santa Cruz Limited AWD truck up Poudre Canyon. My first in a Hyundai, the Limited was loaded. Heated and cooled seats and heated steering wheel. Of course it has power seats, and tilt and telescope steering wheel. I like the auto dimming head lights and then there is the roll up tonneau cover. Though the rolled up part takes up too much space, it comes out to load my smallest ATV. the rear bumper has corner steps like GM trucks and the Avalanche, which is my favorite bumper. The front grill is covered with LED lights that look cool. The whole truck looks sporty, reminding me of the Avalanche, El Camino and Subaru Baja. The 20 inch wheels, part of the Limited package, makes the look.
The Cruz has paddle shifters for the 8-Speed dual-clutch auto transmission. The All Wheel Drive comes with 2.5L turbo 4-cylinder. 281 horsepower and 311 torque. Without a trailer it’s plenty zippy on the highway. It didn’t come with a hitch, so I have no trailer review. I was looking forward to towing the rated 5,000 pound trailer. The AWD system has a button to lock the center diff (transfer case). Rated at 27 mpg on highway by the Environmental Protectioin Agency. It is sporty and a lifestyle truck with a trunk that can hold ice with a drain plug. It’s a smaller trunk than the Honda Ridgeline. Front room was good for adults, rear seat not. The Cruz was smooth on the highway due to its four-corner independent suspension.
I do like the five year, 100k powertrain warranty that Hyundai has had for years. The Santa Cruz surprised me with autonomous driving assist called HDA. With adaptive cruise control and lane departure, just set the cruise and a green steering wheel appears on the screen. I’m sure it’s just a level two but it did well in the lanes. The speedometer turns into a warning screen when the truck wants you to grab the wheel every 4 to 6 minutes. On curves it was a little worrisome, as it made curves in a jerking motion. The tach and speedo change with the turn signal to screens from the camera that shows you all along the side which GM trucks have, I like that. The mini 4 foot bed, had adjustable cargo tracks, lights and the cover. The bed is a surprising 19 feet deep.
What I don’t like on the nice size 10.3 inch touch screen, yes touch screen, was “finger drift.” I like real buttons, trying to push the touch screen for fan, radio, volume, heat etc. bouncing down the almost finished Colorado roads is difficult. Many times my finger would bounce to the button next to the button I wanted. The truck is a great size for parking at Walmart. The Cruz is 4 inches shorter than the Ford Maverick, 12 inches shorter than the Honda Ridgeline. The retail price on our review model is $41,540. But that’s OK, you can put three hay bales in the bed and close the tonneau cover.
Mr Truck
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Help needed at Ranch Feedlot operation. Jobs include haying, feeding, fencing, cleaning bins, cattle sort and vaccinate,cattle care, calving, and…
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[WP] You wake up in an unfamiliar and empty diner. You find you are clean shaven and dressed in a suit, which is odd as you know for a fact that you’ve spent the last six months homeless and without a job. You look outside and see that it is night and that you recognize none of the buildings. [Link to post.]
Ezekiel “Ezey” Yzaguirre awoke in a red leather booth, hunched over a white formica table. His senses kicked in as his eyes fluttered open. The first thing he noticed was a hunger inside him as if he had not eaten in months when he knew it had only been a couple of days. As his eyes adjusted to the bright interior of the diner he noticed what looked like a fresh hamburger on his table in a small plastic orange basket. Next to the hamburger was a pile of steaming hot french fries, with a tall glass of dark soda condensating next to the basket.
“Well, I guess I’m dead,” Ezey reached for the food without hesitation but noticed the dark sleeves of his suit as he pulled the food closer to him. He brought a french fry to his mouth, then looked down at his suit. He realized he did not feel any hair when he ate the fry and brought his hands up to feel his face.
“Not exactly,” a male voice said. Ezey turned to look for the source and noticed a man with a chestnut crewcut, and a suit matching the one Ezey wore, seated on one of the stools at the counter. Upon realizing he was not alone in the diner Ezey quickly grabbed the burger and bit into it. The man chuckled and stood from his stool to slide into the red booth across from Ezey. “Don’t worry, it’s not going to get taken away, and it’s free of charge.” The stranger’s hand dipped beneath the table. He brought it back up holding another burger basket with steaming hot fries. “As much as you like.” Ezey swallowed his bite, then washed it down with soda.
“What does that mean, ‘not exactly’?” he asked then took another bite of the burger. Though this time it was a smaller bite that he took his time chewing.
“It means you are. Unless you don’t want to be.” The stranger’s hand dipped below the table then returned with a white folder. He placed the folder on the table and opened it to reveal a short stack of papers. He lifted the top sheet and handed it to Ezey.
“I’m pretty okay staying here with the food,” Ezey grabbed the offered sheet and looked it over. His eyes widened, then he glanced at the next sheet in the stack. Without waiting for permission he grabbed the whole stack and leafed through them.
“Why do you have these?” he asked the man. A flash of anger coursed down his spine and his grip tightened around the sheets, crumpling the corner in his hand. “You’re the reason I haven’t found work in six months!?” The stranger gently shook his head.
“The originals that you filled out all went to the employers that you submitted them too, these are duplicates. They’re visual aids to help explain why you’re here.” Ezey turned to look at the diner around them, then he focused on the stranger again.
“Can we start with how I got here, before I ask you to explain where ‘here’ is?” Ezey asked. He calmed down enough to start picking at the fries again. The stranger nodded.
“You died. The details aren’t important, that life is over. However, we have a position open,” the stranger gestured at the white folder. “You aren’t the only one considering the position but given your eagerness to work, we came to you first.” Ezey’s mouth hung open enough to show a pale white ball of mush. He closed his eyes, swallowed the frenchfry he was working on, then took a moment to take a breath.
“Am I working for Heaven or Hell?” he asked. A slight smirk crept up the left side of the stranger’s face.
“Neither, but both. We’re the Middlemen. We just sort people out and get them to where they want to go.” Ezey looked surprised.
“Where they want to go? Don’t you mean where they deserve to go?” Again the stranger gently shook his head.
“If you take the job, you’ll learn as you go. People are funny, but they always get what they think they deserve. Even if they don’t realize it.”
“What if I don’t take the job?” Ezey asked. The stranger shrugged, closed the white folder, then held it up to show Ezey. “You’re already filed into Heaven. If you don’t take the job you move on to there.” Ezey’s put another french fry in his mouth as he debated.
“I should tell you though, there’s no food in Heaven. There’s no need for it, you’ll never feel hungry.” the stranger said.
“Oh.” He finished chewing his fry, then swallowed it. “I’ll take the job, where do I sign?”
Thank you for reading! I’m responding to prompts every day in 2018, this is #212. You can find them collected on my blog. If you’re curious about my universe (the Hugoverse) you can visit the Guidebook to see what’s what and who’s who, or the Timeline to find the stories in order.
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Posted in July 2018, r/writingprompts
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The Hustle. Roger Montenegro is a personal trainer at IM Possible Personal Training in downtown St. Pete. YEARS IN ST. PETE? Last year, my girlfriend and I moved back to the States from working and traveling in New Zealand and Eastern Europe. We decided to try out Florida’s west coast and decided St. Petersburg is […]
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"Hands down: Heather and Roger are the most passionate personal trainers I've ever met! Their knowledge about training techniques, anatomy and nutrition is exceptional and their training methods are on point. I've trained with Heather mostly and what I love most about her is that she challenges me to achieve my individual fitness goals with a well balanced approach - both, pushing me to succeed, yet patient with the process. She listens well to my needs and is extremely educational and supportive. I highly recommend working with Heather and Roger, if you are looking for personal trainers that are highly educated and truly know what they are doing."
"Heather and Roger are the most caring, passionate, and knowledgeable trainers you could work with. They will encourage you and motivate you to reach your goals while also being considerate of any limitations you may have. You can tell their love for what they do by the care they put into their facility. I have learned and grown so much thanks to them and if you’re looking to do the same, this is the place for you!"
"It's always a real pleasure to work out with Roger and the team at Made Possible Personal Training. They're all really inspiring, knowledgeable, patient, and they care about you achieving your fitness goals! Highly recommend if you're looking to attain a healthier lifestyle!! Excellent place to work-out!!"
"The best workout experience I’ve ever had. Heather, Roger, and Taylor are not only incredibly knowledgeable and supportive, but they are also positive and fun. They truly take a hands-on approach with their clients, ensuring our safety through proper mechanics. I have seen a major improvement in my body and mind after working out with them, and I know you will too. So thankful to have them in St. Pete!"
"The folks here are amazing. I've worked out with Heather for nearly three years. I have spine issues and now another health condition that hinders my progress at times. It seems like Heather senses what I can handle and what I need from the workout the moment I walk in the door. Heather, Roger and Taylor go beyond personal training. They have made a difference in my life."
"Amazing! That's the one word I would use for this gym. I am not a gym person and needed motivation to get my fitness kick started. I love the personal attention received by Heather, Roger and Taylor. They have tailored my workouts to ensure I don't do too much cardio to trigger my asthma and to gain the strength I needed in my shoulders. I am so grateful for finding this gym. They are the sweetest, most supportive people as well. Even making sure we are supported while working out at home during this pandemic crisis with equipment, virtual workouts, emails and texts. I just love this place."
"Made Possible is hands down the best personal training experience I have ever used. I truly enjoy the workouts, their friendship, and the results. Along with the strength training, they have been masterful with flexibility and therapy around some injuries. I truly wish every day started with an early session with the Made Possible team."
"The Made Possible Trainers are the best I’ve worked with! I have worked with a variety of gyms and trainers with different styles, difficulties and focuses but feel most comfortable with MPPT. From the beginning, the focus is on enabling the client to reach their goals and take ownership of their health. Whether you’re doing private or small group sessions you will receive attentive coaching, education and tailored exercises to ensure your workout is benefiting you. There is no “one size fits all” approach here. If an exercise doesn’t work due to flexibility or prior injury, they replace it on the spot. If something is causing pain, they work to pinpoint the issue as soon as it happens. In addition to being awesome trainers they are also very welcoming and fun to be around. The gym has a great design and is always clean."
“Roger is the best trainer I've ever had. I'm not a muscle or gym guy at all but I've tried to keep up with the gym over the years and had many so called trainers work with me. Roger is the first trainer who actually saw ME and watched ME as I worked out. He tailored my workout to my weaknesses even adapting 'normal' exercises to improve my posture, movements and range to bring me to the correct position. As an example. when he saw one of my heels consistently coming up off the floor during squats, he created some exercises that slowly help remove that weakness. Patient and very focused on the individual I definitely would recommend Roger.”
“Roger was my personal trainer at SPARK Kuwait. Let me start by saying that as a trainer, he was great, but more importantly, as a person, he was even better. Being an athlete who happens to go to the gym for strength and endurance to help me with my sport, Roger took the time to understand my sport, seek out my strengths and weaknesses and develop a program that fits my needs. The exercises were very new to me, and he was great in demonstrating the importance of such exercises along with teaching me how to do them. I would highly recommend Roger as trainer: he knows what he is doing and he cares about his clients.”
“My favorite personal trainer. Heather is so up beat that you just can't help but smile and laugh during your workout. Her anatomical knowledge is impressive and she is incredibly responsive to her clients needs.”
“Since day one of training with Heather she has made me feel special. Heather is extremely positive and was always so incredibly encouraging. Heather’s demeanor and outlook on life is beautiful and I’m so thankful our paths crossed! Heather has changed my outlook on life and I am forever grateful that I was able to learn and grow from my experience training with her.”
Chelsey M
We're proud to have an average 4.9 customer rating on Google from more than 70 reviews by our satisfied clients. Read more reviews here.
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The famous koan of the buffalo passing through the window is listed by Hakuin as a Nanto koan, or a koan that is particularly difficult to pass through. The difficulty though is not in the paradoxical nature of the image presented, but rather in coming to terms with what is realized in the koan. Most of us one way or another will think about practice in terms of a before and after - what I was like before, what I hope to be after. And when we have some kind of experience of passing though a barrier, of having the splits and confusions that brought us to practice seemingly dissolve for a little while, we quickly feel like we've gone from the before to the after. Yet in no time at all it seems like all the dualisms and splits reassert themselves. And so we get back on the cushion and practice harder. We want to do it again, but this time, once and for all. There is the beginning of the real difficulty Hakuin is pointing to.
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Can you believe that it’s nearly Christmas?! That means that this will be our last newsletter for the year! We’d like to thank you for the part you’ve played in our success and we look forward to sharing more exciting opportunities with you in the new year! Today, we’ll be sharing some fun and festive activities that’ll get you and your family into the Christmas spirit! If you’d like to know more, read on!
Children’s online Christmas craft activities
Join Libraries Sheffield for fun, online Christmas craft activities! This free event is suitable for children aged 6 and above and their families and is aimed at teaching you how to make some of your own Christmassy decorations. It takes place on Wednesday 22nd December 2021 at 2.30pm. If you’d like to join in on the creative fun, click here!
Printable Christmas activities for the family!
Are you looking for some fun and simple Christmas activities to enjoy with your family this festive season? Whether it’s for a Christmas party or for family fun at home, these awesome, free printable Christmas activities can give you and your family hours of entertainment. If you’d like to download and print these fun activities, click here!
We’re just letting you know that our office will be closed from Wednesday 22nd December until Tuesday 4th January, and our first day back at the office will be on Wednesday 5th January 2021. If you would like to get in touch with us before we close, please email us or give us a quick call.
December 20, 2021 December 20, 2021 Tagged: Child Talents, In the know, young people Comment
Social mobility charities that can help young people reach their aspirations
by GT Scholars Parents
GT Scholars was set up to give young people the support, skills and strategies they need to achieve their aspirations. Our courses, workshops and programmes have helped hundreds of young people aged 11-18 achieve better grades at school, get into top universities, access top tier apprenticeships and reach their academic and career aspirations.
In addition to the work we do with young people, we offer bursaries to young people from lower income homes. This is fuelled by our passion and belief that every young person deserves a chance and choice to succeed in life, regardless of their background. Every year, we seek to offer bursaries to as many people as possible. However, the number of free places we provide in each term is based on our earnings. This means that we are only able to give a very limited number of free places each year. Thankfully, there are many other organisations working hard to support some of the young people that need it most.
In this blog, we discuss various organisations that provide support to young people aged 11-18 from low income homes.
The National Tutoring Programme is a £350 Million government funded programme which schools are using to provide free one to one and small group tutoring to young people. It was set up as a response to the 2020 pandemic and has been designed to help thousands of young people in England to ensure that they can catch up on learning that was missed during the lockdown and school closure period. Many schools have signed up to this and you may be able to access free tutoring through this programme.
IntoUniversity provides local learning centres where young people are inspired to achieve. At each local centre, IntoUniversity offers an innovative programme that supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to attain either a university place or another chosen aspiration. Their programme provides children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds academic support, FOCUS activities, and mentoring.
The Access Project works with bright students from disadvantaged backgrounds, providing in-school support and personalised tuition, to help them gain access to top universities. Their programme comprises both tutoring and mentoring as the combination of these interventions maximises their students’ likelihood of going to a top university. They also organise visits to top universities and run a Law Society, a Medicine and Dentistry Society and an Oxbridge Society.
The Brilliant Club is a university access charity that works with schools and universities across the UK. The organisation aims to increase the number of pupils from under-represented backgrounds progressing to highly selective universities. They do this by mobilising the PhD community to share its academic expertise with state schools through programmes of university-style tutorials, which are supplemented by two university trips.
Coach Bright: This is an organisation that provides tutoring and mentoring to young people aged 10-30 from low-income backgrounds. They work with volunteer coaches who support young people through their coaching programmes and academic programmes. Their mission is to improve social mobility for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and they have helped thousands of young people to achieve this goals.
Action Tutoring is a national charity that provides one-to-one and small group tutoring to young people from low income disadvantaged backgrounds. It is also one of the largest tutoring organisations providing free tutoring to young people in England. They work with schools across the country, providing schools with access to volunteer graduates and professionals who volunteer 1-2 hours every week to help young people improve their grades.
Team Up is a social venture charity that runs a voluntary leadership programme. They use tuition, delivered by inspirational role models, to enable pupils from low-income backgrounds to meaningfully increase their academic attainment, in order to improve the choices open to them. They also work with schools, universities and employers in order to increase social mobility in the UK.
Tutors United is a non-profit organisation that trains current university students and hires them to tutor English and Maths. They specialise in providing affordable private tutoring to the children and families who need it most, operating multiple tutoring services at various sites across the UK with plans to expand further. They are committed to tackling educational inequality and always recruit the very best undergraduates to tutor the pupils who need it most.
SEO London has three programmes that prepare talented students from ethnic minority or low socioeconomic backgrounds for career success. Their SEO Schools programme helps high-achieving students in Years 11-13 to broaden their horizons through access to academic, professional and enrichment opportunities. They organise events such as insight days and work experience placements with their world-class sponsor firms, comprehensive skills sessions to develop your commercial awareness and technical skills, bespoke open days at the UK’s top universities, and mentoring from experienced SEO alumni and industry professionals.
TalentEd is a charity that offers high-ability young people a year-long programme of weekly small group sessions. They believe that every young person should have the support, skills and aspirations to realise their potential. Their programmes are tailored to the needs of the individual by expert teachers. Their partner schools identify the needs of their cohort and choose a programme theme. TalentEd tutors then provide individual support to their small group of students, tailoring sessions to help them reach their potential.
UpReach is a charity that helps disadvantaged students from across the UK to realise their potential. They provide a highly personalised programme of support to students who they call UpReach Associates. They partner with employers and universities, and offer access to a comprehensive range of opportunities and activities to broaden their associate’s horizons, understand career pathways and develop the skills, networks and experiences needed for career success.
Sutton Trust is a foundation which improves social mobility in the UK through evidence-based programmes, research and policy advocacy. From early years’ through school, college and university to the workplace, they work to combat educational inequality and prevent the subsequent waste of talent. Their programmes, working in partnership with top universities and industry professionals, are designed to support students to make informed decisions about their next steps and leave young people feeling inspired.
Hackney Pirates is an enterprising charity working to develop the literacy, confidence and perseverance of young people so that they achieve both in school and in the world beyond. They believe that providing support outside of school can really help young people to do better in the classroom, while also developing broader skills. They work together with local schools, families and volunteers to deliver unique real-world learning projects in their own unconventional learning environment, the Ship of Adventures.
GT Scholars: We run after-school and weekend programmes that help young people achieve their academic and career aspirations. Our programmes are open to all young people regardless of their background, school or income. Our tutoring, mentoring and enrichment programmes give young people aged 11-18, the strategies, skills and support that they need to achieve their aspirations in life. Contact us if you would like to know more about any of our programmes and courses.
December 12, 2020 December 19, 2020 Tagged: charities, Education, Opportunities, organisations', social mobility, young people Comment
by GT Scholars In The Know Parents What's new?
Confidence is key! With so much going on right now in the world, many young people are struggling with anxiety and low confidence. This week we’ve put together some resources that can help young people build their confidence, and build their emotional resilience. By learning these skills early on, your child will be better equipped to deal with any challenges they may encounter now or in the future.
Check out this support portal for young people!
ReachOut.com is a great site that offers support for both parents and young people. Although based in Australia, the information they provide is really valuable and covers a range of topics including self-confidence, coping skills, dealing with stress and setting goals. To browse through their videos and blogs click here.
Listen to these self-development podcasts for young people
Where There’s Smoke, is a weekly podcast by Brett Gajda and Nick Jaworski for young people. The podcasts explore self-development through the lens of current events, pop culture, and experience. New episodes come out every Tuesday, and they usually run for about 30 minutes. Episodes feature experts who share their experiences, and the messages are always upbeat and positive. To check out the podcasts click here
When a young person has positive emotional wellbeing they can cope better with challenges and bounce back from those difficulties. The Rio Ferdinand Foundation is offering free online workshops that are suitable for young people aged 13+. This is a 4 part online workshop that is focused on helping young people manage their emotional wellbeing. It takes place every Thursday in July from 4pm – 5pm in a small group workshop that is run on zoom. To sign up click here
June 19, 2020 June 19, 2020 Tagged: Child Mindset, Improving yourself, In the know, Mindset, Parents, young people Comment
Scholar Spotlight – Mentoring gave me someone to engage with, with honest and truthful advice
by Marilyn Scholar spotlight What's new? Young people
As part of our scholar spotlight series, we interviewed one of the scholars on the Young Leaders programme. Please watch the video above for the full interview where Daniel shares his experience on how the GT Scholars programme has helped him.
Hi, my name is Daniel and I’m a former scholar of GT Scholars. I’m currently studying sociology, psychology, religious studies and will also start criminology studies in September at Saint Francis-Xavier College.
Why did you apply to GT Scholars?
Initially, my mum signed me up for GT Scholars because she thought it would be a good idea for me to have a mentor and be able to talk to someone who wasn’t a family member or a friend.
What was your experience of the mentoring programme?
When I joined GT Scholars I thought what’s the point in me having a mentor, why do I have to do this, why do I need someone to talk to. At the end f the programme, I could see that it was a massive benefit to have someone to rely on and talk to. In the beginning, I had a bad temperament, I got angry a lot and I didn’t really know how to behave in social situations. Mentoring helped me to understand my own behaviour, how I act towards other people & also see how I could improve myself. At first, Jason helped me to see that the way I was acting wasn’t necessarily great and it did take some time. He taught me how I should act when I’m around people and I can see now that I could walk into any sort of social situation or maybe even an interview and I can impress people.
What was your mentor like?
When I first met Jason I thought he was okay and I didn’t really see the benefit of him being there. I thought that Jason was a nice guy and that he sort of understands where I’m coming from. I could also see that he wanted to help me, but my question was why should I let him help me and how would he be able to help me. He started by telling me about his hobbies and interests and then I realised that we actually had a lot in common. At the end of the day, I could see that he really wanted to help me. I think for a mentor the most important thing is to be able to help the mentee, but it is also important to have something in common with them. You could be two completely different people, but at the end of the day if you could find one thing that you have in common with each other then it will be easier to actually help the mentee. Jason is quite possibly the best mentor I could have had and I can say that with wholehearted confidence. When I had sessions he would talk about anything from the big thing like family problems or education, to all the little things such as why I was late for a meeting.
How has the programme helped you academically?
At the start of the mentoring programme, my grades were not the best they could be. I was drifting through college, going to lessons, coming home, sleeping, eating, just typical teenage stuff. When I completed the programme my grades went up and I could see that mentoring wasn’t just about telling you what you can do in the future but it also had a positive impact on me during the programme. Mentoring showed me that education is important and you do need to do well.
What have you learned about yourself throughout the programme?
A new thing I learned was that I do have a lot of potential to do great things. Jason helped me realise that if I don’t use my potential in a good and positive manner, then at the end of the day I won’t be able to achieve anything, and that was a massive lesson for me to learn.
Why was mentoring valuable to you?
At the end of the programme I could see that everything Jason taught me from day one till the end I could use in future situations. For example, he taught me how to answer interview questions and I’d be able to use that in the future if I wanted to apply for a job or university. He taught me how to dress and I know now if I want to apply for university then I have to dress smart. It’s just all the little things that he taught me which builds up and I will be able to use this as an adult when I’m 30, 40, or 50 years old.
What did you enjoy most about the programme?
The thing I enjoyed most about the programme was having someone genuine to talk to who I could engage with, someone who doesn’t necessarily say something to please me like a yes person, but someone who gives me that honest truth about something, so giving me actual information and having that person to rely on when I need help.
What would you say to young people who want to join the programme?
I would tell anyone that’s younger who wants to join the programme to be open-minded. You can’t expect to see results straight away, it is a process and it does take a lot of time but in the end, you will see results. You will see that you are a better person. I would say it is natural to be resistant because even I was at first, but you still have to give it a chance. You can’t be a hundred percent resistant like you don’t want to do it and you do have to be open, you can’t just expect results, you have to try and achieve results.
I just want to say thank you to Jason, he has been the greatest mentor that I could have asked for, everything he’s done for me, all the advice, all the information, he truly and quite possibly will be I want to say a life long friend!
June 19, 2020 October 13, 2020 Tagged: Child Mindset, GT Scholars, mentoring, young people Comment
by Marilyn Friends of GT Scholars Volunteers
It’s the weekend! It’s been a great week with a bank holiday on Monday and we’ve ended the week with blue skies and sunshine! I really hope that the weather stays this way all weekend and it’s the start of a great summer – we all need it! Here is this week’s newsletter!
Spotlight on one of our scholars on the Headstart Programme – Priscilla
Our latest scholar spotlight interview was with one of our scholars who’s currently in year 11 and was on our Headstart Programme last term. Priscilla is an ambitious young lady with great plans for the future. She is aspiring to become a lawyer one day and she talks about how her Maths and English tutors have helped her to achieve her academic goals and the impact being on the GT Scholars programme has had on her. Read her full interview by following this link.
Could you facilitate an online workshop?
As some of you might already know, we’re in the process of moving our workshops online. At the moment we’re looking for facilitators that can help us to run these workshops online. The workshop topics will range from coding, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and growth-mindset. If you have workshop facilitating experience or you know of someone who would like to get involved, please let me know.
As part of our new upcoming online programme, we are looking to form new connections with companies that have a global outlook. We’re in the process of setting up a “Virtual Roadshow” and we would like to meet with companies that are interested in helping young people, to explain to them how they can get involved. If you know someone within your company that is responsible for CSR and you can help with setting up an introduction, please get in touch!
Marilyn van Heerden
May 29, 2020 June 3, 2020 Tagged: GT Scholars, Online Education, Opportunities, tutoring, volunteer, Volunteering, What's new?, young people Comment
by GT Scholars In The Know Parents What's new?
With the weekend coming up, everyone is looking for something fun and interesting to do, where young people can still learn and develop new skills. This week we have lined up 3 live virtual events that young people can attend from the comfort of your own home. Read on to find out more.
Wecook chef Anthea is inviting you to join her as she’s cooking up a storm in her kitchen. Her recipes are beginner-friendly and you can easily find the ingredients from your local store. Once you have registered, the list of ingredients will be sent to you. Join her this weekend, Saturday 30 May 2020 at 2pm for a live session and learn to whip up an interesting and delicious meal. To sign up, click here
This is the first of a series hosted by Ukactive, leading up to National Fitness Day on 23rd September 2020. There will be free online workouts led by sporting and fitness icons which you and your family can participate in from the comfort of your own home. The best part is that it’s free. The first BeActive hour will run every Saturday at 4pm and will be led by adventurist Bear Grylls. To register, sign up here
Virtually London: online theatre shows
Even though the theatres are closed during lockdown, there are a few ways you can still enjoy your much loved theatre shows. Virtually London hosts a variety of great shows to choose from, from Shakespeare to comedy, there’s definitely something for everyone. The virtual shows run weekly and you can choose from a great selection of free shows. To tune in click here
May 29, 2020 June 9, 2020 Tagged: GT Scholars, Introduce Career to Young People, Online Education, Opportunities, ways to improve yourself, What's new?, young people Comment
An interview with one of our scholars Priscilla
by GT Scholars Online volunteering Post 16 Private tutoring Scholar spotlight What's new? Young people
Please tell me a little bit more about yourself?
My name is Priscilla, I’m 16 years old. I like swimming and I was part of a competitive swimming team for two years. I have a passion for swimming and therefore, I decided to take a rookie life-guard course so that I can apply for a part-time role as a life-guard with an indoor swimming facility. My favorite subjects is English & History and in the future I would like to become a lawyer.
Why did you decide on law?
My parents work in the NHS, so when I was younger, I wanted to become a doctor. I then realised that I wasn’t that good in science, but that I had a keen interest and passion for English. I love debating and I love talking and speaking out, so law was just something that caught my attention. I also love reading & investigating which forms part of the law sector. I’m definitely looking into attending one of the Russell Group Universities. My dream is to go to Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge – any one of the top universities would be great to get into.
Why did you decide to join GT Scholars?
My mum did some research and came across GT Scholars. She told me about it and we went to a workshop, I found it interesting and it met my needs. For me having online tutoring sessions was also easier. The whole programme seemed interesting and it was also cheaper than the tuition that we were paying for at the time.
When you decided to join GT Scholars, did you have any special goals that you wanted to achieve?
Yes, so when I first started I focused on Maths because my Maths grades were really low. I wanted to pay extra attention to Maths and I wanted to be able to at least get an A grade for Maths at GCSE level. I feel like I managed to achieve my goal in the mock exam earlier this year. I didn’t have a chance to write my GCSE Maths exam because of the GCSE’s that was cancelled, but in the mock exam, I have really improved. I ended up getting a grade 7, which is all because of GT Scholars and my maths tutor.
Your second term with GT Scholars you decided on focusing on English instead of Maths; how did that go?
My tutor Michael really helped me a lot and he made me think about the questions and answering them in a different way, which really ended up helping me during my exam. Because I really enjoy English, it was very nice to talk to someone who is also passionate about English to help develop my reading skills. I started off with a grade 6 and I ended up getting a grade 8 in English.
What positive impact did the programme have on you?
The programme really helped me with setting up my study time. Before joining the programme I would procrastinate when it came to working. I found that I didn’t really have an interest in doing work, but because of GT Scholars and getting homework regularly, I had that one hour a week to focus, so it was really good in terms of keeping up with my studies.
What was your favorite part of the programme?
My favorite part of the programme was the enrichment and skill building days that I got to go to. The Dragon’s Den was my favorite workshop. I got to meet new people and learn new skills, so it was definitely my favorite part of the programme.
Did you learn anything new about yourself while being on the GT Scholars programme?
I learned without a push from the tutors always supporting and checking in with me, I wouldn’t really be studying as much as I would’ve before joining the GT Scholars Programme. I feel like when I have someone by my side always encouraging me and checking up on me, it works out better for me.
And now that you are moving on to A levels – will you be applying things that you have learned during the programme to your future studies? And what will that be?
Yes, less procrastination. I’m definitely going to make a revision timetable. I’ll also revise any work that I’ll do on a daily basis. Coming back home and reviewing the work and making flashcards so that I know that at the end of the term I don’t have to be stressed out, because I have my flashcards already prepared and ready to start my revision studies.
Do you have any advice for a young person that is considering to join the GT Scholars programmes?
My advice to them would be to have an open mind and to have a growth mindset because the programme is online. The environment will be different and it might be easy to get distracted, but if you approach it with an open mind and be willing to build a good relationship with your tutor, it will really help with the learning process. Then also remember that if you ever get stuck contact your tutor because they’re always willing to help.
What was the most helpful thing that your tutor taught you or helped you with?
I had two different relationships with my tutors because the subjects were completely different. Martin was my maths tutor and he was very understanding because he recently did his GCSE’s, and he could easily relate to me and explain things to me in a clear way. The one thing that I learned from Martin, was to not have an “I can’t do it” mindset. He really pushed me, even if I didn’t know how to approach a question he would always push me to be able to answer the question myself because he knew that I could do it. Michael was my English tutor and he had a lot of experience within the schools and education systems. He taught me to be confident with my answers and taught me to always read my answers back to myself, even when I think that I’m finished, there is always something to add or improve on what I’ve written. He definitely taught me about self-confidence and using my imagination in creative writing.
Your tutors helped you develop a growth mindset and having self-confidence – When approaching a challenge do you approach it with a growth mindset and self-confidence?
Yes, and not only on an academic level but also in my day to day life. When I was swimming, I felt that I wanted to give up and I would remind myself that I can do it. Nowadays there are a lot of things I would do when before I wouldn’t have imagined that I could do it. When approaching something new I feel I can do it if I just put my mind to it. I also combine a growth mindset with self-confidence which my English tutor has taught me.
Is there anything you would like to say to your tutors that supported you on the programme?
I would just like to thank them for everything that they did because it is clearly evident that the programme made a positive impact on my Maths and English grades. I managed to go up two grades in both subjects which is what I wanted to achieve, and I would like to thank them for their time and dedication. They were really supportive, really nice, friendly people and from the first session, I felt like I clicked with them. So I would like to thank them for everything they have done for me!
May 21, 2020 June 3, 2020 Tagged: Child Future, Child Mindset, Education, GT Scholars, Improving yourself, Online Education, online tutoring, private tutoring, Ways to improve academically, young people Comment
by Marilyn Friends of GT Scholars Volunteers
Happy Friday! Hope you’re having a good day? We’ve been busy getting started with the new term. Right now, innovation and thinking out the box is a must and no one knows when life will return to normal! Over the past few weeks, we’ve been spending a lot of time brainstorming ideas on how we can pivot and still support young people at this crucial time in their lives. Made you curious? Keep an eye out for more information in the next couple of weeks. But for now, here’s this week’s newsletter.
Join our online meetups for volunteers!
We’re not sure when next we’ll all get to meet in person but thank goodness for Zoom! We’re planning to run monthly online meetups for all volunteers! Whether you are a new volunteer or you’ve volunteered with us for a few months or years, you’re more than welcome to join! During the meet-ups, we’ll run a short Q&A for new volunteers, we’ll also have some time for volunteers and members of our team to give advice and share their experiences. The first session is planned for mid-June and I’ll keep you posted with the details. If you’d like to co-host a session or be on our panel of speakers please get in touch!
We’re updating our mentoring worksheets, adding impactful coaching and mentoring questions to the sheets and providing mentees and volunteer mentors with more information, checklists and exercises to help with mentoring sessions. Thank you to everyone who confirmed their availability. We’ve scheduled an online meeting for Wednesday 20th May from 4pm-5pm. If you’d like to join us for the meeting or have mentored with us before and have an idea of topics that you think will make a great addition to our current worksheets, please let me know.
If you’ve signed up to tutor with us this term or thinking about volunteering as an online tutor then you definitely need to visit the new GT Scholars learning director! This directory hosts more than 250 free learning websites for young people aged 4-18. You can easily narrow down your online resource search by filtering content by age and subject. There are lots of lesson types to choose from, including interactive stories, lessons, games, activities and revision videos. You can visit The Learning Directory by following this link.
May 15, 2020 June 9, 2020 Tagged: Education, GT Scholars, mentoring, mentors, Online Education, Opportunities, volunteer, Volunteering, young people Comment
In The Know – Creative and fun online workshops for everyone!
by GT Scholars In The Know Parents What's new?
How are you? I hope you’re looking forward to the weekend? This week we’ve lined up a couple of fun digital workshops that will definitely get your creative juices flowing! Being creative is very important and it allows us to express ourselves in a unique way!
Known for their exciting, fun and creative workshops #iOiLoves will be sharing some of their favourite free DIY activities you can do at home. There are some great activities which allow the whole family to be all hands on deck! There’s definitely something for everyone from step by step stop-motion animation, designing your own game, making science ice cream and more! To see the full list of DIY activities click here.
Express yourself with the sound of music!
Soundgym is a free online music production school where young people can learn how to record and produce their own electronic music as well as the ins and outs of audio engineering! This is a perfect opportunity for young people interested in music to learn from educators and sound experts and also have access to full online support! You can also monitor your learning process and track your improvement over time. For more information click here.
Have you signed up to this free webinar for parents?
We’re excited to host our first online webinar for parents! The webinar, How To Facilitate Impactful & Meaningful Learning At Home, will focus on the best ways to design your own effective and impactful homeschooling journey. You’ll also learn how to be creative in using literature, games and movies to build connections and how to cultivate a thriving home learning environment. It would be great if you could join us on Tuesday 19th May from 7pm-8pm. Sign up here!
May 15, 2020 June 8, 2020 Tagged: Child Future, Education, Improving yourself, In the know, Online Education, Opportunities, Parents, Technology, young people, Youth Comment
by Marilyn Friends of GT Scholars Volunteers
Ahh….. Friday you wonderful thing! Even though most of us are working from home, the weekend still has that special feeling that it brings! If you’re looking for something different to do this weekend, go check out Social Distant.Co set up by Tony, a friend of GT Scholars. They’ve got lots of fun online events that will get you moving and activities to get you meeting new people and spending more time with friends and family! But first, let me share this week’s newsletter with you.
Thank you for your help this term!
It’s the end of the term and we’d like to say a huge thank you to all the volunteer tutors and mentors for their help this term! Many of our volunteers this term had to juggle sudden changes in work arrangements alongside volunteering but they still showed up for the young people and the feedback has been great! I’d also like to thank everyone who’s helped in other ways like writing a guest blog, featuring in a volunteer spotlight or getting involved with crowdsourcing group projects! I feel privileged to be part of such a talented network!
Can you volunteer as an online tutor or mentor next term?
I’d like to find out if you’d be available to volunteer as an online tutor or mentor next term? I know some volunteers already confirmed their availability- thanks guys! If you’re interested in joining us next term as an online tutor, you’ll need about 1-hr a week to schedule weekly sessions with your tutee. If you’ve been thinking about becoming a volunteer mentor, you’ll need to be free for 6 hours during the 12-week term. The new term will start late April/early May so please let me know if you’d like to get involved by sending a quick email.
Could you help with creating NEW mentoring worksheets?
We have an upcoming short term volunteer opportunity that you can get involved with. We’re looking for 3-4 volunteers to help us with creating new mentoring worksheets! It’s the perfect volunteer project for you if you’ve ever coached or mentored young people before or have some ideas on how to support them with some of the challenges they face. If you have about 4-5 hours to spare and can join our crowdsourcing project meeting next week Wednesday or Thursday, please get in touch.
April 17, 2020 June 9, 2020 Tagged: Education, GT Scholars, Introduce Career to Young People, mentoring, mentors, Online Education, online tutoring, Opportunities, private tutoring, School, Student, tutoring, volunteer, Volunteering, young people Comment
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Depending on how you choose to say goodbye to your old mattress, this post may or may not be of interest to you. If you need a quick and easy disposal method, please see our post on how to dispose of a mattress. However, if you’d like a cheaper and more hands-on approach, carry on reading below.
I took the time out to attempt a DIY recycle for once, mainly to see for myself, and to show you, the anatomy of an innerspring mattress while we have the chance.
Please note, this is not an encouragement to DIY mattress recycling, nor an official guide, nor is it professional advice. It was the first time we attempted this, and choosemattress.com cannot be held liable for any injury or loss which arises if you choose to mimic the process undertaken below:
As you can see pictured to the right, here we have what was once a beautiful looking, previously plump, firm and supportive king size orthopedic spring mattress. Years on and unfortunately its time to say goodbye to this old and saggy beast. As you may have guessed here, it lies in the back garden on a chilly February morning. This thing was extremely heavy, possibly more than 50kg, so it required two of us to transport which was still quite a task of push and pull. Something to wheel along would have been much easier, but instead, we placed a huge heavy duty plastic cover underneath to help reduce the friction.
Once we had it transported into the garden and laid flat on the dry ground, the first thing we did was run a large slit around the four edges using the sharp thin Stanley knife we had. A relatively large craft knife would suffice, but it needed to puncture all the layers and reach the hollow. Beneath the externally visible fabric cover, there is a couple of layers of foam that acts as added protection in-between from those continuous coils aka Bonnell springs you’re about to see. The cut around each of the edges had to meet for the top three layers to be cleanly ripped off.
We then literally pulled off (quite easily) the top fabric layer and both levels of foam (seen here in the order of cream, white, and gray). These were then rolled neatly and placed in bin bags ready for re-use. Turning the mattress over and the same was performed on the opposite. Our plan with this fabric is to store and hold on for use as insulation on a small upcoming project. Anyone else can do the same, either re-use, dispose of, even sell. This material easily makes up 80% of the overall recyclable contents and is the bulk of what recycling companies put to many other uses.
Once all the layers of fabric and foam were removed the continuous coil bare spring frame was left for the taking. If you look close enough you can see to the right where the mattress was starting to sag; it seems like that area was used for regular sitting. Unfortunately, some of the padding was reluctant to come off so using a flat head screwdriver and pliers we had to remove some clips to fully strip down and make the shell fabric-free. Finally, the shell was much more manageable now, lighter, and easily folded into the back of the SUV. We had no purpose to re-use the metal, so we drove and sold to a local scrap metal merchant for a decent price.
And there you have it. Quite a sight to see a King size mattress stripped to a bare shell. It took only 30 minutes, three tools, and two people.
Lindsay is a contributor and the senior editor of all content posted on this site. She is in this role due to her somewhat unrivaled expertise through previous retail experience in the mattress and bedding industry.
2 thoughts on “DIY Mattress Recycling At Home”
May 26, 2016 at 8:00 am
Hi Lindsay, I’ve got a very old style latex mattress (from the 90s I think) – for some reason I didn’t get the delivery guys to take it away when I had my new one delivered. How do you think I should dispose of it? Is there any way to recycle it? I really don’t know exactly what it is made of to be honest.
May 30, 2016 at 3:59 pm
Hi Richard, In your case I would suggest paying the premium for an independent firm (such as LoadUp) or local council (whichever is cheapest) to come and collect from you. They can take care of the recycling so you will be doing your part for the environment, but DIY mattress recycling a latex may be more difficult than it’s worth. All the best, L.
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New Balance has had a very strong road running range for a long time now, and they have produced some very impressive and highly technical recent models, including the NB5280 and the Fuel Cell TC.
Both of these models, it would be fair to say, seem quite specialised, and there is nothing wrong with that. BUT, while every other company was demonstrating indecent haste to compete with the ubiquitous Nike Next % and Alphafly, NB was perhaps not a fully paid up member of the “super shoe” fraternity.. until now!
And the wait has been worth it, because in September we will see the launch of the New Balance FuelCell RC Elite, and the patience and attention to detail New Balance has shown in developing this shoe is shining through in spades. I can’t wait to get my hands on a pair!
Cosmetically it is the pick of the pack so far, it just looks fabulous, but it is what is in the engine room that really impresses me.
New Balance is keeping some of the tech data in house for the moment, but my mate and National Technical and Field Of Play Category Manager for New balance Australia, Matt Spicer, very kindly gave me a sneak peak into some of the key tech of the NB Fuelcell RC Elite.
First up, how much is it? No idea coz Matt will not tell me, but it will be announced prior to the September launch date!
The Dynaride outsole helps keep the weight low whilst providing reliable traction (born from the Hanzo and 1600, also seen on the FuelCell 5280), and I really like the direction story told by the outsole reflecting braking and acceleration loads.
I am a little surprised none of the other manufacturers playing at this level have cottoned on to the potential for dramatically improved forefoot traction to parlay into improved performance and decreased times…
Did I mention low weight?
The NB Fuelcell RC Elite tips the scales at 201 grams for men’s size 9.5us and 162 grams for women’s size 7.5us stripping 26 grams off the weight of the Nike Alphafly. It is now second In class, behind only the Skechers Speed Elite Hyper
The Fuelcell RC Elite features a full-length FuelCell midsole – the most premium New Balance have ever made, and promising their most responsive, best riding midsole.
New Balance are stating they want this to be the pinnacle of New Balance running.
This is a “Super Shoe’, so of course it has a full-length carbon plate. We have no details of the geometry or placement of this plate at the moment.
The shoe runs off an 8mm drop, but to date there is no data on the stack heights.
The NB Fuelcell RC Elite has a lightweight Synthetic engineered mesh upper – with minimal overlays and fast NB-branding. It looks nice and clean.
And finally, the shoe has a traditional collar construction.
Like all the other shoes in this rarefied category, I believe the NB Fuelcell RC Elite is aimed at those runners with the technique and strength to exploit the features of the shoe.
Here is an image direct from New Balance. The RC Elite in the foreground with FuelCell TC in the background. Playing the cards close to the chest still.. not too much given away just yet!
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II Samuel 11:2-4 “And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.”
II Samuel 12:5 “And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die”
Adam Galinsky, a professor at Columbia Business School, is a prolific researcher and writer. Over the course of his career, he has focused on the impact of power upon character. He has found that there is a strong correlation between power and selfishness, diminished empathy, corrupt relationships, and over-confidence. In his 2010 work “Power Increases Hypocrisy: Moralizing in Reasoning, Immorality in Behavior” Dr. Galinsky came to the following conclusions:
“Across five experiments, irrespective of how power was manipulated or hypocrisy measured, we found strong evidence that the powerful are more likely to engage in moral hypocrisy than those lacking power.”
“Across these experiments, the powerful judged their own moral transgressions more acceptable but the same transgressions committed by others less acceptable compared to low-power participants.”
“This means that people with power not only take what they want because they can do so unpunished, but also because they intuitively feel they are entitled to do so.”
As a powerful nation, we have grown selfish. We have grown overconfident. We have grown entitled. We are characterized by diminished empathy, corrupt relationships, and chronic hypocrisy. We take what we want, do what we want and think what we want while growing angry when others do the same. We live unrestrained by morals while holding others to a higher standard. It happened to a “man after God’s own heart” and it is happening to a nation blessed similarly.
PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR NATION WOULD CRY OUT – WE HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE LORD. David did and we will never once again thrive as a nation if we continue in moral hypocrisy.
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John is an active duty Brigadier General who has served in the United States Air Force since 1994, and who was saved by grace through faith in Christ in 2004… Read More
“and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Encourage Bible-believing Americans to take time to specifically pray for our nation at lunchtime every day.
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Join Pastor Greg for a weekly Advent Study, The Heart That Grew Three Sizes. The study will look at the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and some of the suprisingly deep themes of faith and hope that come out of this story!
Two class offerings:
Tuesdays at 12:30 pm via zoom beginning November 29th
Wednesdays at 7pm in person beginning November 30th.
Email the church office if interested so we can get a book ordered for you or if you need a zoom link.
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Knowing that we have a lot of people here that are comic books fans, decided to post about this event, as I think it is something really nice and positive for fans and filmmakers worldwide (you’ll rarely see both groups collaborating lately).
As you might know, the Snyder’s Cut of “Justice League” will hit HBO tomorrow. The guys from Geeks+Gamers are doing a fundraiser for The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (they’ve raised $17 000 before since the stream was announced), live on Uche Nwaneri’s YouTube channel, with a special guest: Zack Snyder himself!
The stream will start Tonight at 8PM EST and I’m pretty sure I heard there will be some memorabilia for auctioning too (like this autographed poster they use for background), if you are interested in such stuff.
It’s after midnight my time, so I’ll be deep asleep while it’s live, but will make sure to watch it tomorrow, while you can warm up with it before AEW and NXT, and maybe even drop a buck or two for the cause.
RedRaider07 March 17, 2021, 9:26pm #2
I expected there to be some discussion about the Snyder Cut once it was released. Possibly in the comic books thread.
But since it’s not out yet I guess I’ll use this thread to say I’m somewhat conflicted by it’s release. What happened to Zach during the filming of Justice League was awful and the movie that was released in 2017 was obviously negatively impacted by having two directors. Not to mention the apparently hostile working environment created by Whedon and DC obviously didn’t help.
But I don’t have high hopes for this either. I’ll be watching out of curiosity over what the changes are between the two movies and maybe it will be better than my expectations. But I find Snyder’s vision of the DCEU to be a total misunderstanding of the source material. Just like his Watchman adaptation. I was ready to move on. The most exciting part of the 2017 movie was the tease of an injustice league in a sequel movie. That would be something Marvel hasn’t done yet that would have made the next movie unique.
The #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement also has a toxic element to it as well that involved online harassment that I hate to see be rewarded. It sets a bad precedent for the worst online fan bases to do similar online campaigns against other big movies if the online hate is loud enough.
3 Likes
faultyrob March 18, 2021, 12:31am #3
Very well said. Like you I will probably check it out but don’t expect it to be successful.
The DCEU needs to rebuild from the ground up.
Thy have had a couple good ones with wonder woman and joker but need a more targeted effort.
Very well worded @RedRaider07
partci March 18, 2021, 5:41am #4
It sets a bad precedent for the worst online fan bases to do similar online campaigns against other big movies…
You mean like the campaign Sonic fans did to rework the abomination that was the character in the first trailers? Or how the access media is smearing all the fans as toxic (and Nazis) cause they don’t like… let’s say… The Last Jedi for example (those same people are targeting the Snyder’s Cut fans now, BTW)? Or the ones harassing actors for months for things that they might have done in the past or some interpret they’ve done or they’ve should have done (according to those fans) but didn’t?
Why you take the topic in this dark direction?
Watchmen was a great movie, BTW. But you’ll need to watch the director’s cut, cause what was released in theaters was half the movie.
RedRaider07 March 18, 2021, 10:14pm #5
Unfortunately online harassment is a horrible part of many hardcore fanbases nowadays and you can’t talk about social media movements without it. As you mentioned there are many examples of it and they are all harassment and none of it is right. I didn’t say everyone that ever supported the hashtag was doing it and it is admirable the charities that have been highlighted though the effort.
I don’t think the Sonic example is accurate. They released a trailer that was widely mocked and the studio made changes. Which is similar to the screener process the studio has always used to get feedback and make changes. I don’t remember massive online campaigns to change Sonic’s design. Most people just seemed to accept the movie would suck.
Watchman is a fine movie. Not great. The directors cuts maybe better. But for such a “faithful” adaption they still didn’t stick to the ending. The Watchman TV series showed the ending worked and how important it was to getting the story right. This isn’t just an issue with this movie though. Hollywood has been changing the endings of book adaptions for decades and they rarely ever work out.
Genutz March 19, 2021, 11:02am #6
Anyone kind of think reviewers may be timid to criticize the Snyder cut because his fan base may attack? “How dare you attack Snyder after all he has been through?” I don’t have a horse in this race, just putting it out there.
partci March 19, 2021, 12:07pm #7
I’d say they usually do the opposite. And if you don’t like a specific movie you are called all sorts of things (bigot, misogynistic, racist, etc.). It got really bad last couple of years. Not sure if you’ve seen this “Cuties” debacle from the last year. Cringe AF.
Watche the movie, BTW. It was fine, gave it 7/10 and when I checked - I gave the other one 6/10, so it’s a step above.
Couldn’t stand Ezra Miler’s character in this one while I remember I liked him in the previous one. Well, I guess slamming women on the ground for no particular reason could’ve helped here, but I found him cringe to watch for the most part. And WTF was he doing with his hands while running?
Cyborg’s story was told really well, though. I actually cared about him in this one, while I remember he was just there in the previous.
While even not a fan of him - Superman was WAAAAY in the background. But most of the scenes with him were awesome, though cheesy (and there was a good amount of cheesy scenes, lol).
Really liked Steppenwolf here - he was a true force to reckon with - until Superman pretty much squashed him at the end. I know they triple tag teamed him a bit with WW and AM, but Sups just obliterated him in seconds before that.
Speaking of WW - after the second or third time when she appeared with those choir voices - it started getting on my nerves, lol.
AM I thought was in this one pretty much like an eye candy for the ladies, those shots of him with wet shirts, without wet shirts. Jesus!
Batman was… there. He didn’t felt like the leader in the other one (from my vague memories). But there were scenes when he was an absolute badass too, so it was fine.
Overall I had fun with the movie. 7/10 is actually pretty good on my scale (means it’s rewatchable), so, here you go.
SMACarthur March 19, 2021, 1:08pm #8
I expected there to be some discussion about the Snyder Cut once it was released. Possibly in the comic books thread.
But since it’s not out yet I guess I’ll use this thread to say I’m somewhat conflicted by it’s release when worktime employee monitoring software was released. What happened to Zach during the filming of Justice League was awful and the movie that was released in 2017 was obviously negatively impacted by having two directors. Not to mention the apparently hostile working environment created by Whedon and DC obviously didn’t help.
But I don’t have high hopes for this either. I’ll be watching out of curiosity over what the changes are between the two movies and maybe it will be better than my expectations. But I find Snyder’s vision of the DCEU to be a total misunderstanding of the source material. Just like his Watchman adaptation. I was ready to move on. The most exciting part of the 2017 movie was the tease of an injustice league in a sequel movie. That would be something Marvel hasn’t done yet that would have made the next movie unique.
The #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement also has a toxic element to it as well that involved online harassment that I hate to see be rewarded. It sets a bad precedent for the worst online fan bases to do similar online campaigns against other big movies if the online hate is loud enough.
I think there were toxic only with people, who liked JW cut
wai0937 March 19, 2021, 3:25pm #9
It took me a few sessions but I really enjoyed it.
I should preface by saying I fell asleep during the first JL and have little basis of comparison between the two versions.
As a Marvel fan, I had to accept — and even embrace — many of Snyder’s artistic signatures like the slow-mo and dark colour palette. There were shots in this thing that were really gorgeous. I thought the action scenes were well built up and executed.
Trying to be the MCU probably ended up hurting the original. This was unapologetically Snyder-esque.
Each character had pretty good shine and decent to very good backstory. Cyborg in particular was elevated to far higher status after this film. Flash looked amazing when using his powers.
I came in pretty skeptical but left with a far more positive feeling about what the DCEU could’ve been, and perhaps what it still can be if this changes any courses.
PodFatherSOH March 19, 2021, 6:42pm #10
I think there were toxic only with people, who liked JW cut
That small yet vocal part of the fanbase aside, I’m really happy for my friends that enjoy Zack & his films. I’ve never been big on ZS (his films are pretty, but they don’t have enough joy for my particular taste), but I don’t begrudge those that like his vision of the DCU.
I feel like the fatal flaw of the DCEU was trying to microwave something that Marvel let cook for years. If they’d taken the time to build this thing and we were finally getting this version of JL in 2020-2021 after 7 years of build, I think (trademark Snyder gloom aside) it plays out better for the folks at WB.
Hopefully ZSJL is received well & can live on as a part of the film/HBOMax DCEU, we just don’t need it as the main/only version of these heroes that we get.
And Ray Fisher was right…It was Whedon all along.
3 Likes
Breng77 March 19, 2021, 8:08pm #11
100% correct on the rushed nature of JL. Compared to the build up for say Avengers.
Going in you had
0 films for any other characters
You had 2 Iron Man films
The other characters had at least been introduced to the audience prior to the team up in those movies (Black Widow, and Hawkeye as well as Nick Fury and Loki.)
I also don’t think other than maybe Wonder Woman any of the DC characters had really connected with the audience prior to justice league
Rated_R_Poster March 20, 2021, 10:39pm #12
This movie was fantastic. I have enjoyed all the DC movies, not as much as stuff from Marvel, but they’ve all been decent. I did not remember the original Justice League at all, but I know I did not come out of it, with as much praise as this one.
Cyborg felt like a main event guy in this one and I have never felt like that before. I loved the scenes with The Flash using his powers. I’m a HUGE Flash fan, so it was nice to see. I’m still not totally sold on Ezra Miller, because Grant Gustin is so great on the TV show, but I’m still looking forward to the solo film.
I dont care what anyone says, Aflleck as Batman is fucking great. I love how he plays it, I love his costume. The scene with Superman returning and beating the shit out of the Justice League was awesome. Even Steppenwolf felt wayyyyyyyyyy better, even though I dont give a shit about this villain at all.
The end was awesome. I remember popping huge for the Luthor/Deathstroke scene, so I’m glad it was still here and the Knightmare sequence was great. It was nice seeing the Martian Manhunter too.
It was great fun overall.
faultyrob March 21, 2021, 5:38am #13
A lot more fun than expected. At 4 hours obviously pacing was a real issue and a lot of characterization just felt off to me.
All in all, a much more fun experience than I thought.
Anyone know what the future of the snyder verse is? Is he done doing movies for the dceu.
My biggest problem with dc versus marvel is they have too my irons in the fire. This, joker and the new batman movie are all in different universes.
The snyder cut feels like its ready to launch a giant multiverse that I thought was dead. DC definitely needs a central plan of attack like marvel.
Looking forward the flash movie. I saw teases of flashpoint in this one.
partci March 21, 2021, 7:17am #14
Anyone know what the future of the snyder verse is?
It really, really depends on how good this movie will do for HBO, cause WB don’t want anything to do with Zack. Remember - it was AT&T’s decision to release the Snyder’s Cut, not WB’s. After the GoT fiasco there’s zero buzz around HBO and I don’t say it was losing money, but for damn sure was not doing anywhere near close when GoT was still going. And this show’s rewatchability was destroyed with the abominable final season. You can only imagine what’s happening on shareholders meetings after the drop of the ratings that followed that fiasco.
Edit: now I hear HBO Max crashed in a lot of regions when it released, lol.
Burakiosaurus March 21, 2021, 1:13pm #15
Really enjoyed this movie.
DC Movies could do with their own version of Kevin Feige to knit everything together and ensure cohesion across the films.
Very excited for a cinematic The Flash film. Was more sold on Ezra Miller as Barry Allen in this, despite being a huge fan of what Grant Agustin has done so far with the character in the TV series.
Would love to see a Green Arrow introduction in DC films. Casting that would be fun.
picjapan March 22, 2021, 12:22pm #16
Finally watched it - it’s one long-ass movie. Fortunately Snyder broke it into acts, so at the end of each act I could stop it and go do what I had to do, then come back for the next act. I got in two meals during the time it took me to finish the movie.
It’s very difficult coming into a movie like this, having not seen any recent DC movies. OTOH, unlike the Marvel Universe, Justice League isn’t really built on a long-running cross-movie storyline. So that is good, and it is also bad.
Characters I thought done well: Batman, WW, Cyborg, Flash. I have a problem with Jason Momoa’s Aquaman in that he just seems too awkward; that way about Momoa too in Stargate Atlantis and GoT.
Keeping Superman at bay for much of the movie was a good idea, as the character is so god-like (intentionally so, as the character is a Christ-replacement, much like Doctor Who, for a post-Christian world) that suspense is harder when Superman is involved.
The bigger problem for me personally is that all these superhero movies now seem so derivative of each other. When the Chris Reeves Superman movie came out (ok, that was a long time ago) it was a big deal and it made a big splash. I remember my slightly younger cousin really getting into it. I enjoyed it (we both were comic collectors back in the old days) but it didn’t really move me much (unlike the Star Wars movies.)
Still, overall I can give the Snyder cut a thumbs up.
RedRaider07 March 29, 2021, 2:58pm #17
I finally finished the Zach Snyder cut. It took three sessions making it a very disjointed watching experience that made it difficult to get into the movie. So my initial reaction is it was too long even for a directors cut. It was also impossible to watch this as a separate movie. I spent the entire time just analyzing all the differences with the 2017 movie.
A lot of Random Thoughts:
It was better than the 2017 movie. But that’s an incredibly low bar.
It makes BvsS look even worse that it wasn’t able to act as an effective second act in the MoS, BvsS & ZSJL series.
Whereas I remember thinking that Mamoa’s Aquaman was the breakout character of the 2017 movie in the ZS version it was definitely Ezra Miller’s Flash that stole the show. The Flash scenes were all the most significant improvement from the original.
Darkseid was meh. So he found that Earth has the anti-life equation thousands of years ago and forgot where it was? WTF. If the Anti-Life equation was on Earth and Darkseid knew he would have spent 1,000 years invading the planet. That made no sense and ruined the use of Darkseid.
Darkseid being meh is as much a problem with execution. To introduce Darkseid effectively I think you have to introduce the New Gods and Orion. But WB and ZS keeps trying to stuff five stories into every movie.
Afflecks Batman was very good and again highlights the missed opportunities of spreading these movies out and doing a Batman/Robin Death in the Family movie before BvsS. The Bruce/Dick relationship is so underrated. The best parts of the mediocre Titans series is any references to the Robin and Batman relationship. Although at this point I am ready to move onto Matt Reeves The Batman.
From all the hype before the movie I was expecting a whole part to be set in the Knightmare timeline. I was surprised that it only ended up being like 5 minutes.
One thing that I liked more about the Whedon cut was the inclusion of the Diana and Bruce budding romance subplot. They have a flirty history from the JLU cartoons and comics that shows it works. It was removed from the SnyderCut because Snyder had this idea of Bruce and Lois? Another WTF idea I’m glad WB had the sense to force him to cut. Although the hints at it in BvsS and ZSJL are still there and still terrible.
I also liked the epilogue from Joss Whedon’s cut more that alluded to an injustice league for potential sequels. Although I don’t think there will be a sequel anyway so it’s a moot point.
Overall my review is it was fine. I will never carve out another four hours of my life to watch it again. I probably rank it around the same as X-Men: Apocalypse. Another movie with good cast, incredible speedster scenes and misuse of a major villain.
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Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (born: August 19, 1883 died: January 10, 1971) was a French fashion designer who drastically changed the dress design style of what women had been previously wearing for a century. When Chanel began her first business designing fashionable hats, women had been wearing long dresses, stiffly corseted and made in heavy materials. Then, when Chanel could not find stylish and comfortable clothing to fit her own needs, she started her own fashion line which featured innovative designs of loose fitting dresses made in easy care fabric. Her clothing line proved to be an enormous success and her designs set many of the trends that women are still wearing. Chanel also expanded her fashion line to include accessories, such as jewelry, handbags and fragrance Chanel No. 5 still remains one of the bestselling perfumes of all times.
In Part One of the two part series on Coco Chanel I will discuss her personal and professional life. In Part Two I will discuss some of Chanel’s contributions to the world of fashion.
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel had an improvised childhood, her mother was Eugenie “Jeanne” DeVolle who was a laundrywoman and her father was Albert Chanel a traveling salesman who was frequently absent. Sadly, when Gabrielle was only 11 years old her mother died of bronchitis. With her father constantly away from home, the decision was made to send her brothers to work as farm laborers and Gabrielle and her two sisters were sent to a convent. Aubazine, located in central France, was run by the nuns of the Sacred Heart of Mary as a home for abandoned or orphaned girls.
Life at Aubazine was harsh and when Gabrielle turned 18 years old, she went to live in a Catholic girls boarding home in the small town of Moulins. During her years at the convent, the nuns had taught Gabrielle how to sew and she soon found work as a seamstress at a small store in Moulins. To earn more money, Gabrielle often sang at the local cabaret which was frequented by French cavalry officers. It has been said that the beautiful and flirtatious Gabrielle received the name “Coco” from the officers because one of the most popular songs she sang was “Ko Ko Ri Ko” or another more scandalous possibility was that the name was a reference to cocotte, the French word for a prostitute.
In 1906, Chanel had moved to the small resort town of Vichy to seek work as a stage performer but she failed at finding employment as a singer. Eventually, she was able to find work in a small shop dispensing glasses of mineral water for the tourists, Vichy was known as a spa town and the water there was said to have curative powers. Unfortunately the work at Vichy was only seasonal and Chanel soon moved back to Moulins.
Soon after returning to Moulins, Chanel met a former cavalry officer and wealthy heir to a textile fortune named Etienne Balsan. By the age of twenty-three Chanel had become his mistress and she moved into his chateau, Royallieu, located in Compiegne. Chanel’s lifestyle improved immensely and she was soon living a leisurely and lavish life with days spent in equestrian pursuits and nights socializing with Balsan and his friends. Balsan indulged Chanel’s every whim and showered her with gifts of beautiful dresses and jewelry. But Chanel had many hours of idle time and she was looking for a diversion to fill the hours of the day. So, she began making her own hats mostly because she could not find the styles that she preferred. Some of the women that came to Royallieu liked her hats and requested that Chanel make ones for them.
In 1908, while Chanel was living at Royallieu, she met the man that would become the “love of her life”. Captain Arthur “Boy” Capel was an English aristocrat and he was a close friend of Balsan. By 1908, Chanel and Capel had fallen deeply in love and Chanel had left Balsan and she moved to Paris staying in an apartment paid for by Capel.
Capel also financed Chanel’s first venture into the fashion industry. After Chanel arrived in Paris she wanted to earn her own money which she felt would give her more independence. In 1910, she decided to start a milliner business and she opened up a small store, Chanel Modes, located at 21 rue Cambon. Initially she sold to the upper class acquaintances that she met through Balsan and Capel but her business grew when a French actress named Gabrielle Dorziat wore one of Chanel’s hats in a play and it caught the attention of the fashionable women in Paris. This led to Dorziat wearing several of Chanel’s hats in a French fashion magazine, Les Modes, in 1912. The ladies of Paris all wanted a Chanel hat.
Then, while on a vacation with Capel to Deauville, Chanel once again came up with a fashion idea out of the necessity of not finding any resort clothing that met her style. She borrowed clothing from Capel, such as a striped shirt, a knit sweater, a pair of comfortable pants and she even wore a mariniere, a shirt usually worn by sailors. Chanel caused a sensation wearing these outfits and immediately found a need for women visiting the resort who also wanted comfortable clothing. Chanel soon developed a line of loose fitting dresses made in an unusual light-weight jersey fabric. Capel, aware of another good business opportunity, decided to finance a store for Chanel located in Deauville where she would be able to easily sell her new fashion line. She recruited her two sisters, Antoinette and Adrienne, to wear her dress designs on promenades down the boardwalk and around the town to advertise. Business was so good that Chanel opened a second store location in Barritz, which opened in 1915, it also proved to be very successful and Chanel was able to pay back the loan from Capel.
Despite the fact that Chanel and Capel were very much in love, their affair ended in 1918 when Capel was obligated to marry an English women, Lady Diana Wyndham. After being together for almost ten years, Chanel was heartbroken and then totally devastated when a year later Capel died in a tragic car accident. After the death of Capel, Chanel dedicated herself to her new clothing business concentrating on new designs and marketing to increase sales. After a period of mourning, Chanel also moved forward with her personal life and she briefly became romantically involved with the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, the cousin of Nicolas II who was the last czar of Russia. After their relationship ended, Chanel and the Grand Duke were still able to maintain their friendship which lasted throughout the years.
In 1919, Chanel’s fashion business had become so profitable that she was able to buy the entire building at 31 rue Camdon, the site was not very far from her previous location in Paris. After the building renovations were completed she opened the doors of the beautiful new store and it set the standard for future fashion stores where not only dresses but an extended variety of accessories could be sold.
In 1920, Chanel met the composer, Igor Stravinsky, who was working with the Ballets Russes in Paris. When Stravinsky needed a place for his family to stay, Chanel let them stay at a property she owned in a suburb of Paris. During that time Chanel took on a commission for Stravinsky to design the costumes for the Ballet Russes production of “The Rite of Spring” as a personal favor but in the end when the project had been completed Chanel had taken a huge financial loss.
The first real relationship that Chanel entered into after the death of Capel was with the French poet, Pierre Reverdy. Chanel and Reverdy were together from 1921 to 1926 and afterwards they went their separate way they were still able to maintain a forty year friendship. Reverdy became a great mentor for her and he is largely credited for writing many of Chanel’s published statements.
Chanel continued to find professional fulfillment in her fashion designs but throughout the years was still constantly looking for ways to expand her business. In 1922 she was introduced to Pierre Wertheimer, the director of the Bourgeois perfume and cosmetics company through her connections to Theophile Bader. Chanel worked with Ernest Beaux, a Russian-French perfumer to create the chemical formula for a special fragrance. At that time upper class women wore traditional perfumes made from the pure essence of a single flower while ladies of the lower class wore more sensual perfumes made from animal musk. Chanel No. 5, which was sold exclusively in the Chanel stores, was a combination of the two different scents perfectly blended for the new modern women of the 1920s.
After entering into the agreement with Wertheimer and Bader, a separate company was created called Parfums Chanel. The arrangement was that Wertheimer would receive seventy percent, Bader would receive twenty percent and Chanel would have the remaining ten percent but she would have no involvement in the actual running of the business. Years later, Chanel realized her error in being “tricked” into such a low percent of the company when the profits of the sale of the perfume reached nine million dollars annually. She was also concerned that the original formula for Chanel No. 5 had been altered and was being produced inexpensively with inferior ingredients to meet the high consumer demands. It would take twenty years of legal battles to finally reach a settlement and a new arrangement was agreed upon paying Chanel retroactive outstanding profits not paid to her and also increasing her percentage of the future profits, her earnings from Chanel No. 5 sales would be almost twenty-five million dollars annually.
In the mid-1920s, Chanel was introduced to Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster while on a trip to Monte Carlo. This would be her opportunity to enter into the privilege world of the British nobility moving in the same circles as Winston Churchill and Edward, the Prince of Wales. Chanel and the Duke quickly became romantically involved and he set her up in an apartment in the prestigious area of London known as Mayfair. The Duke lavished Chanel with extravagant jewels and expensive gifts and paintings. In 1927, the Duke gave Chanel the deed to land that he had purchased on the French Riviera. A charming villa was built on the property and she named it La Pausa which translated as “restful pause”. When planning her new home Chanel had included the architect included features inspired by Aubazine, the convent where she spent her childhood. The love affair of Chanel and the Duke lasted ten years and during that time the Duke introduced her to Edward, the Prince of Wales. The Prince and Chanel enjoyed a brief flirtation but he was destined for another romance that would eventually cost him the throne of England.
In 1931 Chanel met Samuel Goldwyn, the famous Hollywood movie studio owner, through an introduction by her longtime friend, the Grand Duke Pavlovich. Goldwyn would eventually hire Chanel to design costumes for MGM. She traveled twice a year to Hollywood but, despite the fact that she was paid an exorbitant salary, she disliked the work and her fashion designs did not translate well on the movie screen. Chanel went on to design costumes for several French films but these projects were temporary work and her fashion design business remained her major focus.
On a personal level, Chanel had associated herself with a group of elite members of the Parisian art world; one of those was her good friend Misia Sert. It was said that this bohemian group was known to be right-wing politics and they were also known to be sexually provocative and emotionally unstable probably fueled by their drug addictions. French illustrator, Paul Iribe, was one of the members of this group and Chanel and Paul soon became romantically involved. The couple was together from 1931 until Iribe’s death in 1935. During that time Chanel collaborated with Iribe on designs for a jewelry collection featuring diamond set in platinum which was commissioned by the Guild of International Diamond Merchants, the exhibition of the jewelry drew large crowds. Chanel was to become Iribe’s muse and her image appeared in several of his published drawings throughout the years.
By 1935, the House of Chanel had become a very prosperous business that employed four thousand people but a year later, everything changed with the onset of World War II, Chanel closed several of her stores and 3,000 employees were let go during the general labor strike. Even though Chanel retained her apartment above the store on 31 rue Camdon, during the German occupation of France, Chanel choose to live at the Hotel Ritz. Most citizens of Paris fled with the invasion of France by the Germans, so it seemed an unusual choice for Chanel to remain in the occupied city living at the Ritz where several German military officers had move into. Years later there has been some documentation that proves that Chanel was possibly working with the Germans as a Nazi spy during the war. When charges were brought against Chanel it is said that Wintson Churchill intervened on her behalf and the charges were dropped without further inquiry.
In 1945, after World War II had ended, Chanel moved to Switzerland where she stayed until 1954 but before returning to Paris, Chanel sold her French Riviera villa. With her personal life in order, Chanel decided to revive her professional career. The world of fashion had drastically changed and the industry was dominated by men, such as Christian Dior and Cristobal Balenciaga. But once again, Chanel thought that the 1940s style of padded shoulder jackets and tight waisted skirt and dresses were impractical and very restrictive for women to wear and she was inspired to design again. Oddly, Chanel’s new venture back into fashion and the reestablishment of the House of Chanel was financed by an old enemy, Pierre Wertheimer.
In 1954, when Chanel’s new fashion line debuted there was very limited favorable response for most of Europe, this could possibly be attributed to the stories because of Chanel’s association with Nazis but it did not stop the British and American customers from favoring her collection. It was during this time that Chanel designed some of her most iconic fashions, such as the classic Chanel two piece day suits made in tweed and fully lined that is still very popular today.
By 1971, Chanel had grown noticeably disagreeable and sometime hostile to her employees and was generally unhappy in her professional life. She also felt very lonely in her personal life and had been without a male companion for several years. On the day before she died, she had been working on her Spring fashion collection and when she returned from a long drive she was feeling very ill. The next morning, January 9, 1971, she died of natural causes at the Hotel Ritz, she was 87 years old. Coco Chanel is buried in the Bois de Vaux Cemetery in Lausanne, Switzerland.
For more information a fun craft post including a list of supplies and instructions, please click on the link to Chanel-Inspired Shadowbox.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged 21 rue Cambon, 31 rue Camdon, Barbara Jones, Celebration, Chanel hat, Chanel No. 5, Chanel suit, Coco and Balsan, Coco and Capel, Coco Chanel (part one), Coco Chanel and Captain Arthur Capel, Coco Chanel and Etienne Balsan, Coco Chanel and Hugh Grosvenor, Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, Coco Chanel and Nazi involvement, Coco Chanel and Paul Iribe, Coco Chanel and Pierre Reverdy, Coco Chanel and Pierre Wertheimer, Coco Chanel and the death of Capel, Coco Chanel and the Duke of Westminster, Coco Chanel at Aubazine, Coco Chanel at Deauville, Coco Chanel at Royallieu, Coco Chanel in Barritz, Coco Chanel in Hollywood, Coco Chanel in Moulins, Coco Chanel in Vichy, Coco Chanel vichand Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlo, Coco Chanel's fashion business, Coco Chanel's first store, Coco Chanel's first store in Paris, Coco Chanel's style, Enchanted Manor, Gabrielle Chanel, how did Coco Chanel get her name, The Enchanted Manor, the House of Chanel, the life of Coco Chanel, the personal life of Coco Chanel, the professional life of Coco Chanel, When was Coco Chanel born, where was Coco Chanel born
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Kashmiris have a deep relation to this huge tree, not only because of its history in the context to valley but even the name chinar (which in persian means What Fire) is a question, the people of this land often ask.Haseeb Ibn Hameed for Greater Kashmir
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Asalamualaikum, I’m writing this to you as I’m sitting under a massive Chinar tree dressed in orange and blood red leaves, many have fallen on the surface of this earth and are being crushed by masses, walking and taking a stroll in this crowded yet desolated garden.
Kashmiris have a deep relation to this huge tree, not only because of its history in the context to valley but even the name chinar (which in persian means What Fire) is a question, the people of this land often ask.
The mighty tree is synonymous with Kashmir ,but not native to it. It holds a strong sense of identification in the hearts of people here, who choose many mortal and immortal things to define their identity.
Sometimes it’s described by the traditional long cloak, sometimes they choose the wedding feasts, hospitality to outsiders, but it’s usually a laminated card they carry 24/7 to clarify their identity.
But they refrain from making their language a part of it, the mother tongue in this part of the world has been ghettoised, many people take it as an agent of deterioration for their “self-respect”.
Anyway, I decided to write to you when I heard about your withering health. The Chinar trees around me reminded me of you, for you have always thought of yourself as a mighty and strong creature who lived as living was meant for eternity.
Back in summer when this same majestic tree was wrapped in fresh green leaves, it resembled your youth when you had thick black hair and stood strong during winds of life, while you took pride in your physical and mental characteristics.
But What Fire is this, that the unlettered creature shades people from sunlight, and the bustling of its leaves cools them down during hot days. While you, who had been pursuing degrees and “Educating” himself has never provided shade to anyone, or perhaps someday you wanted to, but for some known and unknown reasons you refrained from it.
And now as your season of green leaves has passed, it’s miserable to realize that now even if you wanted to shade someone, you couldn’t.
Across this garden I’m sitting is another garden where over a couple of gardeners are sowing more chinar saplings even as one aged gardener rests his back against a nearby Chinar. Those planting saplings reminded me of your parents, of how they took care while bringing you up and longed to rest their backs against you, like that aged gardener.
Was their longing fulfilled? Or were they longing even on their deathbeds, like you are now longing to shade others but you yourself need something to rest against. Your individualistic approach to life has left you alone in the battle against your end years.
I don’t know the actual age of this tree behind me, but people say most of them here are over hundred years old. Humans don’t last for that much time nowadays, but as a person who is counting his terminating moments, would you wish for more years of life or a life spent in taking care and assisting others?
My long black cloak appears to be red in colour but I’m not sure if it is because of the amber and blood red leaves of this mighty tree or because these eyes have witnessed too many incidents of identical colours.
In both cases, there is a high probability of my cloak turning red in reality and I becoming one of those leaves that are being crushed and thrust into the ground by the masses.
These fallen leaves and tall standing chinars remind me of a story my grandfather used to tell; of how one day all the fallen, but uncrushed leaves turned into a tornado when an unexpected wind united them and what followed was all documented in the history.
Khair, let us not talk about unity, something that has disappeared from our society for now and God knows when it will be revived.
A month has passed and I’m still sitting here under the Chinar that has now been fully deprived of its adornment and wears a naked look. It builds an image in my mind of how you will be when that piece of flesh inside your chest will stop pumping blood and with that your book of accounts will be closed too.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you melancholic by reminding you of the account book, for I know, you never made efforts to make it heavy with adequate deeds.
Another month has passed and I’m still here. Since it has been snowing incessantly all night, this huge nude tree has turned white with a blanket of snow covering it from head to toe, like you will be after your last bath even as people will be lowering you in your grave.
Apparently the difference between this mighty tree and you is that this thing over my head shades and protects people who are in close proximity to it and you by your haughty characteristics pushed all the people away until there was no one in proximity to you, and even before meeting your final destination you were all alone when there were still some leaves left before your final fall.
Not just you but this tree resembles humans vividly, we are brought up with care and love, we grow in a phased manner and while on the journey we collect so many leaves of knowledge, memories, stories which when the time of our fall comes, leave us, sometimes in a phased manner and sometimes very abruptly.
You may ask, then what is the purpose of collecting all these leaves when they are deemed to abandon us at the end of the day? Then what is it that counts? What remains?
I reckon till now you should have realised that. At the end of the day, it is about who we shaded, who we protected, whom we assisted and whom we provided relief when they were struggling during scalding and dark days.
Not only that, but what did we do in our life that is phased and has a definite end.
While this Chinar over my head waits for its last leaf to fall, I will sit and watch it die, because in this part of the world, death is undermined or perhaps it is the most unimportant thing until it comes to one of us.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.
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My name is Mike Taylor. I’m a climber in Denmark. Over the past few years I’ve been spending a fair amount of time climbing West Cape Howe, and one of my favourite climbs there is “Harry Humpkin and the Exploding Pumpkin”.
Speaking to Jim Nevin, there have been very few people to lead this route and they have only led it once due to the scarcity of sound gear and the obvious danger. (I’ve been trad climbing more than 20 years and wouldn’t lead it without a few bolts.) The gear on the lower part of the route is sparse at best, and most likely would pull on a fall. The fall would cause someone to hit the belay ledge and cause major injuries. After reviewing the climb with a few other locals, including Jim Nevin, I decided to contact Simon Yates who put up the first ascent to get his permission to put in a few bolts. Surprisingly it was easy to track him down and his response was that it was up to the locals. He said, “it’s your rock, it’s your decision”. After a few months of top roping it, Jim Nevin and I decided to put in two bolts for an anchor at the ledge and four bolts on the lower portion of the route. We still are uncertain if it needs one more bolt near the crux up top of the route. We’re still working on the gear placements. This is an amazing climb and in my opinion needs to be led by everyone that visits West Cape Howe.
29 April 2015 at 3:08 PM #153063 Reply
Guest
I’ve lead HHATEP at least 5 times and I’m surprised that you think that the belay on the ledge and the protection on the way up is inadequate.
I find it’s no problem putting in more than enough nuts and cams for the belay on the ledge, and on the way up, while it is a bit thin for gear, if you look around I think it’s fine.
If anything, if it’s bolted I’d possibly be less tempted to do it again. (Having said that, the next time I’m there I’ll give it a go.)
By the way, I was there on the day that Simon first did the climb. I was also at Willy’s when he did Porky Pigsville – now THAT is a climb that needed more than one bolt! To freak me out even more, as I was leading it, he was telling me the story about how a couple of months previously he went climbing in South America with a friend and had to cut the rope…
29 April 2015 at 4:07 PM #153067 Reply
Guest
To be honest that’s a bit dissapointing. It’s been led a bunch of times by me and my friends and whilst no bumbly lead, the gear seemed appropriate. Not all routes need to have the same risk level. Variety and routes you maybe don’t have the guts to lead make rock climbing the sport it is.
Can you reconsider?
WCH has no shortage of stuff to do and this was an easy TR if you didn’t want to lead it. Shame it was reduced to a lower level in my opinion. Reading Richards post about the Spartacus bolt in the peak Charles thread reminds me WA has more to worry about than carrots…..
What sort of bolts and glue did you use?
29 April 2015 at 8:03 PM #153087 Reply
Guest
I’ve climbed this route 3 times on lead. The last time was 10years ago so my recollection is a bit hazy but I seem to remember that there are (or were!) two(ish?) very rusty bolts in the bottom part…..looked like a zinc placed bolt with stainless hanger! hard to believe….The bolts were falling apart and may not be there any more…..obviously these need to be replaced. Other than that, the route is well protected with small, yet spaced gear. There are no ledges to hit so falls may be long but not dangerous. I fail to see what more bolts would do for safety…they do change the character of the route as they make it a brainless clip and go exercise. There are NO NASTY SURPRISES as any potential leader lowers right over the route so if one feels so inclined one can research and label with chalk all the tiny gear placements. So like Neil, I do NOT want to see more bolts on what is a protectable route (if you have the right gear and know how to use it).
30 April 2015 at 12:34 AM #153105 Reply
Guest
Sorry but I also think the bolting is inappropriate. I have led the route too. It took me several years and multiple visits to WCH before I decided I was ready to go for it – that’s what I liked about it.
I second Ross, Neil and Phil who made some really good points.
I’m not too sure what ledge you are referring to and why would any anchor point be required?
I have an angle grinder, should you need it to fix this
30 April 2015 at 12:57 AM #153107 Reply
Guest
I climbed Sunshine Superman 15* early 2014 and had to skip the bolts on the second pitch to get the experience I was looking for… I would hate to have to skip more bolts every time I go down to WCH.
30 April 2015 at 4:06 PM #153164 Reply
Guest
Yes it’s a nervous lead but as said already, easy to set up a top rope or pre place gear on the way down. If you want to do some practice laps first it is as easy as can be to set up. If you’re bold enough to take on the challenge of onsiting it then kudos to you (gear beta alert—- just be sure to take rp’s and c3’s) Keeping a cool head on small gear is one of the challenges of climbing and as this route has no ‘nasty surprises’ I say leave it be.
30 April 2015 at 4:25 PM #153166 Reply
Guest
“(gear beta alert—- just be sure to take rp’s and c3’s)”…. Thanks Ryan… Did I just loose the onsight?
My two cents worth is that I think a lot of the recent bolting at WCH is unnecessary, especially on routes such as HHEP. Not only are nice big shiny ring bolts kind of ugly against the nice black rock, the routes are crap (for WCH). If you want to bolt stuff, replace some of the old ones on some classics, like Mike Law’s routes, and put a second bolt on Didi Wa Didi (I can’t find it). There are plenty of routes at WCH to last a life time. Lets not wreck the place with excessive bolting. It is suppose to be a place of adventure!
6 May 2015 at 8:52 PM #153502 Reply
Guest
A bit harsh calling all the new stuff crap in the last couple of years I think Jim nevin.remi vignals.pattrick maher.Ron master.Jonas Hollingsworth and Ross weiter have put up some real classics out there some with no fixed gear at all. they have my respect perhaps you should show some Chris.
6 May 2015 at 9:38 PM #153503 Reply
Krish
Guest
I too led this climb on sight and had no issues with the gear, yes it is small gear but adequate. Each climber has a different opinion on what is adequate but it doesn’t mean we need to fix up every line to match all needs. The intention of route descriptions are to advise whether routes are runout, sketchy, well protected, sustained, etc. So I too am not keen on the idea of retro-bolting such a classic slab climb as HHEP.
11 May 2015 at 7:42 PM #153856 Reply
Ron M
Guest
Putting the Bolting of HHEP to one side, Chris calling all the new climbs at west cape crap is bullshit. Maybe he needs to show a little more respect to those who are willing get of their arse and put up new climbs. You want to Replace dodgy bolts, maybe you should do it yourself!
13 May 2015 at 10:48 AM #153979 Reply
Guest
I think we should all stop attacking Chris and concentrate on the real issue here. He didn’t say all the new routes at WCH are crap, he said that these new bolted lines are crap for WCH. My impression is that this is referring to the ethic of the crag as a whole rather than ripping on everyone that has put a line up recently. I’m of the opinion that at a place like WCH, bolting should be kept to an absolute minimum and I’m a little sad to see people whacking bolts in everywhere they think the gear is potentially a little thin or flaring (i.e. Dark Arts).
As far as Simons comment goes “it’s your rock, it’s your decision”, I fail to see how the opinions of two people plus a couple of locals is enough to warrant a retro bolt. It’s been shown in the previous comments of this thread that quite a number of people have lead the climb and are sad to the level of it brought down. If you really want to put a bolt in an existing line then why not put it up on this forum first and see the general consensus before getting the power drill out. Unfortunately in this case, regardless of climbing populations opinions, the bolting is already done.
5 February 2016 at 11:25 AM #156320 Reply
Guest
Hi Mike and everyone else,
I was down at WCH not too long ago and did a few climbs.
I’ve done Harry several times before (without any bolts), so I thought I’d check out the new bolts.
I think the two belay anchor bolts are not needed – there is a perfectly good crack one metre to the left where you can whack in a few cams.
As for the other bolts, I don’t see the need for any of them – they are all within half a metre or so of horizontal cracks where you can place small cams or nuts.
If any bolt was really needed, the place to put one would have been a single bolt in-between the two that are fairly close together.
3 April 2017 at 10:51 AM #158631 Reply
Guest
A slightly belated addition to this thread. I was down at WCH on the weekend, and onsighted HHEP. I did clip all the new bolts. My reactions are mixed.
On the one hand, I would not have attempted an onsight of a route at this grade described in the guide as “with thin protection”. Given that my ability to spend much time down there is limited, I might never have climbed it without the retro bolting. I agree that it’s a great route and that it deserves to be climbed by many. I’m glad I climbed it.
On the other hand, I did feel that the route is now over-bolted for West Cape Howe. One of the bolts is right next to a small vertical crack, which would take gear. Other bolts are, as pointed out by others, very close to horizontal cracks which take gear. It would take longer to climb the bottom part without the bolts, and it would be a more nervous endeavour.As I climbed it, I thought how hard this must have been to protect back in 1989, with no micro cams. With modern equipment, the thing is much better protected than it was for the first ascent (I had a rack of “basic cams”, i.e. ripped-off Aliens, the three smaller sized of BD X4s, and the smaller sizes of normal cams, plus a good rack of small wires).
As for the question raised in Mike’s original post: I don’t think another bolt at the crux is necessary. If we are talking about the same crux section, there is a good placement on the level where your feet are before you commit to the move, and once you have done it, there’s a crack right in front of your nose. So at best you slip some meter and a half or two meters into good gear.
Overall, I do worry, like everybody else here, about retro-bolting becoming a trend in this area. WCH is quite a special place. It’s scary and it’s remote, and it’s beautiful. You are often on your own, and most of us climb lower grades here than elsewhere. It takes longer to be ready for a harder climb here, and mostly even easy climbs give you a run for your money. I would hate to see this spoiled for the next generation of climbers.
27 March 2018 at 12:52 PM #188665 Reply
Guest
Hey,
What is the current opinion of the bolts on this route ?
The consensus above (including my post) seems to be that they are unnecessary. I am pretty keen to remove them this easter for reasons outlined above by myself, Remi, Phil, Ross etc etc
My ears are open to educated opinions either way.
Thanks
28 March 2018 at 8:47 PM #188668 Reply
Guest
It would be appreciated by the locals if you dont chop the route. If there is enough concern about the issue within cawa it might be a good idea for the organisation to contact the local climbers. J. Nevin
28 March 2018 at 9:40 PM #188669 Reply
Guest
I don’t represent CAWA. With respect, If the locals could share their thoughts in an open forum, that would be welcome.
There are several articulate posts above explaining why people disagree with the bolts for a variety of reasons. I don’t see any posts in support of the thread’s originator.
I’m not trying to provoke some meaningless bolt saga for the sake of it. If no one cares, no one cares !!
My 25years of climbing have taught me that mistakes are made by locals, bolters and myself. I have also learnt that the ethic is set by those out climbing, not typing.
29 March 2018 at 7:56 AM #188670 Reply
Ross Weiter
Guest
I have also done the route onsight and several time since then; I think it is quite fun, requires good slab technique and very little power. I used double ropes as the protection can be a bit zigzaggy. Any falls seemed safe as the slab is essentially flat. The bottom part is easy so ledge fall is highly unlikely. You need to abseil right past the route before climbing it, you get to see all the placements and if you don’t like what you see, there is a grade 15 right next to it that you can climb instead (Andromeda). The route is easily top ropeable and I have done that too when not feeling fit. So people placing bolts are not trying to make the route climbable, they just want to make it less scary, to a level they can cope with. That is not OK. I say get rid of the bolts.
29 March 2018 at 2:29 PM #188673 Reply
Guest
Bolts on Harry H don’t really comply with the idea vehiculed in CAWA code of bolting (item #2):
Also, I’d rather you do a neat job at chopping them than someone else.
Thank you.
29 March 2018 at 4:48 PM #188674 Reply
Guest
I have climbed the route a couple of times (with bolts in place) and have a few thoughts and questions.
In Ross’s first post it is mentioned that the route originally had “two(ish?) very rusty bolts in the bottom part”. Did the route originally have some bolts in the bottom section? If so, then all other ethics aside, its current condition would be more similar to the original (having some bolt protection), than if the bolts were removed.
As I interpret peoples responses the main objections to the bolts and the reason explained why they are unnecessary seem to be that the route – “can be easily top roped”, “easy to inspect / protect on abseil” and they feel for them personally the available gear is “adequate”.
If this same logic and reasoning was applied to the rest of the routes at WCH (and throughout the climbing areas in Perth and the whole South West) that contain some bolt protection, then many bolts on many routes could also be removed on the same grounds.
Given that the route is described in the guidebook as having “thin protection” and that various very experienced and competent climbers (who I imagine climb much higher grades) have described it variously as – “no bumbly lead”, “taking several years and multiple visits before being ready to go for it”, “a nervous lead”, then clearly some of the protection is marginal and the bolts at the start of the route would make it safer by reducing the risk of ground fall that could be caused by a silly fall combined with gear ripping.
My personal opinion on the gear (especially some start sections) is that some of it is certainly marginal, and whilst I could place it I wouldn’t be to keen on falling on it.
With the established ethic in WA of routes with a mixture of trad protection and fixed protection I think bolting ethics and approaches become much more debatable and less clear. I personally do not see what positives will come from chopping the bolts on this route given the current context and ethics. (In my experience bolt chopping rarely has positive outcomes).
Personally I come from a very trad climbing background, where trad routes do not have fixed protection (no matter how bold) and bolted routes are sports routes (big shiny safe bolts), if the concept is wider than just this individual route and is based on removing the bolts from the rest of the “mixed” routes as well, that meet the same logic and reasoning (can be top roped / inspected, have “adequate” protection in a personal opinion) then that is something I could be open to.
Though that wouldn’t be very fair on those who just want to go and enjoy those “mixed” routes and climb at a level that they are happy with.
As I mentioned I do not see what positives will come from chopping the bolts that are in place.
Generally I try to avoid bolting debates also (especially on online forums) but as I am down this way if anyone would like to discuss things further then I am always happy to catch up for a climb, coffee or beer.
Thanks, Stu
29 March 2018 at 5:24 PM #188675 Reply
Guest
Interesting considering the fuss over the Peak Head retro bolt of solo ‘Woo Woo Woo”. Where bolting of a never repeated solo was universally condemned. Now bolting of a frequently climbed trad route is thought possibly defensible?
Well ethiks are set by those who act. Either putting in the bolts or taking them out. Interesting that putting them in usually requires no typing but taking them out, a lot.
As for territorial claims; for WCH the term ‘locals’ could include a slab of Perth climbers (no, not me). Geographical propinquity does not always correlate with frequency of visits.
Anyway, I’m not going to do anything so any opinions would count for nothing. (but hey I did once manage a lead – if I could do it, it shouldn’t be bolted, and probably needs to be downgraded).
29 March 2018 at 5:54 PM #188676 Reply
Guest
I think the correct interpretation of why people think the bolts are not required, is that adequate protection is available if your skill level and risk tolerance is appropriate for the route. If your level is not appropriate, don’t do the route. There are lots of other choices as you say.
Isn’t this balance of risk, reward and skill what makes climbing so amazingly good ????
30 March 2018 at 12:40 PM #188677 Reply
Guest
My apologies if I incorrectly interpreted peoples responses, I am quite happy with the interpretation you give as to why people think bolts are not required, it fits pretty closely with the more purist ethic that I am used to from other areas.
My core thoughts on the current situation remain the same though, that being,
Did the route originally have some bolts in the lower section as alluded to in the first post by Ross? I feel it is quite relevant to establish this one way or the other, as it has quite a bearing on the current situation.
If we are happy to support the more purist ethic in this case, expressed as “..bolts are not required, is that adequate protection is available if your skill and risk tolerance is appropriate for the route, if your level is not appropriate don’t do the route…”
Then are we also happy to support the same purist ethic applied to every other route? So if a person climbs a “mixed” route and they feel it has adequate protection for their skill and risk tolerance without the fixed protection, they have every right to remove that fixed protection?
I think that if the same logic, reasoning and ethics were applied across the board there could be lots of bolts removed from lots of routes in WA.
I am a purist at heart, and quite happy for purist trad ethics to be applied to climbing. I do think though that whether purist ethics or more pragmatic ethics (as seems common for WA at the moment) are applied, then they should be applied to all routes equally.
Hopefully we can catch up at a crag sometime, cheers, Stu
31 March 2018 at 8:36 PM #188680 Reply
Ron M
Guest
To the best of my knowledge the original first ascentionist was consulted first and gave permission which is more then can be said for the climb at peak head. I live and climb down here and would like to know if lines are going to be chopped at what is our local crag, though this should not be a pissing contest on who is more local. I am not a fan of retro bolting in general and have had some of my lines in Perth vandalised in such a manner, but if done with the consent of the original lead, don’t have a problem with it necessarily. West cape is special and I climb there often. In my opinion bolts generally should only be used if there is no other options that are safe and on some lines at West cape they are needed, after all I have placed a few of my own on new lines there. Anyway maybe the best way to solve this is over a beer when the interested parties are down next.
31 March 2018 at 9:45 PM #188681 Reply
Guest
Sorry richard but We had to chop the bolts on woo woo woo.I hate wrecking people’s creations but they didnt ask Scott put up a bolt ladder in a very sensitive area on a popular hike.Albany climbers coped a lot of flack for that going up. belay bolts pulled straight out with just vise grips a real death trap .holes to big for the dynabolts he used.what remi and Neil found of his stuff on Gibraltar rock made me cringe.I’m not a fan of what’s been done on Harry I wish they just left it we have so many other projects.but in jims and mikes defense they did get permission .
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Marshall travels to Charlotte this weekend in hopes of remaining in the Conference USA East Division Race | ESPN 94.1 FM & AM 930 | The Tri-State’s Sports Leader
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Marshall travels to Charlotte this weekend in hopes of remaining in the Conference USA East Division Race
Posted by vipology on November 17, 2021 in Marshall Sports
It’s win or else time for the Marshall Thundering Herd football team Saturday as the Herd plays on the road for the final time in the 2021 regular season, taking on Charlotte.
The game kicks off at 3:30 pm at Jerry Richardson Stadium and it will be shown nationally on Stadium.
Marshall (6-4, 4-2) had a 4-game winning streak snapped last week at home by UAB by a 21-14 score, while Charlotte (5-5, 3-3) fell at Louisiana Tech 42-34.
Saturday’s game is the 100th in the 49ers program history, a program that began in 2013 with a 52-7 win over Campbell.
Both teams have much to play for this week. A Marshall victory would keep the Herd’s hopes alive for a Conference USA East Division title, but only if MU can beat both Charlotte this week and Western Kentucky next week, a game which will be played at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Charlotte will become bowl-eligible with one more win.
WKU has a one-game lead over Marshall in the divisional standings. The Hilltoppers host Florida Atlantic on Saturday before traveling to Huntington to face the Herd on November 27th.
The Herd and 49ers have met 5 previous times and Marshall has won three of the contests. The teams last met in 2019, a game played in a rainstorm in Charlotte, and won by the 49ers by a 24-13 score.
Will Healy is in his 3rd season as Charlotte’s head coach and he has a 9-10 record with the 49ers.
This week’s biggest matchup may be Charlotte redshirt senior quarterback Chris Reynolds against the Marshall defense.
Reynolds, Charlotte’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns and passing yards, has been on fire lately and is coming off a performance in the Louisiana Tech loss which included a school-record 448 passing yards with two passing touchdowns and one on the ground. Reynolds has also thrown for over 300 yards in wins over Duke and Middle Tennessee State.
Reynolds’ main target is redshirt senior Victor Tucker, the second-leading receiver in school history for both yardage and touchdowns. He’s caught 44 passes this season for 587 yards and two touchdowns. He’s joined by sophomore Grant DuBose, who has 728 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns. The 49ers’ main run threat is redshirt senior Calvin Camp, who has 500 net yards on the ground and three scores.
Marshall Head Coach Charles Huff says the Herd defense is looking to rebound after struggles in the UAB game when the Blazers were 9 of 17 on 3rd down conversions, keeping the Herd offense off the field. Marshall was only 1 of 12 on 3rd down conversions.
He says it’s all about execution.
“When we executed consistently, we moved the ball and stopped them on defense,” Huff said. “When we didn’t, we gave up big plays on defense and obviously being one for 12 on third down is definitely not executing consistently. If we put it all together moving forward, we have a chance to do some really good things.”
Charlotte Coach Will Healy says that he and his staff have done some soul-searching this week after giving up big numbers in the Louisiana Tech loss such as 504 total yards for the Bulldogs.
“We’ve got a lot of room for improvement and we have a short time to get there,” Healy said. “This will be a big week of preparation and playing a great football team.”
Notes: Former Marshall Defensive Assistant Coach J.C. Price was named Tuesday as interim head coach at Virginia Tech. Price, a Tech alumnus, replaces Justin Fuente, who was fired three days after the Hokies beat Duke 48-17. Price coached Marshall’s defensive line starting in 2012, but he was not retained by the Thundering Herd after former head coach Doc Holliday’s dismissal and the hiring of Huff as head coach.
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Trebol Soccer Club's 2014 Colorado Shootout is open to boys and girls teams who will play all levels of competitive soccer in the fall of 2014.
Boys - Fall 2014 (U11 through U14)
Girls - Fall 2014 (U11 through U14)
As this is the first year of sanctioned U11 8v8 play through CSA, we are excited to add this division to the Colorado Shootout for 2014! We will continue to host U11 11v11 teams as a separate division. Register today - all divisions generally fill before the registration deadline!
*U15 - U18 High School Girls Teams
Unfortunately, due to limited full field availability this fall, we are unable to offer a U15 - U18 component to our tournament. We expect to be able to offer our high school girls teams a tournament again in October 2015. We apologize to all of the teams and girls who were expecting to participate in the Shootout this fall, especially those who are seniors this year. Thanks for your support of the Colorado Shootout!
The Colorado Shootout is the premier Colorado Soccer Association event held at Colorado's premier soccer locations. Hosted by Trebol Soccer Club, this tournament allows youth players to compete at the highest levels. The Colorado Shootout is a fall event in the soccer season not to be missed. Come join us for the time of your life!
The Colorado Shootout will be held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 3 - October 5, 2014. Play occurs on the Colorado Soccer Association bye weekend during the first weekend of October 2014.
Play will begin at 6:00 pm on Friday, October 3, 2014
Play continues Saturday with the continuation of pool play
Final play, with Championship rounds, will be held on Sunday
Possible opportunity to "Play Under the Lights"
Requests for later game times on Friday night will be considered from out of state teams (or teams coming from well outside the Denver Metro area).
The 2014 Colorado Shootout will be contested at Dick's Sporting Goods Park and the Aurora Sports Park. To accommodate the tournament's popularity, the Colorado Shootout has expanded to include the pristine fields of Aurora Sports Park in addition to the world class soccer facilities at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, home of the Colorado Rapids. The additional facilities provide for a competitive U11-U14 tournament experience.
Awards for 1st and 2nd place in each division
3 game minimum
Opportunity to play under the lights
Exceptional flighting for improved game experience
Officials are USSF certified
Registrations must be completed and received no later than August 29, 2014 with an entry fee of $795 for U11 - U14 teams. Please see the Registration page for more information.
Registration will be accepted on a space available basis only. Registration submission does not guarantee tournament placement. Placement will be confirmed via email.
Tournament check-in information will be provided with team acceptance letter. Please see our Check-in page for more information.
Each team will receive 15 Colorado Rapids game vouchers with their registration. Additional tickets are available for purchase. Please see the Colorado Rapids page for more information.
If the tournament is canceled due to weather before your first game, 60% of the tournament fees will be refunded (not including Rapids tickets).
The Colorado Shootout is a stay-and-play tournament. All traveling teams are REQUIRED to stay in one of the designated Colorado Shootout Host Hotels (see the Official Host Hotels page for a list) or they will not be allowed to play.
Coaches are held responsible for the conduct of their teams, parents, and fans at all times during the tournament.
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This is a reply to the article published by the "Reign of Heaven" group (see below)-- first my response to their queries and suppositions, then "The Rest of the Story" from the immortal Paul Harvey, and then the article from the Reign of Heavens Society, so you can see what Paul and I are replying to and why this is a sad state of affairs:
The unincorporated entity known as The United States of America and the incorporated entity also calling itself "The United States of America" are NOT THE SAME entities just because they appear to have the same name. They are fundamentally different in nature, jurisdiction, and law. Trying to obfuscate this in any way just slows down any solution to the problem this country faces.
It will also be seen that the quasi-military offices such as "Postmaster General" were NEVER part of the lawful government of the actual United States and have instead existed in the Territorial United States and Municipal United States -- that is, in international jurisdiction of the sea prior to the Civil War and afterward usurped upon the land as part of the Territorial United States' administration.
But if you don't know that there are three versions of "United States"--- our version, the Territorial United States and the Municipal United States (both of which routinely just refer to themselves as "the United States" also) --- it's nigh on unto impossible for people to wrap their heads around which entity and which offices of which entity you are talking about.
This is just another example of "similar names deceits" being used by lawyers to create deliberate confusions and wrong assumptions and keep us all at each other's throats and unable to square off and deal with the actual problem.
It leaves people like the Reign of Heavens spinning their wheels in actual fact, contributing all their effort to a hopeless cause and ranting and accusing those of us who DO see the whole deceit of "telling lies". But then, they are confused and not rightly understanding or replying to what I actually said, and maybe they have a right to be confused, because after all, they have been misled by professionals. Read on for another apt and timely history lesson:
If there is a stain on the record of our forefathers, one dark hour in the earliest history of the American colonies, it would be the hanging of the so-called “witches” at Salem.
But that was a pinpoint in place and time, a brief lapse into hysteria.
For the most part, our seventeenth century colonists were scrupulously fair, even in fear.
There was one group of people they feared with reason – a society, you might say, whose often insidious craft had claimed a multitude of victims, ever since the Middle Ages in Europe.
One group of people, hated and feared from Massachusetts Bay to Virginia.
The magistrates would not burn them at the stake, although surely a great many of the colonists might have recommended such a solution.
Our forefathers were baffled by them.
In the first place, where did they come from?
Of all who sailed from England to Plymouth in 1620, not one of those two-legged vermin was aboard.
“Vermin.”
That’s what the colonists called them.
Parasites who fed on human misery, spreading sorrow and confusion wherever they went.
“Destructive,” they were called.
And still they were permitted co-existence with the colonists.
For a while anyway.
Of course, there were colonial laws prohibiting the practice of their infamous craft. Somehow a way was always found around those laws.
In 1641, Massachusetts Bay colony took a novel approach to the problem. The governors attempted to starve those “devils” out of existence through economic exclusion. They were denied wages, and
thereby it was hoped that they would perish.
Four years later Virginia followed the example of Massachusetts Bay, and for a while it seemed that the dilemma had been resolved.
It had not.
Somehow the parasites managed to survive, and the mere nearness of them made the colonists’ skin crawl.
In 1658 in Virginia the final solution:
Banishment. Exile.
The “treacherous ones” were cast out of the colony.
At last, after decades of enduring the psychological gloom, the sun came out and birds sang and all was right with the world. And the elation continued for a generation.
I’m not sure why the Virginians eventually allowed the outcasts to return, but they did.
In 1680, after twenty-two years, the despised ones were readmitted to the colony on the condition that they be subjected to the strictest surveillance.
For indeed, over the next half-century or so, the imposed restrictions were slowly, quietly swept away. And those whose treachery had been feared since the Middle Ages ultimately took their place in society.
You see, the “vermin” that once infested colonial America, the parasites who preyed on the misfortune of their neighbors until finally they were officially banished from Virginia, those dreaded, despised and inevitably outcast masters of confusion were - LAWYERS!
Below is the Reign of Heavens article. You can see for yourselves how they are confused and why:
Claim in red, rebuttal in blue
This particular document was posted on the Anna Von Reitz website called ” Let’s Settle This Hash……”: LINK on 04-26-2017
“The de jure government of this country is called The United States of America (Unincorporated). It has to be unincorporated to serve as a sovereign government, because if it held a corporate charter granted by some other government, it would be subservient to that government. Okay? Everyone got that?”
We can agree upon that statement because The United States of America and the Government of The United States of America is not incorporated. Embassy: LINK
“During the so-called American Civil War the rats in Congress created a doppelganger entity incorporated in Britain called “The United States of America, Inc.”. This is called “The United States of America” but it is not your de jure government. It is just a corporation granted a charter like any other British corporation.”
Where is the evidence of this claim? There are no links or documents, nothing….. This is the first time that the Government of The United States of America has ever heard of such a claim or the subject matter.
“Now we have Keith Livingway running around claiming that he basically went to a bankruptcy trustee sale and “bought” the office of “Postmaster General” out of a claim on abandonment. He is telling everyone that this abandoned office is the land jurisdiction trustee office once held by Benjamin Franklin and that it is the land jurisdiction de jure government that he is representing.”
Keith Livingway never claimed that he attended a bankruptcy trustee sale, nor did he ever claim to have bought the office of Postmaster General. Where is the evidence? Where is a publication of the claim? There isn’t any because it is a complete lie. The whole scenario was completely made up by Anna Von Reitz and Paul Stramer.
“But here’s the kicker—- Franklin held the office of Post Master (land) not Postmaster (sea) —- and on top of that, none of these quasi-military offices like “Lieutenant Governor” and “Attorney General” and “Postmaster General” even existed prior to the Civil War.”
Here is an image of the original ledger of Doctor Benjamin Franklin, and a LINK to the whole ledger now in PDF. (page nine)
Everyone can see that “Postmaster General” did in fact exist before the civil war, and here is the link to the successor of Ebeneezer Hazard:LINK The Postmaster General credentials are towards the bottom of the page. The National assembly did create a department of the General Post Office to operate as a Government agency, however that was done to protect the original General Post Office of 1775 from foreign powers when doing business with them. The National assembly has that right and power to create such agencies when doing business with foreign powers. Further, everyone can see that Benjamin Franklin did in fact hold the office of Postmaster General and not this made up difference in spelling and land/sea jurisdiction garbage. All surveys require both, metes and bounds and seaward boundaries in order to be legitimate. No one can land lock a country.
“Therefore— is Keith Livingway filling Franklin’s vacated office? No. He is claiming to own an office in a defunct British corporation that was bankrupted in 1907—- The United States of America, Inc. He is not occupying Franklin’s [land] office which was as a “Post Master” –two words, notice? And not a “Postmaster” and not a “General” anything. The de jure government of this country has never been incorporated and never can be incorporated. Period.”
True, the dejure Government of The United States of America cannot be incorporated in another country and it isn’t incorporated anywhere. As a matter of fact, corporations are required to be registered with the Government of The United States of America when doing business within its metes and bounds and seaward boundaries. Benjamin Franklin never vacated his office, it was succeeded as written in the Declaration of Chain of Title:
“Declaration of Chain of Title
IT IS DECLARED THAT; the office of the Postmaster General of the Confederacy of The United States of America of 1775, first held by Doctor
Benjamin Franklin on 26th of July 1775, was succeeded by Richard Bache on November 7th, 1776, succeeded by Ebenezer Hazard on the 28th
day of January, 1782, and died in the year of 1817 without naming a successor. The office of the Postmaster General of the Confederacy of
The United States of America of 1775 was vacant from the year 1817 until the year 2010.” as published April 2nd, 2012 at the link above.
Keith Livingway is not and has never claimed to personally own any office, however he was appointed successor of Ebeneezer Hazard as stated in the Declaration of Chain of Title here: LINK by the National assembly to the office of the Postmaster General and or Post Master General of the General Post Office of the original Confederacy of 1781 back to 1775 and now the Government of The United States of America. The appointment is for life or until succeeded to keep chain of title to the country known as The United States of America.
These facts as stated in blue may be a source of distress, jealousy, embarrassment or otherwise to Anna Von Reitz and Paul Stramer. Those emotions do not give them the right to print lies, deceive people, or slander people. Neither of them have the right to attack people personally with lies and deceit. Neither of them called to verify the facts of their documents, ever…That is called libel and others that are parroting these lies and twisting the facts are also libel. All of this back and forth really needs to end because it is beginning to have the look and feel of high school all over again.
The office of the Postmaster General of the Government of The United States of America will never be vacated or released into the hands of proprietors seeking to use Patriot tricks to gain control of the country on behalf of foreign powers. Upon the death of the current aforesaid office holder, the chain of title reverts back to the National assembly to appoint a new successor and further there exists other protections of said office that is privileged information. Further, it is a vary serous crime to attack the General Post Office of the country.
THE T-ROH SHOW will broadcast and cover the real story and facts about how all of this came about when it pertains to the General Post Office and the original Government when more important issues are already covered.
19 comments:
AirCarvings June 9, 2017 at 11:12 PM
I have a copy of a The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America. I noticed in original state constitutions it is handwritten clearly "agreement with United States" So maybe I am not seeing this clearly but other writings as well indicate that the States of America is not the United States and entity created to assist and do certain limited business for the States of America. Where is there any title or deed describing the metes and bounds from sea to sea etc of any land or country called the United States? Most likely songs like America the Beautiful, Star Spangled Banner, Pledge of Allegiance and writers have created this idea. A clever ploy but the corporate United States to make everyone think it has become the new monarchial power, a central tyrannical authority just as was detailed and corrected for by absolving and dissolving it, with the people sharing the sovereignty previously used to shove the business of the elite monarchs and friends of devious nature, down upon the colonies by the Declaration of Independence. The United States has been a thing much like the European Union seeking to gain power over independent states, creating a false idea that the entirety was all one under one central power.
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penny4yerthoughts June 10, 2017 at 2:56 PM
read this it will tell you exactly how it was done similarly all over the world.
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penny4yerthoughts June 10, 2017 at 2:58 PM
its not false and it has been done legally all over the world. you just have to know how so you can "come out of her my people."
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Unknown June 10, 2017 at 7:57 AM
I wonder how long it is going to take this person to realize that pope Anna is infallible and her prophet Paul are two peas in the same pod!!! If you don't believe it, ask them!!! What, no rebuttal!!!??? Let's see how much stinky "shinola" Anna can throw at this.
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bubbapatric June 10, 2017 at 8:13 AM
Personal attacks how Saul Alensky, rules for radicals of you .lay down some dated events to support you slanderous talk.
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Jack Hamilton June 10, 2017 at 9:43 AM
Believing everything anyone tells us is EXACTLY how we allowed ourselves to get into this horrific mess! Listen, think and do your own research!
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penny4yerthoughts June 10, 2017 at 3:00 PM
anna has attempted to wake up the people more than you or anyone else, so for that at a minimum is amazing, now it is up to each one of us to get off our lazy asses and do the due diligence and help her and the people to fine tune it all....
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bubbapatric June 10, 2017 at 8:05 AM
William Penn jailed and the judge demanded a guilty . The jury refused they were denied food and water finally jailed.the founding father had great contempt for judges and they were only permitted to rule under 50 dollars .
Otherwise trial by jury. And the 13 th ammendment to band foreign agents acting as bar attorneys .
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Jack Hamilton June 10, 2017 at 9:45 AM
The jury used the power of "nullification". Today, a defendent cannot even mention that word in a court room!
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penny4yerthoughts June 10, 2017 at 3:08 PM
you must tell the judge that it is not lawful to practice law from the bench and enquire is it he that has a claim against you? if he continues you must tell him to recuse himself as many times as necessary and have an affidavit of bias and prejudice ready if you have let it get that far.
honestly, if you have let it get that far then you really do not know who you are and you are challenging them - at war with them which you should not be. preferably you should have the case dismissed (motion to dismiss frcp 12 b 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and your state annotated code to match) before that point if you really know who you are and not justfy ANY cause of action... it is only your controversy that allows the administrative or legislative court any jurisdiction at all.
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James Pansini June 11, 2017 at 6:57 PM
First of all I dont care if you call it "Trial by Jury" or "Jury Trial", because you have missed 3 important words after that that describes what the true jury should be comprized of to give it legitimatezy....a jury "of his peers". Thats what has been lost. Never does the constitution refer or define "peers" as complete strangers to a "defendant" they have never meet or known their whole life. "Peers" back then referred to people in his own community who knew the defendant personally and could attest to the nature of his character. Otherwise, it easy for any stranger on these jurys today to automatically convict the defendant before even hearing the evidence. The mindset now goes something like this.."why is this person being charged if he isnt guilty of something". In other words, the defendant is constantly trying to prove a "negative". "Guilty" until be proven innocent. Instead of "innocent" until proven "Guilty". Almost immpossible to defend against. To top it off, most people either hire attorneys, or use a Public Defender, both of whom are also complete strangers to the defendant and who have dealt with many liers already. Why should this defendant be any different. Thats why the hated attorneys so much back in those days. Because the constitution ONLY talks about "Conselors" not Laywers and attorneys. Council means anyone in the community who could represent the defendand (like a good friend) without pay, to ensure the defendant s got the full benifit of the doubt. Back in those days, people thought it reprehensible to take money from a defendant he personally knew of , making it synonamous with "unjust enrichment" of his friends and community. How in the world can anyone be my peer when they cant even answer the easiest questions about the constitution or law. I only had one case that lead to a jury trail. And my first question to the jury was the most basic of understanding the constitution..I simply asked anyone to raise their hand if they knew what the first 10 amendments to the constitution were called. Not one person rose their hand. I couldnt believe this. Not one person could tell me that they were called "the Bill of Rights". I looked at the judge contemptually as he just shook his head as if to say....it is what it is. Theres nothing i can do about it if people want to remain ignorant. For me, that was testament of how the system got so powerful. People either dont care at all about law and their inheritance or they want to be paid to study it. I have friends just like that. He told me he doesnt or wont study anything unless hes paid for it...RIGHT!! These jurys today are imbecles. We could never empanal a jury of our peers in this system. They dont exsist..The jurys today are no help to us at all. In fact, they tend to hate us right from the start because they dont understand what we are talking about.Just like this site. The average person seeing this site would simply dismiss us all as mental patients. Guilty as charged. Next case...!!!
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penny4yerthoughts June 12, 2017 at 5:51 AM
well they say jury trial not trial by jury, an inverse of the true meaning, of course on purpose; they are not people either ;o)
they are persons, 14th amendment citizens.
another little play on words is emapanel a jury, look up the word jury with some 1800 dictionaries and you will see many times they are speaking of 3 or more judicial peers such as the supreme court or appellate court with 3 or more true judges.
Grand Jury typically has "people" 12 or more which is why jesus had the 12 disciples everywhere he went.
tricky word play and juxtaposition of words these foreign citizens attempting to bond us and send us to "hell" (debtors prison of the exchequer if you look up the definition)
remember you should NEVER let it get that far, what are you doing warring with them as an enemy combatant? they are playing 4 dimensional chess in the game they created and contiunally change the rules and we bring checkers to the table...
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bubbapatric June 10, 2017 at 8:57 AM
One fact Lincoln unlawfully changed the jurisdiction , coined money unlawfully , waged war in reality an attack of northern agression, jailed anyone who protested . He's the one who ushered in British maritime law.
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penny4yerthoughts June 10, 2017 at 3:15 PM
some would say was at least half black, watch the movie where they say his hair is wirey unlike most white men, started the violation of the original 13th amendment (no lawyers/titles of nobility) and started the executive orders via his buddy, lieber and his codes, which is why obama cherished him so much in the beginning remember? obama knew it would end with him just as it started with lincoln. time for the Republic and the United States of America. Trump is the battering ram to catapault us back into the Republic.
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James Pansini June 11, 2017 at 5:13 AM
Unfortunately, even Trump refers to Lincoln as a great and intelligent man who faught for freedom and end "slavery" of both blacks and whites , after he was told by the banks after the war was over,which was now bankrupt completely as a country, that they would refinance the country immediately and make it solvent again, no problem, but at 30% interest. That was the second time he asked the banks for money....once before the war ended (because he already bankrupted the "North" and could never win the battle without a cash injection that could last long enough ...another 2 years...to win the war effort) and again right after. And both times he denied the loans for the same reason...they wanted a totaly unreasonable amount of interest. So high in fact, that he was quoted as saying.." I didnt start this war to end "black slavery", only to enslave everyone by the banks. But thats exactly what happened. Because it turns out that even Lincoln had no clue about the difference between "REAL MONEY", and "CURRENCY"(Commercial Instraments), which are only IOU's. The only thing Lincoln(honest Abe) was familiar with was money that had real value because it was based on substance(gold and silver). But he should haved, because his solution to finishing the war effort was given to him by his own tresurer. Hes the one who suggested just to print his own "NOTES". But Lincoln's responce to his treasurer was "We can do that".?? But if it isnt backed by anything wont the people know it. And his tresurer simply told him, if the people see you using it, Mr president, they will too. And hence, the "Greenback" was created, and used successfully to finish the war. Of course, being honest Abe, he cancelled the Greenback right after the war because he thought it was fraud. But when he asked the banks again for another loan of real money, thinking he now had the advantage to negotiate a better interest rate, the banks said its still at 30% interest. Thats when he told the banks what he was going to do , so he wouldnt have to ask them for loans anymore...that he would just simply reinstitude the "Greenback" again without any interest. That statement would lead to his immediate death. The banks couldnt take a chance like that, even if it was meant as a bluff. They didnt want America to have control of its own currency ever again. That was the whole reason and purpose of creating the "slavery issue in the first place by the banks.
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penny4yerthoughts June 12, 2017 at 6:01 AM
true, but he was the one that also initiated the current dilemma and many of his actions still stand today for the cabal so by his deeds it shows that either he was cleverly manipulated or was aware of his actions and the affects it has had and their negative consequences. The 2 greatest enslaving amendments 13th and 14th were in that period. Even when they passed the 13th amendment, the senator said he did not believe in equality of men but rather equal protection under the law obviously of persons. have even read that he may have been mixed in with rothschild blood or something to that extent.
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bubbapatric June 10, 2017 at 9:11 AM
So you claim libel, over a post master general office.
That sounds like threat for disagreement .
So much for freedom of speach .
I say so what it's not important how about the deep state creating falce flags , using corperate statuary law to turn america into a police state .
Do you have a dog in the fight ?
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Unknown June 10, 2017 at 3:21 PM
Where is the evidence of this claim? It's everywhere!!!
Look all around you! Look at your birth certificate, drivers license, mortgage documents, social security paper work, bank statements etc........even the stop sign at the end of your street is private law.
Only the unaware can't see the forest because of all of those dam TREES.
I would love to get my hands on a copy of articles of incorporation or see mention of it within some US publication. These types of documents would go along long way if not all the way in satisfying the burdens of Proof to claims made, when talking to the unaware.
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penny4yerthoughts June 12, 2017 at 6:05 AM
read this it will tell you exactly how it was done similarly all over the world.
Public Law 94-241 also the Organic Act of 1871 it shows the incorporation of the District of Columbia DBA United States. get certified copies, and you are golden, from the archives easy to do.
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Formerly a heavy equipment operator in the logging industry, now a full time Internet Marketer. We make our living on line with Silver and Radio Gear. You can see everything we do on line at www.paulstramer.com. Email at pstramer@eurekadsl.net
Publishing the works of Judge Anna Von Reitz of Big Lake Alaska on this blog and at www.annavonreitz.com
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4 Hands Brewing Co. is expanding its current location at 1220 S. Eighth St. in St. Louis’ La Salle Park neighborhood, as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In August, 4 Hands acquired the space occupied by The Pump Shop, with a plan to utilize the indoor space for manufacturing, storage and office space. The outdoor area acquired will be turned into a beer garden. The Pump Shop will be relocating for its own expansion.
Kevin Lemp, CEO and president of 4 Hands Brewing Co., had the idea to expand the brewery years ago and has partnered with the St. Louis architecture firm CannonDesign to gain momentum. “We’ve been working on this the past five years. That’s why patience is so important. It takes so much time and capital to get things moving. It’s been a long road. We have a fantastic relationship with The Pump Shop and are very excited for their own opportunity to expansion. We’ve worked so hard on this plan, and have a level of comfort knowing what our future looks like,” Lemp said.
There are two main reasons for expansion: The first is to increase manufacturing efficiency, which will allow for more experimentation and creativity. Secondly, there will be more space to accommodate brewery guests in the beer garden.
The expansion will allow 4 Hands to produce approximately 4,000 cases of product per day, quadrupling what it can do now. It’s vital for the company to keep up with industry demands as it adds new innovation and products to test in the local market. “The expansion will allow us to grow as the market will allow us,” Lemp said.
4 Hands has been operating in a 20,000-square-foot facility for the past 11 years. The Pump Shop will give 4 Hands an additional 25,000-square-foot area to build a packaging hall used for canning, tanks, labeler and other manufacturing equipment. This space will also allow for a new shipping and receiving area.
The beer garden is estimated to accommodate 300 seated guests in the 47,000 square feet upon its projected completion in 2024. The atmosphere of the beer garden will be traditional, with string lights, outdoor restrooms and private alcoves in addition to open walkways. Lemp hopes to create a more inclusive atmosphere at the brewery, inviting adults to bring their children and dogs to the beer garden. Guests will be able to rent out the beer garden for private events.
“We’re hyper-focused on building a family-friendly environment. We already have an arcade space upstairs in the second floor taproom for kids, which was actually inspired by my own children. We also have a lot of dog parents at the brewery and want to make space for them,” Lemp said.
Part of the expansion will bring in more big tanks for efficiency and small tanks for innovation, and 4 Hands will be able to offer more variety. There will be the same number of beers offered on tap at the brewery (16 draft offerings on the first floor and 24 offerings on the second floor), but the flavors will rotate more regularly. Guests will also have access to more exclusive small-batch releases.
In the spring of 2023, 4 Hands will add a gin garden to their parking lot. Like a farm-to-table concept, herbs will be grown on the property to be utilized in small batch gin production for sister brand 1220 Artisan Spirits. Ahead of that, however, a new year-round gin called Zenpo is slated to launch this December.
Like always, 4 Hands will have 14 seasonal beers on the market. However, eight of those 14 will be completely new by next year. Due to the popularity of seltzers at 4 Hands, there will also be new seasonal seltzer offerings next year. “It’s been an explosive category for us, and we don’t want to be like White Claw,” Lemp said. “We want to be a little whimsical and nostalgic.”
Peacemaker Lobster & Crab Co., owned by Kevin Nashan, will still operate as the food service provider in 4 Hands and serve the beer garden guests when it opens to the public. The fast-casual service style is also projected to remain the same.
Lemp’s vision is to beautify the I-44 corridor at the intersection of South Seventh Street. There are plans to start renovating the windows and painting the exterior of the brewery this week.
“We’re part of the La Salle Park neighborhood and we’re hyper-passionate about our neighbors. From the street level, we’re going to be able to bring some beautiful visuals to the community. The neighborhood has been really supportive so far. We’re still cooking up some plans to do more for the neighborhood, and it’s really about having an open conversation. We’re grateful to have that relationship with La Salle Park,” Lemp said.
No neighboring operations will be interrupted, stalled or temporarily closed during the brewery’s renovation. This project will take place in waves with $1.2 million initially being spent on manufacturing equipment. The new storage space, office space and production space is estimated to be complete by June 2023.
4 Hands is actively seeking to establish a Community Improvement District, or CID, but nothing has been confirmed. The CID would create an additional 1% of sales tax for 4 Hands patrons to fund maintenance, free parking and landscaping upkeep to beautify the property.
The retail area, taproom and tasting area will remain the same. 4 Hands will start offering tours once the expansion is complete. 4 Hands’ operating hours will remain the same after the expansion: noon to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
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The day began with the hymn Be Thou My Vision running through my mind. The tune stayed with me as I drove from Cincinnati to Lexington, Kentucky. I traveled with equal parts hope and fear, carrying with me the difficult memories of a painful business meeting the night before. I had no margin.
I arrived at the apartment building and walked down the long hallway, breathing deeply. The door to the living room was open. Mom was seated in her recliner and Dad was in the kitchen getting her some ice water. They both looked up, puzzled. Dad asked, “Now, who are you?” I said, “It’s your child Dad, it’s your second born.” He asked again and I answered, “It’s me, Paula.” Dad said, “Oh my!” I walked to where Mom was seated and she asked Dad, “Who is this?” I answered, “It’s your child, Mom. It’s your second born. It’s Paula.” With a confused look she asked again, “Who?” and I answered, “Paula.”
With that she reached out her arms and said, “Come give your mother a hug.” As I bent down she proceeded to tell me about my birth, which was more than a little odd. I realized this was her prepared agenda. She was going to let me know that she had been there and I had been born a boy. But Mom had a hard time staying with her agenda. It was clearly a woman in her living room, and the obvious beat out the theoretical.
Dad sat down and said, “Well, you do not look at all like I thought you might.” I could tell he was pleased I did not look like a man in a dress. It made it easier for both of them to understand the fundamental truth – their son is a woman.
For the next three and a half hours the conversation did not stop. There were tears and much laughter. I thanked my parents for what they brought into my life, and expressed my gratitude that they had allowed me to visit. There were difficult moments. With tears in his eyes Dad asked, “Why do you believe you are a woman?” He listened intently as I explained why people are transgender. This 93-year-old man expressed far more openness and understanding than many fundamentalists one-third his age. Most evangelicals come at the subject self-referentially. “Look what you did to me.” They almost never ask about the pain I must have suffered for all those years. It’s all about their shock and dismay. Dad had moved beyond that. He wanted to be sure he understood every single word I said. His openness warmed my heart.
Mom made a few half-hearted attempts to return to her agenda but she couldn’t help herself. When I remarked on my affection for the cups and saucers on the shelf, she said to Dad, “Well Dave, she wants some of those cups and saucers. I told her to mark the ones she wants with her name.” Every time she referred to me in the third person, she correctly gendered me. It was obvious a female was in her presence, and she responded accordingly.
I had a chance to tell both of my parents what I appreciated about them. I thanked Dad for his gentleness, kindness, love, patience, steadfastness and loyalty. I thanked Mom for her tenacity, intelligence, sense of humor and intellectual curiosity. As our time together wound down, Mom said, “Well my lands, I don’t think I’ve had this many compliments in years.”
At one point deep into the conversation I asked my parents why they had decided to see me. Mom playfully said, “Well, I’ve heard it said that sometimes people die in their 90s, so I figured we’d better get together.” Through tears Dad said, “I was afraid we would never see you again.”
I gingerly stepped behind their chairs to position myself for pictures. Then I prepared to leave. I gave Mom a long hug and whispered that I loved her. Mom rarely ever said to me, “I love you.” She always stuck with the less emphatic “Love you.” This time Mom said, “I love you.”
I hugged Dad for the longest time and we both cried. He too said, “I love you,” not words I often heard from my father. I told them I’d be back in a couple of months and look forward to seeing them again.
As I walked down the hallway I kept saying, “Breathe Paula, breathe.” After an enjoyable first visit with my brother (I’ll write about that another time) I headed to my cousin Jane’s home in Richmond. She and John greeted me with quiche and salad and snicker doodles and Jane cried with me late into the evening.
I wrote my friend Christy and thanked her for reminding me that loving is best, even when it is not reciprocated, because you never know when God might change a heart, sometimes even yours.
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April 18, 2017 at 12:16 pm
well said. and so thankful you met with them.
April 18, 2017 at 12:25 pm
Thank you for letting me watch this journey you are on. Beautiful and inspiring.
April 18, 2017 at 12:42 pm
thanks for sharing, Paula…you are responding with the courage your life demands!..thanks for your continued openness and honesty…ed
On Tue, Apr 18, 2017 at 7:55 AM, Paula Stone Williams wrote:
> Paula S Williams posted: “Heart of My Own Heart, Whate’er Befall Last week > I saw my parents for the first time. The day began with the hymn Be Thou My > Vision running through my mind. The tune stayed with me as I drove from > Cincinnati to Lexington, Kentucky. I traveled with equ” >
April 18, 2017 at 2:00 pm
A beautiful story of grace, love, taking risks, and more love! Thank you for sharing this tender story, Paula
April 18, 2017 at 2:00 pm
How incredibly lovely! This is heart warming. Heart expanding! Thanks for sharing this. Your smile says it all! (-:
April 18, 2017 at 4:29 pm
What a cluster of gifts: The experience itself; the love and years of all the other life-stuff that set the stage for this visit; and your narrative. Really moving. Thanks for sharing.
April 18, 2017 at 6:24 pm
“. . the obvious beat out the theoretical . .”
Christ is risen indeed!
April 18, 2017 at 10:35 pm
This post made me cry.
All the emotion I could understand and others I could at least try to imagine, coupled with all it took for you (and them) to get to that meeting.
Then my own bittersweet memories of my own mom, remembering her in her last apartment and the precious little person she had become. But then your photos! All the love, relief and joy pictured in your face.
I’m sorry I’ve not written you all the many times I’ve wanted to but am often reading very late/early so instead just go to bed. [Sorry….]
I hope you get this email.
April 19, 2017 at 12:20 am
Thank you so much Joni. It was a special day.
April 19, 2017 at 6:52 pm
The photos say it well- you look so happy. I’m glad you had such a sweet time with your parents.
April 20, 2017 at 12:53 am
The photos are worth a thousand words, but the words are pretty precious as well. Moved me to tears. Thank you for this window into your world!
April 21, 2017 at 12:32 am
As someone who has parents in their 80’s and who have deep roots in evangelical Christianity, it gives me hope that they may accept me as being transgender. So happy for you and your parents.
April 23, 2017 at 4:39 am
I’m so touched by your story, Paula! I wish for you a life of joy and healing!! You are part of that “great cloud of witnesses” for many who have suffered in similar ways as you!
The Bible doesn’t say God loves some. It says ” God iS love.” You are passing this along. If love is there, so is the Lord!
June 25, 2017 at 12:39 am
That was awesome and brought tears to my eyes. Im 54 and came out to my parents two months ago. My older brother was trans too. My dad told me when I was 18. I knew i was trans too but becided to be the ‘normal’ son. My youngest brother is gay. My parents have no better understanding now than they did 35 years ago it seems. My father told me he had no desire to see me made up as a woman and did not want to lose another son. My dad is 81. Unfortunately it is the reaction i expected. I had planned to go to my grave with this, never tell anyone. I failed.
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We moved this past year. My husband retired and we decided to relocate. We moved to a new house with new neighbors, in a new town and found a new church.
It has been about a year and we still feel unsettled. We feel a longing to be known.
To have someone look at us with eyes of recognition. To know our names and ask about our kids.
I long for community.
…To have people know my name and ever so much more,
…To know I enjoy music and art, taking walks, a good cup of tea and auctions.
I want them to know my heart aches from old wounds and some not so old. Things you can’t blurt out when you are just getting to know someone. It takes time…lots of time.
So, as I struggle to fit into our new community, I look expectantly to someday heaven. It will be a place of perfect acceptance, a place without longing.
I’ve been told a place is being prepared. (John 14:1-3) A just right place, a perfect place, a belonging place that isn’t uncomfortable. A place without an awkward adjustment period.
I imagine being greeted with a bear hug by the God who was unapproachable and untouchable in the Old Testament accounts. (*see below) Now he has promised to wipe away my tears. (Revelation 21:4)
I will be immediately known and loved. Not because I am good, but because I belong to a great King who purchased my freedom at an awful price. (I Peter 1:18 & 19)
He saved me even knowing who I would be and what I would do. Loved me in spite of all of it. Why? For a purpose, to worship and serve Him.
He will integrate me seamlessly into the heavenly community; giving me a job that suits just me. One where I can contribute and feel helpful.
He will delight that I am there, at home with Him. At home with the one who has loved me since the foundation of the world. (Matthew 25:34)
And all of this will fade away. For I will be home at last.
* God told Moses – “No man shall see me and live.” ( Exodus 33:20) ; Some men from Beth-shemesh looked into the ark and they were struck dead along with 50,070 others. (I Samuel 6:19); Uzzah was killed for touching the ark (2 Samuel 6:6-7)
This entry was posted in Christianity and tagged community, heaven, home, known, moving, redemption. Bookmark the permalink.
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12 thoughts on “Home at Last”
Cynthia Reyes | August 16, 2017 at 4:32 pm
Such a lovely post that starts out with a feeling of uncertainty about being at home in your new neighbourhood, and ends with a feeling of reassurance. Thank you, Karen.
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Karen Pickering | August 16, 2017 at 9:45 pm
Thank you, Cynthia. I do hope you are continuing to get better. Praying you get stronger every day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cynthia Reyes | August 16, 2017 at 10:02 pm
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Levi Thetford | August 16, 2017 at 9:24 pm
I loved this Karen. Community we all need but not many have it. I’m praying you will find your place in the new community so that your light can truly shine.
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Karen Pickering | August 16, 2017 at 9:47 pm
Thank you, Levi. Prayers are always appreciated. Hope you are doing well. It has been a long time.
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Levi Thetford | August 16, 2017 at 9:49 pm
I’m doing very well, thank you. It has been awhile.
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Tamara Howe | August 20, 2017 at 1:52 pm
Ok, I’m a member of your new community, and I know all about your wonderful qualities, and I’ve been meaning to have you and your dear sister (the local one), over for coffee and lefse forever! My daughter’s health crisis appears to be nearly over. Let’s set a date!
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Karen Pickering | August 20, 2017 at 3:07 pm
I have thought of you often, Tamara. You have been overwhelmed. I suspect we will both have time once we have a schedule and school has started up. I would love to come anytime, but know you are welcome here too. Just waiting for the word for your daughter to feel well enough to come along as well.
Mellie | August 20, 2017 at 7:31 pm
We love you and Bill. May God bless you with rich community in His time.Thank you for this sweet reminder of what is in store for us–this is a blessing to think about in this chapter of our lives.
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Karen Pickering | August 20, 2017 at 7:59 pm
Thank you, Mellie. Miss you and Reagan. Arianna mentions your kids now and then. Come visit anytime. The lake is full of fish.
Angela Adams | August 21, 2017 at 8:59 pm
So good Karen and so true!! Finally after 6 years in Nashville we have great community. Takes time, time, time!! But what a great reminder of how perfect and wonderful heaven will be. We will all be united again!! Miss you!!
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Karen Pickering | August 21, 2017 at 9:08 pm
Oh, Angela. How good to hear from you! Glad to hear you are settled in there. I know it takes time. Just sending you an e-mail…let me know if it doesn’t show up.
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Ver. 1. “Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world. He loved them unto the end.”
The δέ points to the circumstance that we have before us, not a new book, but only a new section of it. That the connection is formed by an adversative particle, places the severity of Jesus against the Jews in contrast with His love towards His own. This first verse gives the sketch; vers. 2 seq. give the completion. The εἰ?δώς , knowing, here, is resumed in ver. 3. As we cannot in that verse interpret “because,” but only “although He knew,” so we are constrained to interpret here. This will appear the obvious interpretation, when we consider that the motive of the transaction is indicated by the words, “as He loved His own,” etc. If we understand, “because He knew,” there arise two motives for this action, placed unconnectedly together, which is scarcely tolerable. If we understand, “although He knew,” we have first a reference to the hindrance which existed to the last display of love, and then, in “because He loved,” a reference to the living principle through which that hindrance was overcome. Ἀ?γαπήσας alone contains the motive: the εἰ?δώς , placed before it, points to what opposed the motive, and must be vanquished by the energy of that love. The proof of love which Jesus now at the last gave to His disciples, beams out in all the richer light, because Jesus was clearly conscious that His transition into a state of glory was near at hand. That, notwithstanding this knowledge, He so profoundly abased Himself towards His disciples, and washed their feet, must fill us: with thankful and adoring love. It was as if God had from heaven itself come down to wash the feet of sinful mortals! And this He did to men who immediately before had been contending for a pitiful scrap of worldly honour! “Can any one,” says Heumann, “who reads this history, retain a spark of pride in his heart? Or if he, notwithstanding what he reads, remains proud, is he not unworthy of the name of a Christian?”
We must not understand “having hitherto loved His own;” for the hitherto, which would form the antithesis to εἰ?ς τέλος , is not in the text; the “in the world” looks back to the “out of the world,” and refers to the perilous position in which the disciples would be found after the impending departure of their Lord (comp. ch. John 17:11: “I am no longer in the world; but these are in the world, and I come to Thee.” Grotius: Quos relicturus erat in hoc rerum salo. J. Gerhard: “Because they still remained in the world, in the valley of tribulation, where they must expect nothing but trouble”),—leads expressly to the love which manifested itself in this last proof, and by which Jesus strengthened their hearts beforehand to meet the coming sorrow. We must therefore assume that ἀ?γαπήσας indicates His love in general, while ἠ?γάπησεν points to the particular act of love which now sprang from that source.—Ἀ?γαπᾷ?ν can of itself signify only the affection of love. But as this can be known only by the action that expresses it, such an action is indirectly indicated in the ἠ?γάπησεν . That this ἠ?γάπησεν must be primarily referred to the act of washing their feet, is evident from the words “before the feast of the Passover.” The other tokens of love which are recorded in this section are part of the feast itself. Yet we may appropriately regard the remaining evidences of love as supplementary to the feet-washing. “To the end” seems to show that the Evangelist so regarded them. There is no difficulty in this, when we consider what followed as only the unfolding of what had been already displayed in the washing, and furnishing a commentary upon it. If we separate them, the εἰ?ς τέλος loses its significance. The remaining acts of love, which were assuredly confirmations of the tender affection of the Lord towards His disciples, would then fall beyond and after the τέλος . We cannot argue that the supreme proof of His love. His death, lay nevertheless beyond the “end” here mentioned; for the words here refer to the love displayed to His own, and not to that which was manifested by the Saviour of the world.
It remains that we examine the chronological note at the beginning of the verse, “before the feast of the Passover.” Remembering John’s manner in giving marks of time (comp. ch. John 12:1), we cannot doubt that his words here refer to the event which he was about to record, primarily to ἠ?γάπησεν , or to the “riseth” in the nanrative; or that the feet-washing occurred in the time before the paschal feast.
“Before the feast” either means nothing (and that can the less be assumed, inasmuch as John is the only one of the Evangelists who follows definite chronological leadings, all his other notes of time being thoroughly precise, such as that of the six days before the Passover in ch. John 12:1; on the following day, ver. 12), or it points to the fact, that the transaction to which this note of time refers, the feet-washing, belongs to the time immediately before the beginning of the paschal feast; that between the feast and the washing nothing else intervened; that, with the completion of the washing, the Passover immediately began for those here concerned. If we give up the closest proximity of the feast, we are left to most arbitrary hypotheses as to the time. We have no more reason to refer it to the day before than to any other day. But considering the high importance which the Evangelist himself attaches to the events here recorded, the feet-washing and what was connected with it down to ch. 7, it is inconceivable that he would leave them chronologically indefinite, with absolutely no note of time; and more especially as they have been treated with very exact chronological precision by the other Evangelists, themselves much more careless on this point. It is plain that the last meal of Jesus, to which all in John’s thirteenth chapter relates, was, according to those earlier Evangelists, the paschal meal; and that Jesus partook of it at the same time with the Jews, entirely according to the law and the universal custom of the feast. (Wichelhaus has thoroughly settled this point in his Leidensgesch.) If the Evangelist had had the design, attributed to him by many, of subverting this chronological decision of his predecessors, he could not have acted more perversely. He would have opposed to their chronological precision an absolutely vague indefiniteness.
That “before the Passover” means “immediately before” (just as, in Luke 11:38, πρὸ? τοῦ? ἀ?ρίστου refers to what immediately preceded the mid-day meal), has been well shown by Lange, who argues that such specific acts as the rising from the table, ver. 4, are not reckoned by days, but by hours and moments. Accordingly the sense here must be, that immediately before the beginning of the feast He rose up.
Having settled that this action took place immediately before the paschal feast, the further question arises as to when the feast itself began. It is to be taken for granted that the most important time of the feast, that of the fourteenth Nisan, cannot be excluded from the paschal period. Those who have attempted to do so have been labouring, under a misapprehension. That which gave its name to the whole feast must necessarily have been included within its limits. But the question is, whether the feast had its beginning literally with the commencement of this meal, or whether, as Wieseler and Wichelhaus maintain, the slaying of the lamb must also be included.
We decide in favour of the former view, and assume that the beginning of the feast coincided with the beginning of this meal. The very idea of the feast is in harmony with such a view. Ἑ?ορτή always corresponds in the New Testament to the Hebrew חג , and is never used save of joyful festivities, in which the people rejoiced before the Lord. The root חגג signified originally to dance, then to celebrate a festivity: “derived from the sacred choruses and dances with which the feasts were wont to be observed” (Gesenius). The joy which was accordingly associated with the idea of the feast, was based upon the presupposal of an accomplished atonement, obtained in the Passover through the slaying of the lamb. The great day of atonement, notwithstanding its profound importance ( Leviticus 16:31), was never termed a feast any more than our Good Friday falls under the Scriptural notion of a feast. The paschal feast was further, according to Isaiah 30:29 (comp. Exodus 12:42), a night-feast, and did not begin until darkness had set in; but the slaying of the lamb took place while it was yet day. The same passage of Isaiah shows that feast and song were always inseparably connected. According to Psalms 81:2-4, the feast pertained to the domain of the moon, and was begun with shouting and song: comp. 2 Chronicles 30:21-22. Finally, the feast is always called in the books of Moses the feast of unleavened bread. But the eating of the unleavened bread began, according to Exodus 12:18, not till “the evening,” the evening which opened the fifteenth Nisan, Leviticus 23:6. On the fourteenth Nisan, between the two evenings—that is, in the afternoon—there was indeed a Passover to the Lord; but that was the paschal sacrifice, not the paschal feast, with which we are here concerned. The two are carefully distinguished in Numbers 28:16-17, “In the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast:” comp. also 2 Chronicles 35:17.
It may therefore be regarded as fixed, that the paschal feast had its commencement with the paschal meal. But what defined the actual commencement of the meal? Having so entirely spiritual a character, we may assume that its commencement was not a material but a spiritual one; and we can the less doubt this, inasmuch as its conclusion is expressly described to have been a spiritual one: ὑ?μνήσαντες , Matthew 26:30. The meal had its specific liturgy, which Jesus did not dispense with, so far as it adhered to holy Scripture, as the ὑ?μνήσαντες itself shows. The meal had indeed its unvarying introductory words. All that took place before the moment when these were spoken, was regarded as “before” the feast of the Passover, although immediately preceding and introducing it.
The further question arises. Did the Lord’s act of washing take place before the beginning of the paschal meal, as thus indicated?
It may be argued from vers. 2 and 4, that the supper, and consequently the feast, had begun before the feet-washing. But the fact of the time having come, does not prove the beginning of the meal or of the feast; that depended on the liturgy, and the actual eating which then immediately followed. The καὶ? δείπνου γινομένου (Tisch.: not γενομένου ) points to the circumstance that in a certain sense, not coming into consideration here, the supper was already come. (Meyer: “While they were in the act of keeping the supper.”) The supper was not yet; it was about to begin. The translation of the Vulgate, coenâ peractâ, and Luther’s “after the supper,” would not be justified even by the reading γενομένου .
That the washing of the feet was customary at all greater feasts, was a result of the Oriental equipment of the feet, the Oriental climate, and the Oriental habit of reclining at the table, which brought the feet into contact with the neighbour. To give the guest no water for his feet was, according to Luke 7:44, regarded as something altogether unusual, and as a great indignity. The word of our Lord, in ver. 10, shows that the washing of the feet was a necessity at the feast. Least of all could it have been omitted at the paschal feast; that would have been in the fullest sense a profanation.
The very nature of the case demonstrates that the feet-washing preceded the actual meal; this is attested by the whole of Scripture, wherever the matter is mentioned, from Genesis 18:4; Genesis 19:2, downwards. Classical antiquity affirms the same thing. Not only was the washing of the feet “usually” performed before the meal; it was so always, and without exception.
We gather from vers. 4, 5, that the apparatus for the feet-washing was quite prepared, but had not as yet been used. This leads us to the conclusion that our Lord’s act had a specific reason; and that, in fact, He did what others had omitted. And those who had neglected the act must be sought within the circle of the disciples. The master of the house had only yielded his chamber to the Lord. He did not, as in Luke 7, act the part of the host. In this last feast our Lord Himself occupies the place of entertainer: comp. Matthew 26:17. The master of the house was always bound to his family at the paschal season. Those expositors who hold the independent nature and significance of our Lord’s act, are much embarrassed by the presence of the materials for washing; Lampe, for example, following the example of Euthymius, represents Jesus as having asked for these things at the hands of the host, etc. That would have had to be recorded, if the act had been one of independent origination; but as we see the reverse, we may fairly infer that the feet-washing was, so to speak, accidental in its origin.
In respect to the Lord’s act, it must be taken for granted that no other washing had preceded. Now, if it is a settled point that such a ceremony was absolutely necessary before the beginning of the feast, then must the present one have occurred before “the supper” began, and consequently before the Passover. It would have been most inappropriate for Jesus to wash over again the feet that had been washed. “He did not,” says Schweitzer, “superfluously rewash their feet: there would have been nothing but an artificial example in such an act, as it would not have been an act of necessity.”
The fact that our Lord rose up from the table, ver. 4, shows that He assumed the place of others whose business it was to wash the feet, but who had pretermitted it. If He had had the independent design to wash the feet of His disciples. He would not have seated Himself at the table. And the act itself leads to the same conclusion. His washing their feet would have had, viewed apart from some specific occasion for it, a far-fetched and romantic character; and the objection which Weisse, for instance, urges against it as a “tasteless humiliation” (he remarks that he could find no edification in it, as it would have to every unbiassed feeling a touch of theatrical design in it), would, on such a supposition, be not altogether unfounded. Ewald remarks, on that theory: “A strange thought was seen suddenly to take possession of Christ’s soul;” and Lücke observes: “Here all was unusual; the Master of the house performs the act Himself, and by performing it interrupts the supper.” We cannot but see the confusion of all these observations; and that, by renouncing any specific reason for the Lord’s act, they lose the only key to its interpretation. By recognising the, as it were, accidental occasion of the feet-washing, we get rid of the notion that Jesus apparently prescribed a rite to be observed in all times; and we are then justified in distinguishing between, the eternally valid principle of the feet-washing, and the form of its expression as influenced by passing circumstances. If we ignore the fortuitous origin of the act, we can hardly refute the argument of Weisse, that as the symbolical rite never became a sacred usage of the early Church, the historical truth of the narrative may be impeached.
Finally, the assumption of a special reason for the act is strengthened by the urgent manner in which our Lord requires of His disciples that they wash one another’s feet. It is obvious to infer that He exhorted them to perform in future, after His example, the service that they had just neglected. So also the emphatic exhortations to brotherly love, vers. 34, 35, shine out in brighter light when we consider that the Apostles had recently incurred the blame of neglect in that particular.
So far we draw our materials from John himself. But our view is enlarged if we compare the nearest predecessor of John among the Evangelists, Luke, with whom he everywhere has more contact than with any other. He relates, in ch. Luke 22:7-23, the events of “the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed,” in chronological order, and in harmony with his two predecessors. Then, in the manner with which in him we are familiar, he adds a supplement not chronologically connected with what precedes, vers. 24-38. There he narrates a contest that took place among the disciples as to who of them should be greatest, and the words which our Lord addressed to them in consequence. But we cannot imagine this contention to have occurred after the beginning of the supper: such a supposition would be utterly inconsistent with the solemn tone in which Jesus commenced the feast. But neither can we imagine it before the commencement of the feast, at a time so full of solemnity, unless we suppose that some circumstances surprised them into it, that something in the state of matters gave direct occasion for the contest. That occasion we must not seek in the selection of places at the table (Lichtenstein); it must rather be sought in the fact that a service was expected by some which was not rendered. This will appear evident from the exhortation of ver. 26, which refers to this contention: “He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.” We infer from this that the greater among the Apostles, those who were by the Lord distinguished above the rest, and were the appointed “pillars,” with Peter at their head, had expected from the lesser Apostles a service which these had not rendered. The words of Jesus, ver. 27, show that that service was no other than the washing of the feet: “For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.” These words of Luke stand in undeniable connection with ver. 4, where Jesus assumes the garment of a servant, in order to wash the disciples’ feet. If the serving of Jesus, which in Luke is exhibited as the corrective of the disciples’ reluctance to serve,—a reluctance which gave occasion for the contest,—was actually this washing of the feet, the disciples’ refusal to serve must have been no other than their having declined to wash each other’s feet.
The matter then stands thus. Jesus had seated Himself at the table, and probably Peter enjoyed the honour of washing His feet. After this was done, he, with the other disciples interioris admissionis, also sate at the table, expecting that the “younger” would spontaneously assume the function of feet-washers for all the rest. But pride evoked pride. The younger Apostles, following a quick impulse, seated themselves also at the table. Thus a situation of deep embarrassment was the result: murmuring and contest. Who would be the first to rise up again? Jesus put an end to the embarrassment, by arising from the supper and washing the feet of His disciples. How much sorrow was caused by this fatal contention in the circle of the disciples, is shown by the fact that Matthew and Mark pass over it altogether, while Luke and John touch it only by way of hint.
If our Lord’s washing occurred immediately before the beginning of the last paschal meal, John is in perfect harmony with the other Evangelists. Such a harmony every one must certainly expect who only remembers and carefully considers the general relation in which John stands to his predecessors. He also will be incapable of doubting that in John the last supper and the Lord’s death must fall within the paschal feast. This is the goal to which all that precedes tends. Jesus always withdrew from His enemies until the Passover was come; He goes up to the capital when the feast draws nigh, entering it on the day when the lambs were set apart. Ch. John 19:36 points the same way, where Christ appears as the antitype of the paschal lamb.
Vers. 2, 3, 4. “And supper being ended, (the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,) Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself.”—Καὶ? δείπνου γινομένου in ver. 2 means literally, “And the meal being about to begin.” Καί announces the further development of what was given in epitome in ver. 1. The meal needed no more exact definition, as, according to the connection with ver. 1, it could only be understood as that which the other three Evangelists had made familiar, and which opened the paschal feast. Tob_2:1 is similar: “In the feast of Pentecost there was a good dinner prepared me, in the which I sat down to eat.” There a good meal is spoken of quite indefinitely; but the connection shows that the chief meal of the feast is meant. The passage is also further analogous, inasmuch as the ἐ?γενήθη ἄ?ριστον there also indicates the meal by its material preparation. It follows in ver. 4: “Then, before I had tasted of any meat, I started up.” In harmony with this parallel passage, Heumann paraphrases our text: “When the last supper was provided for, and stood ready on the table.” In ch. John 21:20, the article secures to the feast its definite character, just as here the relation to ver. 1 does: τὸ? δεῖ?πνον , the generally known and celebrated meal.
The scope of the remark that Satan had already put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus, must first be interpreted by the epitome of ver. 1, and then by the words of ver. 3. Vers. 2 and 3 serve for the development of the words of the epitome, εἰ?δὼ?ς—πατέρα . Accordingly, the already determined treachery of Judas is here referred to only as involving the near approach of the death of Jesus, and, as connected with it. His approaching departure to the glory of the Father. That Jesus, in the prospect of that glory, abased Himself so deeply, and assumed, as never before, the form of a servant, showed the energy of His love to His own. Vers. 31, 32 also support this view. There the betrayal of Judas appears as no other than the prelude of the glorification of Christ. If, in interpreting the words, “the devil having now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot,” we omit to connect them with the first and third verses, we are left to mere conjectures, and the result must be a wide variety of opinions. But, dealing with them as above, vers. 1-3 present much simplicity and transparency of thought. The Apostle gives the utmost prominence to the circumstance that the demonstration of Christ’s love derived its deepest significance from its having been exhibited at the end, at the period when His glory was about to attain its consummation, in which it might have been supposed that thoughts of greatness would leave no room for any other. A secret Kyrie eleeson is always, however, the undertone. While the Apostle so strongly illustrates the humble love of Christ, he at the same time mourns over the proud φιλονεικία of himself and his brother-disciples, whose darkness was only shone upon by the clear brightness of Christ’s example. That is the proper key to the striking accumulation of the expressions.
That Satan at that time had already put it into the heart of Judas to betray his Master, was an internal fact of which the Searcher of hearts alone could be cognizant. But, inasmuch as it here enters as an historical element, it is to be taken for granted that the internal fact had already assumed an external form, and become known to man. Now, the other Evangelists expressly record this to have been the case; they prove that Judas had already concluded his compact with the high priests. Matthew 26:14-16; Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:3-6. John would have appealed to these passages, had the question been put to him, How knowest thou this? It is plain that he had in view the passage of Luke, his immediate predecessor, for there also the trafficking of Judas with the chief priests is referred to Satan. The narrative in Luke begins with the words, “Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve,” words to which John, in ver. 27, also expressly alludes. He reserves, however, the very strong expression used there for the last stage.
According to Revelation 17:17, it might have been stated that God put it into his heart. Satan everywhere serves only as the instrument of the plans of God. What Judas did, like all the works of the ungodly, stood under the secret direction of the Supreme. The sin belonged to himself. Since he would not separate from it, and be converted, in spite of all the means freely vouchsafed to him, he was compelled to be the involuntary instrument of the plans of Satan first, and then of God, whose servant even Satan is; and when he had done this, he was to be thrown away, and go to his own place. As his personal definition, to distinguish the traitor from the other Judas among the Apostles, Σίμωνος was enough. The Ἰ?σκαριώτου was added only to stamp the traitor with infamy: comp. on ch. John 6:71, John 12:4.
On ver. 3 Heumann observes: “This must not be viewed as if John repeated in ver. 3 his first εἰ?δώς in ver. 1, ‘although He knew.’” His amazement at this act of Jesus constrained him to say again what he had said already, and thus to excite the attention of his readers: “I say it once more, that He, knowing that His Father had made Him Lord of all lords, and that He was about to enter heaven in full triumph, nevertheless humbled Himself so much as to wash the feet of His disciples.” The δέδωκε , “gave,” is used by anticipation; the brief space of time which elapsed between the present and the bestowment of His power is ignored: compare the “will straightway glorify Him,” ver. 32. That the πάντα , “all things,” is to be taken in its full comprehensiveness, is evident from Matthew 28:18, “all power is given unto Me in heaven and upon earth:” comp. Hebrews 2:8.
The consciousness of Jesus, that He had come forth from God, must have been pre-eminently vivid at the time when His return to God, and to the glory which He had with Him before the world was, immediately approached.
He laid aside His garments, ver. 4,—so far, that is, as they were an hindrance to the act He was about to perform. This, of course, applied only to the outer garment. That Jesus girded Himself with the napkin, is evident from ver. 5. That was specifically the equipment or habitus of a servant. In Luke 17:8, we read of a servant to whom his lord says, “Gird thyself, and wait upon me.” That our Lord so formally prepared Himself for the act, not only had reference to the end He proposed, but served also to realize vividly before our eyes the depth of His humiliation. The matter might have been accomplished without all this formal preparation. But then the humiliation of the disciples would have been less profound, and the admonition less penetrating. Only on the consideration we have mentioned can the careful detail of the Apostle’s description be understood.
Vers. 5, 6. “After that He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. Then cometh He to Simon Peter: and Peter said unto Him, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?”—“He began” points to the circumstance that the act had to be performed over a wide circle. The ἔ?ρχεται οὖ?ν , in its reference to ver. 5, suggests that Jesus began with Peter; which has been denied only in the interests of a narrow and petty opposition to the Roman Church. Ver. 5 says in general, that Jesus began to wash the disciples’ feet. Ver. 6 adds with whom He began; and the οὖ?ν is specifically connected with the ἤ?ρξατο : thus He came, or thus beginning He came. It is probable, on other grounds, that our Lord began with Simon Peter. The order of precedence among the Apostles, in which Peter always had the first place (comp. Matthew 16:18), could hardly, on such an occasion as this, have been ignored by Christ. And that would have been all the less appropriate, inasmuch as Peter had doubtless assumed the first place in the contention. When Christ commenced the feet-washing with him, it was all the more keen a humiliation of his aspiring natural man. Even the protest of Peter leads to the conclusion that Jesus commenced with him. Every other disciple would doubtless have protested in the same way; and if, through modesty, one or other had kept silence, the impetuous Peter would doubtless have in some way interposed. As the Lord had placed him at the head of the Apostles, he had, in a certain sense, a right to be their representative. But in that case the explanation which ensued between Jesus and Peter would have taken place before; we can understand it, as it lies before us, only on the supposition that Peter began the series. “But,” observes Heumann, “as the Lord commanded the first to let it be so, the others kept silence when their turn came; however astonished, they nevertheless submitted obediently to receive the service which the Lord performed.”
Peter was not wrong in resenting the Lord’s humiliation in washing his feet. So long as he did not recognise the symbolical significance of this action, it must have seemed to him altogether abnormal and unaccountable; and even if he had come to the full consciousness of his own guilt and obligation, it must have seemed to him a too severe punishment that the Lord should dedicate Himself to so degrading a service. But any such symbolical meaning he would not, and could not, assume on his own suggestion. The Lord Himself must declare it. When He had done so, Simon Peter’s opposition was withdrawn. All is here correct enough; and the censure which the expositors are generally disposed to cast upon Peter has no foundation.
Ver. 7. “Jesus answered and said unto him. What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”
Jesus intimates that there was a mystery in the matter. “Hereafter;” some light came to Peter through the following explanation of our Lord. Yet that was not sufficient. He did not thoroughly understand it until his fall had taught him to know the depth of his sinfulness, and to see how needful it was that he should be washed of Christ; until, in fact, he obtained through the Holy Spirit, whose outpouring depended on the glorification of Christ, the deepest insight into his own misery and Christ’s abundant benefit.
Ver. 8. “Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.”
Peter continues to protest. The Lord’s allusion to the fact of a mystery was not sufficient to overcome his opposition. In order to that, he must at least have some elementary knowledge of what the mystery was. And that knowledge the Lord now gives him by His answer. The bodily washing was a type of the spiritual washing away of the defilement of sin. This alone saved it from being unnatural and unworthy of Christ, and made it for the Apostles no longer a piercing rebuke, but actually an evidence of the supreme love of their Lord. Jesus, whose name signifies that He would save His people from their sins, is only then truly in His element. Both things must concur in our estimate of the reason for the act: reference to the Apostles’ omission of the service to each other, and this spiritual meaning. The latter justifies the act in its real signification, the former justifies its form.
That the washing must be understood in its spiritual sense, which the Israelites were prepared for by the Levitical washings—these having regarded external impurity as the figure of sin, so that the purifications were symbolical acts that typified what must take place on sin—is plain from the circumstance that nothing more is said about washing the feet, but only of washing generally; as also from the result that is said to follow from the not being washed by Christ. To have no part in Him means to have nothing to do with Him, to be excluded from all communion with Him: Joshua 22:24-25; 2 Samuel 20:1; 1 Kings 12:16; 2 Corinthians 6:15. Entire exclusion from the fellowship of Christ can befall only those who refuse to seek for spiritual cleansing from Him. With this agrees the undeniable reference to Psalms 51:4, which the saying of our Lord contains. David there prays to God: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” When Jesus arrogates to Himself what is there supplicated from God, He assumes to Himself a Divine dignity. That passage in the Psalm teaches us also that the washing here refers directly to the bestowment of forgiveness (νίπτειν is equivalent to ἀ?φιέναι ἁ?μαρτίας , Mark 2:10, Matthew 9:6, which the Pharisees rightly regarded as arrogating a Divine prerogative), and not primarily to sanctification. Ver. 9 gives us the comment on ver. 4 of the Psalm: the blotting out of iniquity corresponds to the washing. “In the preliminary petitions, vers. 3, 4, 5, the subject is the main and prominent blessing in the forgiveness of sins. And the unfolded supplications are occupied primarily only with this, vers. 9-11. Then in vers. 12-14 the Psalm turns to the second gift, which necessarily follows from the communication of the first, the impartation of the sanctifying grace of God.” But though the washing has primarily nothing to do with sanctification, yet Jesus, when He arrogates to Himself the power to forgive sins, indirectly assumes also the power of creating a pure heart; for He by the former places Himself in the province of God, with whom the commencement in justification is, according to Psalms 51, inseparably connected with the termination in holiness.
The word about washing must have found an immediate response in Peter, who, in Luke 5:8, cries, “I am a sinful man, O Lord.” The law of Moses has such a severe word as this ( Numbers 19:20): “But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation.” As certainly as Christ is the thrice Holy One, so certainly the man born and bound in sin remains separated from Him by a wide gulf, unless He should fill up the great gulf by the forgiveness of sins. When here the being washed by Christ is made the fundamental condition of all fellowship with Him, we are thereby assured that the knowledge of sin, and the desire to be washed from it by Christ, are the first principles of all Christianity. “Whatever purity a man may flatter himself that he has,” says Quesnel, “unless Jesus purifies us, we are unworthy of His fellowship, of the communion of His body, and of the glory of His new life.” That the basis of the doctrine of the water of forgiveness is the blood of the atonement, we learn from ch. John 19:34-35; 1 John 5:6. The forgiveness, therefore, which Jesus imparted during the continuance of His earthly life, must have had an anticipative character.
Ver. 9. “Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”
We must supply: If the matter is so, then wash, etc. Peter had but recently, in the contention, found how mighty sin was still in him. It was natural that he should lose all consciousness of what he already possessed through the grace of his Master, and that he should come to Christ as one who generally had not yet been washed from his sins, 1 Corinthians 6:11. Therefore Jesus must remind him of the condition of grace in which he stood.
Vers. 10, 11. “Jesus saith to him. He that is washed needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For He knew who should betray Him; therefore said He, Ye are not all clean.”
Jesus had already transferred the matter into the spiritual domain. “He that is washed” must mean only “He that is washed in a spiritual sense.” First comes the universal proposition, and then the specific application of it to the disciples.
Purity appears here as the consequence of the washing; and as, according to ver. 8, the bestowment of forgiveness of sins was signified by that washing, so purity must consist in the possession of forgiveness. How had the Apostles become clean? According to ch. John 3:5, and the other passages of the New Testament which we have there alluded to, the basis of that blessing was baptism. But this, in their case, required supplementing, inasmuch as it was the baptism of John, which could only imperfectly attain its end by assuring the future forgiveness of sins ( Mark 1:4). This supplement the Apostles attained through their relation to Christ: comp. ch. John 15:3. They were led thereby to repentance and faith; and their faith led to forgiveness of sins, Acts 10:43, and the purification of the heart that rests upon forgiveness, Acts 15:9. In consequence of their faith, the Son of man, who had upon earth the right to forgive sins, absolved them from their sins: because they were believers in Him, they became righteous in Him. They could say with David, “Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
To the washing of the feet, ever coming into contact with the dust and soil of earth, corresponds in the spiritual domain the forgiveness of sins to which the man in a state of grace is liable, from the fact that he, by nature a sinner, dwells among a people of unclean lips—such sins as result from the mere daily walk in a corrupted world. The Apostles were men of sincere heart; they hated sin as those who had obtained forgiveness; and when, in their own despite, and to their deep sorrow, they were surprised into it, they had an intercessor with the Father, Jesus Christ, 1 John 2:1, who, if we confess our sins, as Peter confessed them here, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanses us from our unrighteousness, 1 John 1:9. —“But not all” was intended to pierce the conscience of Judas, whom the Redeemer did not give up until the last good impulse had died within him. Jesus must exhaust all the means of love and discipline, however plain it was that through the guilt of his obduration all would be in vain. Therefore He washed his feet also, for a sign that He still stood ready to wash even him spiritually from his unrighteousness. But the word was not spoken for Judas alone. In common with the later sayings of our Lord concerning the traitor, it serves to obviate the natural suspicion that Jesus, without observing it, had nourished a viper in His bosom,—a fact that would have been an argument against His true divinity. The clearly discerned and plainly foreannounced treachery weighed nothing against, but rather in favour of, the claims of Jesus as the Son of God: comp. ver. 19. Jesus thereby declared that He possessed the Divine prerogative of searching the heart and the reins. The Evangelist himself makes this emphatic in ver. 11.
Ver. 12. “So, after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was set down again. He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?”
This question demanded that they should reflect on the whole transaction; and in order to lead them to this after consideration, Jesus sets before them in full what the matter had to do with them, and what His design had been.
Vers. 12-17. Our Lord’s feet-washing presents a twofold aspect. It was, on the one hand, an act of ministering love, which had for its object the performance of that literal bodily washing which the pride of the disciples had left unaccomplished. On the other hand, the feet-washing symbolized the forgiveness of sins assured through Christ. When our Lord went on to impress it upon the Apostles that they should copy the example given by Himself, that must of course be interpreted only of the former of these elements. The latter—the washing of forgiveness—was peculiar to Christ. It rested on His divinity. No one man can spiritually wash another. Admonitory appeals, and attentive watchfulness over others’ sins, have nothing to do with this washing; moreover, the danger incident to this is so great, Matthew 7:3, that we cannot suppose it to have been recommended and made a duty in so absolute a manner. It was all the more obvious that the former—the setting an example of brotherly service—was the true interpretation, inasmuch as our Lord’s act was occasioned, in its formal aspect, by the Apostles’ own deficiency, and was really intended to have the significance of a pattern. Beza remarks, that by God’s grace it had been given to the Apostles to respond in their conduct to the Lord’s present requirement: this is attested by the Acts of the Apostles, in which there is no trace of the contentions that were formerly so rife, and also by their epistles.
The nominative is not used instead of the vocative: but φωνεῖ?ν signifies to name. When the Apostles spoke of Christ, they were wont to say: The Master said this, the Lord did this. The article must be emphasized. The Master and the Lord simply: here we are carried beyond the mere human nature. Absolute dominion over others in spiritual things would be a sinful claim, unless made by one who partook of the Divine nature.
Vers. 14, 15. “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.”
The washing is here to be taken in its literal sense. A spiritual meaning has no foundation; and it is obviated by reference to the disciples’ omission of the material washing, as well as by the Lord’s own present act. That which they had now omitted they must do in the future, moved by the example of Christ. That there are circumstances under which it is a duty literally to wash others’ feet, is plain from 1 Timothy 5:10. Among the disciples themselves there might arise occasions for it. But the commandment must be understood with a certain reserve. Beneath the specific injunction there lies the universal precept which it symbolically exhibited—the precept of self-sacrificing love, to which no service is too mean. The form of the expression given to this precept is taken from the act then performed. If this is acknowledged, it will appear plain that the literal fulfilment does not by any means satisfy the injunction; indeed, that the literal fulfilment might be under certain circumstances a violation of the precept. The literal feet-washing is by it enjoined upon them only as a ministry of love. But that it is now as it were only in the relation of the woman to the man. Gomarus has well observed, that in our part of the world it is not so much the feet as the shoes that require the cleaning. The washing of the feet would be among us a burden: it presupposes the Oriental manner of clothing the feet, and the propriety that resulted from it. Where the feet are among the covered parts of the body, decency demands that they should not be uncovered before strangers. As a symbolical act, and as an exemplification of ministering love, the washing of the feet is not inadmissible. But it is not here commanded. There is something strange and forced in such an injunction. The ancient Church was rightly advised, and followed a sure instinct, in giving it up. .
Ver. 16. “Verily, verily, I say unto you. The servant is not greater than his Lord; neither he that is sent greater than He that sent him.”
The name Apostle (he that is sent) Jesus confers in Luke 6:13 upon His twelve disciples. From the fact that the Lord uses that name, we gather that the phrase, general in its form, is used with a special reference to the disciples.
The doing is emphasized by the Lord in a manner similar to this in Matthew 7:21; Luke 6:46; Luke 12:47.
In vers. 18, 19, the Lord obviates the danger of their referring what was said for the Apostles alone, to the traitor found amongst them.
Ver. 18. “I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chosen: but, that the Scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against Me.”
I speak not of you all: this points to that which, in ver. 10, Jesus had said concerning the Apostles’ state of grace, and to the exhortation of vers. 13-17 based upon it. Vainly has it been attempted to place in opposition things immediately connected together. Only those who in essentials are pure, can mutually wash each other’s feet.
The choosing spoken of here cannot be any other than that spoken of in ch. John 6:70, “Have I not chosen you twelve?” and there is in fact no reason to understand the choosing otherwise than as the reception into the number of the Apostles. Grotius paraphrases: Non de omnibus bene spero. Novi intime eos, quos mihi in comites elegi. The knowing is opposed to the partial not knowing which might seem to be inferred from the treachery of Judas: comp. ch. John 6:64 and ver. 11 here.—“I know whom I have chosen” involves that Jesus had not received the traitor among His Apostles through ignorance. With this negative is connected the positive, “but (I have chosen him) that,” etc.: comp. ch. John 9:3; “but (he was born blind) that.” Jesus chose Judas that he might betray Him, and that thus the Scripture might be fulfilled, according to which such a man belonged to the necessary surrounding of the Redeemer. Had our Lord not chosen Judas, the nature of the world, as it has been exhibited in the scripture quoted, would have been imperfectly represented in the apostolical circle; and this again would have been an unfaithful type of the Church in its later development. Judas belongs to the apostolical circle no less than Peter and John. We should miss something essential if there had been no Judas among the Apostles. We might, following Matthew 26:56, Mark 14:49, John 19:36, supplement τοῦ?το γέγονεν . That would only come to the same thing. The τοῦ?το γέγονεν would refer to the fact of the choice of Judas by Christ.
The passage quoted is from Psalms 41. The subject of that Psalm is the suffering Righteous One, not specially David. That which is there said of him must pre-eminently be fulfilled in Christ, in whom the idea of the Righteous One became a reality. When, then, after the wickedness of the open enemies has been depicted, we read in ver. 10, “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me”—like a beast which strikes out against its master and feeder—there is at the foundation the general truth, that in the world of sin the righteous man cannot but have false friends; and this truth must have its realization in Christ. The quotation is according to the original text. The Septuagint has: ὁ? ἐ?σθίων ἄ?ρτους μου , ἐ?μεγάλυνεν ἐ?π̓? ἐ?μὲ? πτερνισμόν . That Christ did not regard the passage as directly Messianic, is plain from the fact that He omits “in whom I trusted,” which would not have been appropriate to Him who knew what was in man. That the μετ ἐ?μοῦ? , does not merely denote the fellowship of eating, but the eating with Christ as the host, is evident from the original, where the words run, “who eateth My bread.” From the relation in which Judas stood to Christ, he was, like all the Apostles, nourished by Christ: comp. ch. John 12:6, and Matthew 26:17, where the Apostles ask, “Where shall we provide Thee the Passover?” (Bengel: Jesus est ut pater familias inter discipulorum familiam); and finally from ver. 26.
Ver. 19. “Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.”— Ἀ?πάρτι from this time onwards (instead of the ἀ?πάρτι , Matthew 26:64, Luke has, ch. Luke 22:69, ἀ?πὸ? τοῦ? νῦ?ν ), points to the fact that Jesus would still recur often to the same subject. Some interpret “just now, now at once.” But New Testament phraseology furnishes no certain example of this interpretation (comp. ch. John 1:51); and we have no reason for departing from the ordinary meaning, as our Lord does often return to the subject of the betrayal.
The foreannouncement of it not only obviates an obvious argument against Jesus; in connection with that foreannouncement, the betrayal becomes a positive argument in His favour.—“That I am;” that is, the absolute, the central personality: comp. on ch. John 8:24. For to that alone does it belong to try the heart and the reins, and to know the hidden before it is evolved in act. At the basis lie those passages of Isaiah, in which Jehovah proves His true divinity by His prediction of the future, such as ch. Isaiah 43:11-13.
Ver. 20. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me.”
Jesus had given to His disciples the pattern of self-humiliation, and had pressingly urged them to follow that example. The expression here is directly connected with this. Vers. 18, 19 in reality bear a parenthetical character. Its position at the close of the whole transaction requires us to assume that the Lord here returns to the act from which all had started, which had been the central subject, and with which all thus closes; and that He, glancing at the treachery of Judas, would fortify the other disciples in their fidelity by a reference to the dignity of their vocation. There is no evidence whatever that the treachery of Judas would have been a temptation to the remainder of the Apostles. The son of perdition they looked upon only with amazement and grief. That the Apostles might not mistake the real dignity of their vocation, in consequence of His exhortations to humility, Christ here at the conclusion points expressly to that dignity with designed allusion to an earlier utterance, Matthew 10:40 (comp. Mark 9:37; Luke 10:16), the continued validity of which seemed to be endangered by those words of exhortation. It is to this seeming danger that the “Verily, verily, I say unto you,” with its express assurance, refers. Berl. Bible: “This is said for consolation to those who must have received a severe lesson before.” But we must not limit ourselves to the notion that Christ here exhibits the other side, in order to obviate misunderstanding of the lesson of humility. The two views are not placed in juxtaposition; but the consciousness of the dignity of their vocation must rather bring with it a willingness to humble themselves. He who is penetrated with the conviction that he is in the enjoyment of a divine mission, will not be ready to contend about the trivial honours of this world; he will freely surrender them to him whose worldliness of spirit finds nothing better to desire. True spiritual pre-eminence puts an end to all common ambition, and has below its feet all such questions as, whether one should wash the feet of others, or be washed. To contend about such pitiable matters is below its dignity. The Lord’s word here stands in close connection with Luke 22:28-30, and finds there its commentary. Jesus, after He had commended the humble service of love and self-enunciation to His disciples by word and example (the feet-washing), now refers them to the dignity of their vocation, and shows them that they are called to high honour. That remained, notwithstanding their obligation to self-abasement; indeed, it rendered them all the more disposed to such humility. For all honour which the world could offer, would be in comparison only contemptible.
Lampe observes on “whom I shall send:” “Christ, although preparing Himself to suffer, nevertheless foresees His dignity as King of the Church; and as such He will have His legates, whom He will send.” The Apostles were only the first in the great company. We have here the basis of the designation of ministers in the Apocalypse, as the angels of the Church. The principle from above is here as expressly as possible declared in relation to office in the Church. Lampe, the Reformed theologian, remarks: “The servants of God in the congregation of the Old Testament, as well the extraordinary like the prophets, as the ordinary like the priests, were regarded as sent of God. The same expression was transferred to the ministers of the New Testament, as well the extraordinary, the most eminent of whom were therefore called Apostles, as the ordinary, Romans 10:15, who therefore were called angels, Revelation 2, 3. The ἐ?άν τινα πέμψω is intentionally general, in order to intimate that the sending of Christ would not be restricted to the Apostles.”
Ver. 21. “When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said. Verily, verily, I say unto you, That one of you shall betray Me.”
The testifying (comp. on ch. John 1:7, John 3:11) is the opposite of speaking from mere supposition: it here declares what Christ utters was founded upon fact, and rested upon direct intuition. This, in connection with such events as we have here, lies beyond the human domain: Christ’s possessing it was based upon His participation in the divine omniscience. The testifying has its counterpart in the “Verily, verily,” of our Lord’s discourse; intimating that He did not speak in the language of supposition, but of certain knowledge. That Jesus spoke only of one among the twelve, had probably for its reason the prevention of the excitement which the mention of his name would have raised among the Apostles, and of the premature departure of the traitor, who must needs partake of the holy supper. At the same time, all the others were thereby stimulated to a salutary self-examination.
The feet-washing is now followed by our Lord’s discourse concerning His betrayer. The ταῦ?τα εἰ?πών at the beginning places this in immediate juxtaposition with the address which Jesus had delivered to His disciples after the washing was finished, and Jesus had resumed His seat at the table. Matthew and Mark coincide upon this. According to Matthew 26:21, Mark 14:18, Jesus uttered the words, “Verily I say unto you, One of you will betray Me,” immediately after He had placed Himself at the table with the twelve, and the supper had begun. Matthew and Mark point not indistinctly to the fact, that our Lord’s words concerning the traitor were closely connected with the commencement of the feast; Mark especially, who to the εἷ?ς ἐ?ξ ὑ?μῶ?ν appends ὁ? ἐ?σθίων μετʼ? ἐ?μοῦ? . Ver. 18 in John shows what that connection was. “He that eateth my bread,” in the Psalm, was, as it were, realized in act at the beginning of the meal. Such a special occasion is demanded for the “troubled in spirit,” ver. 21. Luke omits the colloquy touching the traitor, and, instead of it, inserts another omitted by his predecessors, and which belonged to the end of the feast. We have already observed that, after the ἀ?πάρτι in ver. 19, a series of our Lord’s utterances concerning the traitor was to be expected. There was a particular reason for that one which Luke records. It was to occasion the departure of the traitor, who, although he must be present at the institution of the supper, would have been altogether out of place during the subsequent outpourings of our Lord. That the words concerning the traitor in Luke closely resemble the earlier ones, is quite natural, as it is a designed repetition for a particular purpose. In the Old Testament we often find in such cases the echo-like recurrence of the same words: as may be observed, for example, in Psalms 42, 43. But Luke’s words are too closely connected with what Jesus had uttered at the supper, to allow us to suppose that he arbitrarily inserted them. Not only the πλὴ?ν ἰ?δοὺ? comes here into consideration,—which, in spite of all that Wichelhaus says, cannot be regarded as an appendage of Luke, without throwing some suspicion upon his genuineness,—but also the τοῦ? παραδιδόντος με in its undeniable reference to the τὸ? ὑ?πὲ?ρ ὑ?μῶ?ν διδόμενον . That what is recorded by Luke in ver. 23 does not harmonize with the period after the institution of the supper, is an assertion which could be made only by those who take an incorrect view of the previous transactions concerning the traitor.
Ver. 22. “Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom He spake.”
They looked at each other, not so much to detect the traitor in any other face, as to see whether in others’ countenances they saw any suspicion of themselves. How weak is the flesh, how deceitful the heart, and how deeply had fallen many even of the believers of the Old Testament! This gives the point of connection for Matthew 26:22-24. The Lord’s word then, ver. 23, “He that dippeth his hand with Me in the dish, the same shall betray Me,” not only contains a more specific designation of the traitor, but, in its repeated reference to Psalms 41, gives prominence to the indignity, that one of His table-companions should betray his Lord. Mark makes this very emphatic in ch. Mark 14:20: “It is one of the twelve that dippeth with Me in the dish.” Here follows, from John 13:23-29, a scene peculiar to John, the communication of which was the reason that he made mention of the incident concerning the traitor. John 13:21-22 serve only as an introduction or point of connection with what the other Evangelists had already recorded, and which is here briefly resumed. That which John communicates in John 13:23-29 is, as it were, his own private property. He alone could have imparted from the first source, and therefore the Evangelists who preceded him left it unmentioned.
Ver. 23. “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.”
That the words “whom Jesus loved” occupy the place of a proper name (Heumann: “a title, a designation, by which John desired to be known”), appears from its being repeated often (ch. John 19:26, John 20:2, John 21:7; John 21:20), as well as from its being used in circumstances in which the love of Jesus is not under consideration. They are a paraphrase (as Bengel tells us) of the name of John, which signifies “him whom Jehovah loves.” In the love of Jesus, the Jehovah manifest in the flesh, the pious wish became fulfilled from which the denomination arose. Meyer objects that it ought in that case to have been, not “whom Jesus loved,” but “whom the Lord loved.” But John speaks of Jesus as the Lord only twice before His resurrection, ch. John 4:1, John 6:23. Jesus, on the other hand, is the standing name. That was the name which belonged to the Son of man, Jehovah manifest in the flesh. To have designated himself as pre-eminently the disciple whom Jesus loved, would have been presumption on John’s part (Grotius very incorrectly: Hac modesta circumlocution e se designare solet Johannes)—he would have shown himself a “babbler who on all occasions boasted that none of the other disciples were so highly esteemed as himself”—if this pre-eminence had not, like the primacy of Peter, rested upon some declaration of Christ Himself, and thus been removed out of the region of self-complacent fancy. Lampe’s remark, “That he was much beloved by Jesus, was the conclusion he drew from the strong love towards Jesus with which he felt his own heart filled,” is more specious than true. In all probability Jesus gave this declaration in the form of an interpretation of the name John, which even by this interpretation became a “new name.” This is confirmed by the fact that Jesus on other occasions stamped the spiritual character of His Apostles by the imposition of a second name: comp. on ch. John 6:71, John 11:16. Where the proper name itself only needed to be expounded, it was obvious to retain it, and to sanctify it by an interpretation given.
The place which John assumed at the table, on the bosom of Jesus (comp. on ch. John 1:18), was symbolically significant: it stood in close reference to his name; and thus rested doubtless on an appointment of Jesus.
Larape is wrong here: “The Papists will find it hard to justify the primacy of Peter; John takes here the first place, not only at the table, but also in the heart, of Christ.” Peter and John have each after his kind the first place in the apostolical circle; and both, inwardly bound to each other, were altogether without envy at each other’s preeminence. Peter, between whom and the Pope of Rome there is no solid bridge, so that there is not the least necessity for explaining away the pre-eminence which the Lord gave him, is placed at the head with reference to the energy of action. The profoundly internal John, with his depth of love, his inwardness and devotion, stands nearest to the heart of Jesus. We may say, that because the relation between John and Jesus took the form of a relation of love, and was so far partial in its character, he was not called to the primacy, however necessary love was to that primacy: comp. ch. John 21:15.
Ver. 24. “Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom He spake.”
The present νεύει is characteristic. The scene, which he himself witnessed, and with which he had particularly to do, is immediately before the Apostle’s eyes. That a mere beckoning was sufficient, implies a closer relation between John and Peter, such as is attested by many other passages: ch. John 20:2, John 21:7; Luke 5:10; Luke 22:8; Acts 3:4; Acts 8:14. Lachmann’s text reads: καὶ? λέγει αὐ?τῷ? εἰ?πὲ? τίς ἐ?στιν οὗ? λέγει . Here again we may learn a lesson of caution in relation to this text. The beckoning presupposes that Peter, in his position at the table, could not communicate with John by word. The λέγει comes into contradiction with this. The εἰ?πέ is unpleasantly ambiguous. The obvious view of it would be that John should speak of his own accord. Then arises the difficulty as to how John came to know, or how Peter could take it for granted that he knew. According to another view, the “say” is equivalent to “ask.” But then we should expect αὐ?τῷ? , and “say” in the meaning of “ask” is strange. The reading arose doubtless from the difficulty felt in appreciating the spiritual rapport between John and Peter, and in understanding how a request could be made by a mere nod.
Peter was not urged by curiosity. He, the man of action, who cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear, thought that there was something here also for him to do. That Jesus entered into his desire, served to answer the end indicated in ver. 19. According to this, Jesus could not end with “One of you shall betray Me;” He must before the betrayal mention the name of the traitor, although it was preliminarily left in the keeping of the disciple whom Jesus loved. He would, in committing it to John, commit it to the whole apostolical circle, to the collective Christian Church.
Ver. 25. “He then, lying on Jesus’ breast, saith unto Him, Lord, who is it?”—Ἐ?πιπεσών points to a certain violence in the act, a strong impulse of affection, which the disciple of love must have felt when the Lord said, “One of you will betray Me.” The reading of Lachmann’s text, ἀ?ναπεσών , sprang from an inconsiderate comparison with ver. 12 or ch. John 21:20, in which passages the word refers to the habitual place which John occupied at the supper, and not this particular act. The address Κύριε shows, that with John the tenderness of affection did not impair the awe of reverence.
Ver. 26. “Jesus answered. He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when He had dipped the sop. He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.”
Why did Jesus take this method? Not merely that He might be understood by John. If He could say softly the words ἐ?κεῖ?νός— ἐ?πιδώσω ), He might just as easily have softly pronounced the name. The purpose of our Lord was rather, by this intimation of the manner of the betrayal, to make more emphatic the horror and the abomination of that act. He thus realized in act the words of Psalms 41:10, “He that eateth my bread,” which He had quoted in ver. 18, and to which in ver. 21 He had referred. Outwardly viewed, that which Jesus did was an expression of paternal favour to Judas. The other disciples, observes Bengel, doubtless thought that Judas was fortunate beyond them. It need not be proved that this was not mere semblance; and nothing can be more foolish than to speak of it as a “cunning designation by an act which had the force of a token of friendship and goodwill.” Although the act had a complaining and condemnatory significance, it was doubtless, at the same time, a declaration that Jesus had not yet quite given up Judas, that He was still ready to receive him again into the fellowship of His love. He must and He would touch his heart once more, if haply he might yet be susceptible of better emotions. Besides John, to whom Jesus had previously given the commentary on the symbolical act, Judas also knew the meaning of the sign. His conscience gave him the interpretation, especially as Jesus had already alluded to that passage in the Psalm. In order, however, to be absolutely certain, he asked Jesus, according to Matthew 26:25, “Master, is it I?” and Jesus answered him, “Thou hast said.” This colloquy between Jesus and Judas must have proceeded softly, and so that no one perceived it except John, who had been already made acquainted with the secret, and thus was especially observant. This is on other accounts probable. Jesus could not have unmasked the traitor before all the Apostles without exciting the utmost commotion in their minds, and especially occasioning some premature explosion on the part of Peter. It is made necessary also by vers. 28, 29. That Jesus could exchange these words with Judas in private, renders it necessary to suppose that the latter sate near Him at the table. Probably Peter was first in the series on that side, and Judas ended it on the other; so that in one respect he was the nearest to the Lord, in another the most distant. This is supported by the fact that in all the catalogues Peter takes the first place and Judas the last: comp. Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-20.
The ψωμίον of itself points to bread. In later Greek, ψωμί was bread; and Suidas remarks, ψωμὸ?ς ὁ? ἄ?ρτος . That it was a morsel of bread, is plain also from the frequent reference to the passage in the Psalm, “He that eateth my bread.” We have here such an allusion to the paschal rite as forbids us to separate this feast from that of the Passover. In the paschal meal there was a sop called charoseth, made up of figs, nuts, and other fruits compounded with wine or vinegar. In this sop the householder dipped pieces of unleavened bread, and was followed in the act by the rest of the company. The sop was not a continuation into the paschal feast of a custom belonging to an ordinary meal; it belonged entirely to the paschal feast. It had a symbolical meaning. It represented the fruits of the blessed land to which the partaking of redemption gave them a right; just as in the law the benefits of nature were always conjoined with the grace of redemption. Matthew 26:23 refers to this dish. If we refer it to the common bread of the daily meal, there is no connection with that passage. There remains no material to be dipped into.
Ver. 27. “And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.”—Τότε serves to give prominence to the frightful crisis. The allusion, in the “Satan entered into him,” to Luke 22:3, is all the less doubtful, as this peculiar phraseology never again occurs in the same way, either in reference to Judas or for any other purpose. In Mark 5:12, Luke 8:32, it is used of bodily possession. There is an apparent opposition here, but it is only a formal one: it only intimates, that now first the word used by Luke reached its fullest truth. We ought not to say that Luke wrote “less exactly.” “There were two stages,” says Lampe, “of which it in a special manner held good that the devil entered the heart of the traitor: the first in the preparation for the betrayal, and the second in the accomplishment of it.” As the indwelling of Satan, so also the indwelling of God by His Spirit, has its several degrees; and as the phraseology is relative, it may be used of the several crises of possession. The only question is as to the point from which we take our departure. The basis of the expression used by Luke and John was the word which Jesus had used at an earlier period, ch. John 6:70: “Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”—an incarnate Satan.
Why did the final decision follow so close upon this sop? The colloquy recorded by Matthew between Jesus and the traitor is presupposed by John. It belonged to the sop, as a commentary upon it. The foundation of the entrance of Satan into the traitor was formed by the absolute assurance that he was detected. In the interest of his design he had overcome the shining evidences which Jesus had earlier given of His Godhead, otherwise the betrayal would be inconceivable: he who would betray the Son of God, must first be convinced that He is not the Son of God. The divinity of our Lord now suddenly shone out in the demonstration that He gave of His possessing the Divine prerogative of searching the heart and the reins. Not uttering a supposition, but with absolute assurance, Jesus says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, One of you shall betray Me.” The rays of Divinity now beam still more brightly upon Him. By sign and word the Lord says to him. Thou art he who eateth My bread, and betrayeth Me. Then should he have been pierced to the heart, as Achan was in Joshua 7; and all the more, as Jesus was at the same time attracting him, and declaring to him by this very sign that he was not yet struck out from the number of the twelve, and that there still remained space for his return. But he would not; and the vehement effort which he made to close his heart against heavenly influences, must at the same time have opened the door to the influences of hell: yea, he must have derived the very strength for that resistance from his union with those powers of evil. As it is said of David that he strengthened himself in his God, so Judas strengthened himself in Satan. This crisis decided his fate for all eternity.
The word, “What thou doest, do more quickly,” does not command Judas to do anything generally, but to do more quickly what he will do, and must. He shows thereby that He does not fear the act of Judas; that His impulse to suffer, and to finish the work which the Father had given Him to do, was stronger than the impulse which Satan had given to Judas; that His desire for the salvation of the world was more vehement than Judas’ desire for the reward of his sin. Judas sees himself by this word of Jesus profoundly degraded. He has not power over his Master, as he had imagined he would have, and soothed his vain thought thereby, like many others who follow in the footsteps of Judas; but his Master uses for His own purpose the designs of the traitor.
Vers. 28, 29. “Now no man at the table knew for what intent He spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him. Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor.”
This remark has so far actual circumstantial interest, as it shows what a thorough hypocrite Judas was, and how little the evidence of his treachery could be gained in a natural way. Even now the eyes of his fellow-disciples are not opened, so firmly had he closed all the issues of his heart, and watched over his words and looks. “No man knew” besides the disciple whom Jesus loved. This limitation is given by ver. 23. If the letter is pressed, Judas himself must be made unaware of it.
The supposition here referred to will appear “senseless and wild,” only if we inadequately depict to ourselves the situation, and sunder the meal here described from the paschal feast. “For the feast” is more fully explained by ch. John 13:1, which shows that only that part of the feast was meant which followed the opening of the Passover. Jesus had, in the anticipation of His passion and death, taken no care for the remainder of the feast. His disciples had doubtless been surprised at that; and it was all the more natural that they should refer the Lord’s present words to that fact, as the things needed would be required in the next morning. It has been asserted, that to buy in the night of the Passover would have been a violation of the enjoined rest of the feast. But at the feasts, when men were to rejoice before the Lord, they were less rigorous than at the Sabbath. The law itself, in Exodus 12:16, permitted on the first day of the feast the provision of food which was forbidden on the Sabbath. The immense multitudes of people in Jerusalem at the feast, and the wide variety of needs arising from it, caused doubtless a certain relaxation of rule after the great feast, in order that the remainder of the festival might be worthily cared for. In view of such pressing and decisive necessity, we may be sure that some resource must have been discovered for relief. “Necessity breaks law:” the Talmud gives express evidence as to how provision was made for buying during the feast, Tract. Sabbath, c. xxiii. 1. A difficulty arises only if we separate the meal in John from the paschal feast. In that case there would have been no urgency in the buying. Needless trouble has been raised as to the offices for buying and selling being open. The paschal feast certainly did not last elsewhere longer than that of the Apostles; and the sellers, who are always ready enough for gain, especially the Jewish, would not delay to open their stores.
Others thought that Jesus commanded Judas to give something to the poor: that is, for the same object, the procuring of provision for the further need of the feast. There were doubtless many whose slender resources were exhausted by the expenditure of the journey and the first part of the feast. It was the office of gratitude for the grace of redemption sealed in the Passover, to take charge of such as these. According to the prescription of the law, the people were to rejoice before the Lord in the great feasts, and to receive personae miserabiles into the fellowship of this joy, by hospitality and alms. Deuteronomy 16:14: “And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates:” comp. ver. 11, John 12:12. This injunction had, as we may take for granted, been observed by Jesus at the earlier feasts which He had attended; and that circumstance would render the supposition more natural. Quesnel: “The Redeemer sanctified the feast by mercy; and He teaches us that we should give more liberal alms on those days on which God more richly dispenses His gifts. That is only a righteous requital; but all the advantage is on our side.” But the supposition of the text was obvious only if the feast in John was the paschal feast: the distribution of alms at such an otherwise unseasonable time would be accounted for as a necessary appendage of the feast. Under ordinary circumstances, the time—it being night—was altogether inappropriate. But the paschal night was the most excited of the whole year—the only one which, in this regard, was equal to the day: comp. Isaiah 30:29. The supposition about Judas’ errand would have been, on any other night, “senseless and wild.”
Ver. 30. “He then, having received the sop, went immediately out; and it was night.”
Instead of εὐ?θέως ἐ?ξῆ?λθεν , Lachmann and Tischendorf have ἐ?ξῆ?λθεν εὐ?θύς , following preponderating witnesses. The ὅ?τε ἐ?ξῆ?λθε , which many add at the end of this verse, omitting it at the beginning of ver. 31, is essential to that verse, since it gives emphasis to the connection between the utterance of Jesus and the departure of Judas. In ver. 30, however, it is superfluous and disturbing. John connected the receiving of the sop with the departure of Judas, because there was a link of causation between them. The εὐ?θύς is pressed too far, if we draw from it the conclusion that he went out at that precise moment. The εὐ?θύς soon after, in ver. 32, teaches us that, as also that of ch. John 6:21. Such an instantaneous departure cannot be conceived; for by it Judas would have betrayed himself before all the other disciples. It would have been just the same as if one among ourselves should withdraw from the rank of communicants: indeed much more surprising, when we consider the legal strictness of the Old Testament. He could not have gone away before the most holy feast of the nation—the feast on which their participation in redemption depended—reached its conclusion in the song of praise. The external reasons which forbade this were reinforced by a special internal reason. Hypocrites, like Judas, are particularly scrupulous in the observance of religious usages. He would not assuredly act like an ordinary knave, who tramples on all restraints; that would have been out of harmony with his whole past life: he concealed his wickedness under the garment of devotion; and the thirty pieces of silver were a slight and accidental matter to him. He would have forsaken his part, and have acted in opposition to that delusion by which he soothed his conscience, had he wantonly broken through the sacredness of the festal circle. There are also other reasons which assure us that Judas was present at the institution of the sacrament. Luke 22:21-22, are of decisive import in relation to this. There, after the institution of the Supper, Jesus says: But, πλήν , behold, the hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me on the table. So also “they all drank of it,” Mark 14:23, after the mention of the Twelve just preceding, vers. 17, 20. Further, the passage in the Psalm, on which our Lord lays such decisive stress, “He that eateth My bread hath lifted up his heel against Me,” would not have had its complete fulfilment if Judas had not partaken of the holy meal. So also the symbolical character of this first supper must not be left unconsidered in respect of this: there must have been present some representative of those who should eat and drink unworthily, and to their own condemnation, 1 Corinthians 11:29. The matter, then, must be viewed thus: after the transaction touching the traitor, and the completion of the paschal feast, followed the institution of the sacrament, which required only a few moments: Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:17-20. When we consider the record given of this by the first three Evangelists, and the strictly corresponding account of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, we shall not need any further reason why John passed it over in silence. It was for him to supplement his predecessors; and they had already perfectly communicated these proceedings. After the institution of the sacrament, Jesus brought back the discourse to the traitor, Luke 22:21-22, in order to occasion his departure, whose presence during the confidential utterances that were to follow would have been disturbing. Judas’ going out followed after the psalm of praise had been sung, and consequently the official feast had ended. The intercourse of our Lord with His disciples now assumed a freer character; and Judas, the business agent of the society, could retire without exciting much attention, more especially as our Lord’s word, “What thou doest, do quickly,” furnished him with a cloak for his disguise.
The view we have taken is further supported by the consideration, that after ver. 30 we cannot find any room for the institution of the sacrament. Vers. 31-35 are most closely connected with the departure of Judas. Peter’s word, in ver. 36, “Lord, whither goest Thou?” refers to ver. 33, and allows no interval. With ch. John 14:1 we enter upon the last discourses of our Lord to His disciples, and we cannot imagine any interval during the utterance of them. In ch. John 13:36 we are, according to the other Evangelists, beyond the song of praise; but the holy supper must, from its express explanation as given by our Lord, and from the nature of the case, have preceded that psalm.
That Judas partook of the supper, may with perfect propriety be regarded as the ecclesiastical view. It is supported by the far greater number of the more important authorities among the Fathers, as well as in the middle ages. As to the opinion of the Lutheran Church, the remark of John Gerhard is very characteristic: qui aliter sentiat nemo mihi notus. Those who have differed have been led by two classes of motive: some based upon ecclesiastical discipline (held by many Reformed theologians), and some based upon sentimentality (held by most moderns, with Neander at their head). Wichelhaus has most fully exhausted the historical material. He argues against the participation of Judas, on the ground that the known character of such a transgression as Judas’ would necessarily exclude from the communion of the body and blood of Jesus. This is certainly not without force; but it is outweighed by another consideration still more important, namely, that the first supper had a symbolical significance, and was a prospective exhibition of the sacrament of all future times. Nothing more was absolutely necessary than the protest against him, and that was given with abundant force. Nor is it to be overlooked that the feet of Judas were washed with the rest. Now, if we press the argument of ecclesiastical discipline, the washing of his feet would be equally a stumblingblock. Signifying as it did the forgiveness of sins imparted by Christ, it would not seem to have been appropriate to Judas. But if we regard him as the type of those who, notwithstanding the proffer of the washing away of their sins by Christ, perish in their guilt, we find no further difficulty. Wichelhaus argues further: “According to Matthew, ch. Matthew 26:25, Jesus had designated Judas, before the collected disciples, as the traitor; consequently he could not have remained any longer; and it is impossible that a detected traitor should have partaken of the sacred supper with the other Apostles.” But all that he says about the “collected disciples” is an interpolation of his own. Matthew says nothing about it. All he thinks of is, that Jesus uttered the words, “Thou hast said.” That had to him an apologetic meaning. It was sufficient if only one among the Apostles besides Judas heard it. That Jesus spoke it before all, is in itself highly improbable; and John intimates the very contrary.
The remark, “It was night,” has no chronological importance. The whole festival was a night festival: comp. Exodus 12:8; Exodus 12:42, “This is that night of the Lord, to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.” It belonged to the domain of the moon, and not to that of the sun: comp. “in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast-day,” Psalms 81:4. It began בערב , after the light of the day had entirely departed. That had to do with the nature of the festival. The Lord arose upon His people in the night of their misery, as the Sun of their salvation. The night signified their Egyptian oppression, as the type of all oppression which the people of God should ever have to endure from the world.
Now, if the night mentioned in this verse had no chronological meaning, it had a symbolical one. What night meant from the moment when Judas went out—it existed, indeed, before his departure, but its full significance came out only with that—may be seen in what has been observed upon ch. John 9:4-5, John 11:9-10. In harmony with the symbolism of the paschal feast, the night signified the dark passion-season for Christ and His disciples, which really began with the vers. 31-38, departure of Judas.
Vers. 31, 32. “Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him.”
That ἐ?δοξάσθη , in ver. 31, refers to an actual fact that had already taken place, and not to an anticipated event (according to many the passion of Christ, which, however, is never viewed under the aspect of glorification; according to others. His state of exaltation), is shown by the εἰ? ἐ?δοξάσθη in ver. 32. The relation of the two verses to each other becomes entirely incomprehensible, if we do not perceive that in ver. 31 an accomplished fact is spoken of, and in ver. 32 the consequence that should be developed from that fact. The Son of man had been glorified through all that He had done while it was day, ch. John 9:4. With the departure of Judas, and the night that then and thereby set in, when no man could work, ch. John 9:4, John 11:10, John 13:30, His course was so far ended; and a new one began, which, however, was to be one in reality closely connected with the former. The glorification of the Father by the Son is now followed by the glorification of the Son by the Father.
To the glorification of the Son of man by His acts the ἐ?δόξασα of ch. John 12:28 also refers. To the δοξάσω there corresponds ver. 32 here. According to ch. John 11:4, the sickness of Lazarus had for its end, that the Son of God should be glorified. We have, in ch. John 17:4-5, simply a commentary on these two verses. Accordingly, the glorification of the Son of man was to consist only in the consummation of His work upon earth, in the acts by which He at the same time manifested His own glory and the glory of God: comp. on ch. John 2:11.
Wherever the Son of man is mentioned, the Son of God is in the background, according to the precedent of the original passage in Daniel: comp. on ch. John 1:51. The glorification brings the hidden background into the light.
That ἐ?ν αὐ?τῷ? signifies not by Him, but in Him, is shown by the corresponding ἐ?ν ἑ?αυτῷ? , ver. 32. Since the Son of man is the Son of God manifest in human form, the manifestation of God in the flesh, therefore God is, at the same time, glorified in Him: comp. on ch. John 11:4.
What was remarked upon ch. John 7:4 holds good in reference to the εἰ? in ver. 32. It is still more emphatic; and intimates that the one must, so to speak, draw the other after it by logical consequence. In 1 Samuel 2:30, “Them that honour Me I will honour,” we have the proposition on which the inferential “if” here rests. As the particular instance here rests upon the general principle there expressed, so again out of this particular may be constructed a general proposition, calculated to excite our zeal to make the glory of God the aim of all our endeavours upon earth. But there is for the disciples a still more direct and potent encouragement here. If Christ was to be received up into the glory of God, then would His disciples be safe; if the fulness of omnipotence was at His command, they need not tremble though the whole world were in arms against them. How the glory of Christ turned to the advantage of His followers, is developed in ch. John 14:12 seq.
The glorification assured by God to Christ began with the resurrection, and was consummated in His session at the right hand of the Father, with all the supreme prerogatives and glories connected therewith.—Ἐ?ν ἑ?αυτῷ? , in Himself, is stronger than παρὰ? σεαυτῷ? , with Thyself, in ch. John 17:5. The latter might have spoken of the n Arian Christ. Ἐ?ν ἑ?αυτῷ? leads to the equality with God in power and glory; intimates that the Son was to be received up into the sphere of the Father. In the Apocalypse, the Lamb in the midst of the throne, ch. John 7:17, corresponds to the ἐ?ν ἑ?αυτῷ? . As, during the earthly life of Christ, the relation of the Father to Him was not one of nearness and help merely, as God was manifested in Him, ver. 31, as the Father was in Him and He in the Father, ch. John 14:10-11; so also in glory we must conceive of no mere nearness, but Christ is to be received up into the Divine glory itself. The communion of nature which was declared in the earlier time, must have the latter as its consequence.—“And shall forthwith glorify Him:” immediately after death, not in some remote distance, allowing an interval during which the disciples might be left to themselves.
With the departure of Judas began the profound humiliation of Christ. It was beyond all things needful to strengthen the disciples against the temptation that would spring from His abasement. Jesus did this by intimating, in John 13:31-32, that suffering and abasement would be for Him only a short point of transition to supreme glory.
Ver. 33. “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.”
From the contemplation of His glory, Jesus again descends to His disciples. That which He here tells them, forms the foundation for the solemn exhortation of vers. 34, 35. He would, by allusion to the impending separation, render their minds tender and susceptible, that they might receive the exhortation, and shut it up in their heart. That which, when leaving them, He had so emphatically laid on their hearts as His last request, they would never dismiss from their thoughts.” This exhortation brings the holy supper to its conclusion. It began with uncharitable contention; it ends in the exhortation to love.
It was appropriate that our Lord, when He would exhort His disciples to love, should use the most affectionate address, τεκνία , never elsewhere occurring in all the Evangelists (τέκνα only once, Mark 10:24: comp. Matthew 9:2; Mark 2:5: comp. παιδία , ch. John 21:5), but which finds a kind of echo in the First Epistle of John. And it was all the more appropriate, as our Lord lays down as the foundation of His precept of love—as I have loved you.—“Ye shall seek Me:” especially in the times of trial and tribulation. This word, as parallel with what Jesus had spoken to the Jews (comp. John 7:33-34, John 8:21), points to the fact that even for the disciples, and for the faithful members of the Church, the ceasing of the bodily presence of Christ would be grievous and hard to be borne. Christ would be unapproachable to the Jews; and so He would be, in a certain sense, to His disciples, until they were received one by one into the heavenly glory, and He should return in visible form: comp. Acts 1:11. Assuredly, Jesus did not leave His disciples orphans; He came to them by the Paraclete; He is still and ever with them, present in the midst wherever two or three are gathered together in His name. But all this is not full compensation for His personal presence; does not hinder Christ from appearing as one who has gone away, ἀ?ποδημῶ?ν , Matthew 25:14; does not prevent His disciples from desiring, during the interval until His return, to see one of the days of the Son of man, Luke 17:22; and does not cause that, during this whole season, the fundamental tone of Christendom should not be sorrow. But it was profitable for them that it was so. Wrestling faith was thereby excited (comp. ch. John 20:29), and thus the best preparation secured for seeing Him in person.
Jesus says, “Yet a little while am I with you.” This is to be referred to the short space until His imprisonment. The intercourse of the risen Lord with His disciples was essentially different from all His former intercourse, and led the way to that entirely spiritual communion which began after the Lord’s ascension,
This is the only passage in which Jesus spoke to His disciples concerning the Jews. Elsewhere He uses the designation only in the conversation with the Samaritan woman, with Caiaphas, with Pilate. We have here the germ of the Johannaean phraseology: comp. on ch. John 1:19. Just here, after the institution of the sacrament of the new covenant, before the mention of the new commandment, and where there is a sharp distinction made between the disciples and the enemies of Jesus, the designation is quite in place. How carefully John distinguishes between his own words and the words of Jesus, may be gathered from the fact that the Jews are never mentioned save here, without the Evangelist himself coming forward in his own person to use the name.
Vers. 34, 35. “A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
It is an arbitrary and baseless notion, that the love of the disciples to each other is here supposed to be the compensation, as it were, for the bodily absence of Christ. We have already exhibited the right connection with ver. 33: that verse is the soil for the seed of the present ones. It would also be a mistake to make the new commandment here the New Testament first and great commandment, as Ebrard does: “That same single new commandment which the New Testament brings in as a necessary supplement “of the ten precepts of the Old Testament.” The first and great commandment is even in the New Testament the love of God. That brotherly love is made prominent here, had its reason in the contention which had preceded. Knapp rightly observes (De novo praecepto Christi) that there is here a silent condemnation of the disciples, who had been unfaithful in some degree to this obligation of love. What they had neglected, while Christ was with them, they were, after His departure, all the more diligently to observe. A comparison with the Lord’s saying in ver. 15, which has a manifest reference to the φιλονεικία of the disciples, shows that here also there is such a reference as the undertone.
The Old Testament foreannounced Christ as a new Lawgiver, Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 42:4. The difference between Christ and Moses in this domain appears in this, that Christ here comes forward independently as a Lawgiver, while Moses ordinarily referred back his laws to Jehovah, and represented himself to be only a mediator. In a certain sense, all the laws of the New Testament are old laws. The law of the Old Testament has eternal value, and belongs to the Church of the New Testament no less than to that of the old: comp. Matthew 5:17-20. In a certain sense, all the commandments of the New Testament are new. Even the first and chief commandment of the Old Testament, the precept of the love of God, shines forth in new brightness now that Christ has brought the Father near to us, and in the manifestation of His love laid the foundation for ours. It was to the disciples as if they had never received this precept before. Also the precept of brotherly love, the love of our neighbour, was in the Old Testament so clearly and rigorously set forth, that, viewing it merely as a commandment, it could not be more expressly enjoined. To love our neighbour as ourselves, Leviticus 19:18, is just the same precept in the New Testament as in the Old: Mark 12:31; Matthew 22:39. Yet this commandment also has, in a certain sense, become new. First, it has received a new foundation in the love of Christ. The Lord has saved the expositors from speculating as to what the newness of the law consisted in, by adding, “as I have loved you.” Christ exhibits the commandment as a new one, after He has come to the perfection of the manifestation of His own love, and His departure from the disciples was impending: comp. ver. 33. Secondly, in internal connection with the newness of the foundation stands the new limitation of the sphere of this love. In the Old Testament the neighbour is, according to grammatical and historical exposition, the member of the covenant established on Sinai, the fellow-partaker of the Old Testament covenant benefits. In the New Testament he is the member of the covenant sealed by Christ,—the new commandment here consequently corresponds to the new covenant of which Christ had spoken in the institution of the Supper,—the fellow-partaker in His redemption, the brother in His love. This is a relation which before Christ had never been in the world, and of all the bonds of love it is the most binding and internal.—Ἀ?λλήλους refers to the true disciples of Christ, ἐ?μοὶ? μαθηταί ver. 35. Primarily the Apostles were meant; but these were the representatives of all believers: comp. ch. John 17:11. But that which primarily was spoken of the stricter bond of Christian brotherhood, involves also the indirect obligation to the most universal love of man; just as the love of Christ to His own disciples, which is here set before us for our imitation, rests upon the foundation of His universal love to the world. Even under the Old Testament they were to love the stranger as themselves: this proves that the Pharisaical gloss on the precept of the love of their neighbour, which certainly in the letter referred only to fellow-Israelites, was not according to the mind of the Lawgiver. If we are to love the Christian brother as Christ loves him, so we are to love all men because Christ loves them, and died for them. Nevertheless, the violation of brotherly love is a heavier guilt than the violation of the universal love of man. The measure of the guilt is the greatness of the love of Christ.
The commandment is at first nakedly laid down, and then, after the reason given for it, it is repeated with an inserted καί , which refers to the reason given: ἵ?να , καθὼ?ς ἠ?γάπησα ὑ?μᾶ?ς , καὶ? ὑ?μεῖ?ς ἀ?γαπᾶ?τε ἀ?λλήλους . The displacement of the ἵ?να does not militate against this view, which is simple, and recommended by the comparison of ver. 15. We find the same elsewhere, e.g. in ver. 29, and 2 John 1:6.
Acts 4:32 may be compared with ver. 35; and what the heathen used to say of the Christians (Tertull. Apol.): “See how they love one another.”
Ver. 36. “Simon Peter said unto Him, Lord, whither goest Thou? Jesus answered him. Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards.”
What Jesus had said concerning love had gone straight to Peter’s heart, and the more as he had taken a prominent part in the contention which had given rise to the exhortation. But there was something in the Lord’s words which smote him still more keenly: Christ had spoken of His speedy departure. On this point he earnestly desired more light; and, as the Lord’s answer shows, in order that he might actively interfere, and unite his destiny with Christ’s. Whither goest Thou? If Thou goest unto death, I will go with Thee: compare the word of Thomas in ch. John 11:16; and Elisha’s word to Elijah in 2 Kings 2:4; 2 Kings 2:6: “As the Lord liveth, I will not leave thee.” The “canst not” in our Lord’s answer has a psychological reason. Before Peter could die for Christ, Christ must have died for him, and have obtained for him by His death the Holy Spirit, who is, with other attributes, a Spirit of might. August.: Quid festinas, Petre? nondum te suo spiritu solidavit Petra. There were also other reasons for that inability. In God’s counsel, Peter, before he followed his Lord in death, must strengthen his brethren, and feed the lambs of Christ. But that the inability was connected with the state of Peter’s mind, is evident, as from the answer of Peter, so also from a comparison of Matthew: there “thou canst not follow Me now” is followed by “All ye shall be offended in Me this night.”
Vers. 36-38 coincide accurately with what the other Evangelists record of the same event. We have here, in John 13:36, the starting-point of the whole incident, which in the others is wanting. The question of Peter here refers to the words of our Lord, not communicated by the other Evangelists, immediately after the departure of Judas. And our Lord’s answer here, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt follow Me afterwards,” connects itself with vers. 31, 32, in Matthew. That the answer there also issues from Peter, harmonizes well with the fact that, according to John, the Lord’s words were primarily addressed to him. John communicates the former part of that answer, Matthew gives the remainder in ver. 33. John supplements the answer of Jesus by the words placed at the beginning, “Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake?” What Peter replied, Matthew had already recorded: hence John omits it here.
As to the particulars of time, there is no essential difference between John and Matthew. The τότε of the latter, in its reference to the καὶ? ὑ?μνήσαντες ἐ?ξῆ?λθον εἰ?ς τὸ? ὅ?ρος τῶ?ν ἐ?λαιῶ?ν , leaves us ample space in the interval between the hymn with which the Passover began, and the arrival at the Mount of Olives. Those only are embarrassed by it who place the departure of Judas, with which vers. 31-38 in John are immediately connected, before the institution of the supper, and the hymn that marked its commencement.
Mark adheres closely to Matthew; he gives only what the Lord had said concerning the cock-crowing, but in a rather more detailed form.
The address of Jesus to Peter in Luke, ch. Luke 22:31-32, forms the continuation of Matt., vers. 31, 32. That Peter, besides the words quoted by Matthew and John, added further, “Lord, I am ready to go with Thee to prison and to death,” is quite in harmony with the vehemence of his character. He cannot do full justice to the absoluteness of His devotion and willingness to sacrifice himself; and he is all the more impetuous because a still voice within his inmost soul whispers to him that he has not yet the needed strength. This voice he thus strove to silence. To the threefold assurance of his readiness for self-sacrifice (John: Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy sake. Matt.: Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended. Luke: Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both unto prison and to death), corresponds the threefold denial in the Lord’s reply, and in the event. The same heaping of affirmation we find at the denial itself in Matthew 26:74.
Ver. 37. “Peter said unto Him, Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy sake.”
As Peter could not follow Christ, so likewise he was ignorant of himself, and estimated his own strength far too highly. True self-knowledge could come to him only in consequence of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit searcheth all things, the deep things of God, and the deep things of the human heart. Nevertheless, Peter was like the young eagle, which is beginning to stir its wings. Of such stuff were the martyrs formed, when the full possession of the Holy Ghost was added. The spirit was already willing, though the flesh was weak: the strength was small, the will was good. Aug.: Quid in animo ejus esset cupiditatis videbat, quid virium non videbat.
When Jesus disclosed to Peter his real weakness, He assured him at the same time of the means of his recovery, after his fall, which would lead him to a much profounder knowledge of himself. That fall was itself a demonstration of the Divine omniscience of his Master, and must therefore have assisted to strengthen his faith. When he heard the cock-crowing, he must have remembered the word of Christ.
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The sound of a petticoat and bustle rustling. An image almost clear yet defined. It goes away—the apparition.
Sometimes it returns to roam around familiar territory only this time it is an antique shop attached to an antique doll.
“I assume it’s because most dolls and toys belong to children and if they die young I would think the spirit is not at rest,” said Michele Denning, an antique dealer also at the Cambridge Antique Market.
That is the case at Cambridge Antique Market. It used to be the W. L. Lockhart Co. Casket Factory in the 1850s, according to David Cohen the manager at Cambridge Antique Market.
The factory used to be on Bridge Street. Since then, the street name has changed to Monsignor O’Brien Highway. The company was started by William L. Lockhart who was born in 1827 and his father Daniel Lockhart., both from Novia Scotia, Canada.
The casket factory was very successful and expanded over seven buildings. There was also a factory on Staniford Street, according to Cohen.
“Maybe the concentration of coffins invited spirits to haunt the building,” written on an Instagram post from the Cambridge Historical Commission.
The antique shop is a four-story building plus a basement. The shop has over 150 dealers each with their unique style and specialization competing with one another.
“This used to be a casket factory. Who knows how many people got hurt here,” said Denning.
Denning claims to have had two encounters with ghosts at the antique store. She saw either an echo of a spirit or an actual spirit coming out of the second-floor bathroom. The other spirit she heard but did not see.
“Embrace the spirits. You have to make peace with them,” said Denning, when speaking about whether she was afraid.
Denning is one of the few employees at Cambridge Antique Market who believes in ghosts and has encountered ghosts at the shop. There used to be a former employee who also believed in the paranormal. Denning and he used to speak about the paranormal regularly. He left the shop. He lives a private life, according to Denning. She also believes most haunted activity happens on the third floor.
“There’s a greater percentage of really old stuff like Victorian,” said Lisa McQuilkin also an antique dealer and full-time employee at the antique shop. There are also some antiques from all over the world in booths 41 and 141, according to McQuilkin.
Bob, an antique dealer and a full-time employee at the antique shop, who doesn’t want to give out his last name, has not seen any ghosts at the shop. However, he confessed to throwing away antiques if he gets a bad feeling about them even after he already purchased them.
Creepy Dolls May be Haunted
Denning mentioned that sometimes antiques are brought into the store which give her bad feelings. She remembers one time someone left a very scary antique doll at the front door. The owners did not leave a note they just left her there. The next day the employees were surprised to see her greeting them at the entrance. Denning, especially, felt uneasy.
“The other day something was left here that gave me the creeps,” said Denning when referring to another doll at the store.
Next to the vintage Christmas booth, she shares with other employees is a booth called the Invisible Gallery owned by David Wolin another antique dealer.
The item Denning pointed to was a raggedy doll inside a case.
“I would say it is a 19th-century African American toy doll,” said Wolin, when asked whether it is a voodoo doll.
Wolin said the doll looks the way it looks because of racism during the 19th century if it is the doll of a child of slavery. However, he does not know too much about the doll. He bought the doll in New York from a collector who didn’t know a lot about the doll.
“It shows the universality of like the child’s experience that all kids want to play with dolls and some kids had beautiful porcelain dolls that cost a lot of money and other kids had dolls that were handmade out of scraps of fabric and bits of straw,” said Wolin when asked about the materials of the doll.
The 19th-century African American toy doll from the Invisible Gallery at the Cambridge Antique Market. Photo By Mina Rose Maurnais.
Wolin has never experienced the paranormal.
“It’s a weird question, because the salesman in me, you think, well do you want it to be haunted or do they not want it to be haunted? There’s no yes or wrong answer to that because if you say, ‘Yes,’ they may say, ‘Oh I will never buy a haunted antique,’ or, if you say, ‘No,’ they might say, ‘Oh I was looking for a haunted antique,’ and you’d say, ‘Oh, well here’s a haunted antique.’”
Despite testimony from some employees, according to Sara Colen, she has never seen any ghosts in the building. She does not believe in them.
None of the full-time employees know whether buyers have returned items because they were haunted. However, Denning does not doubt the building is haunted. She suspects dolls are personal items high on the list of haunted objects. One of her friends owns a clown that is apparently spooky.
Gina Marcil has been an antique dealer for 20 years and recently became a paranormal investigator. Prior to her current job with Amazon, she waitressed for 22 years while selling antiques. She is from Springfield, Massachusetts but is now based in Cranston, Rhode Island.
As a child, her mother who liked eclectic things used to take her to garage sales and flea markets. In 2002, when Marcil got her own apartment, she began buying antiques to fill her home. That’s when it all really began.
Marcil specializes in the 30s,40s, and 50s kitchenware, Victorian items, and dolls. Several rooms in her home contain antique dolls. In her kitchen, she has carnival prize dolls from the 1930s and 1940s, which kids use to win in carnivals.
She added a very unique doll to her collection in November 2020. She bought a clown doll from her friend’s online auction. Anthony Waz sold her the doll through his estate sale company, Reliable Estate Service LLC. Marcil named her Clowny.
Clowny with her teddy bear and EMF meter. Photo by Mina Rose Maurnais.
No one bid on Clowny, so Marcil was able to buy her for under $5. She drove four hours to get Clowny from the auction company. Clowny is from the 1930s and according to Marcil, she is worth more than $200. She’s handmade and comes from Connecticut. Other than basic information, Marcil does not know anything about who owned Clowny. She tried asking Anthony about Clowny’s origins, but he doesn’t know a lot about her history.
“He doesn’t believe in spirits, and he doesn’t know where she came from,” said Marcil when referring to Waz.
Waz was contacted for a response.
“I don’t have a lot of history on the clown, unfortunately. It was left over after an estate sale. It was too creepy to leave behind. So, it made its way back to my warehouse with a pile of clothing,” said Waz.
The first time Marcil knew Clowny was haunted she was video chatting with a “cute guy.” It was in March 2021 when “stuff started getting weird,” according to Marcil. A black anomaly went by the screen. Ted Ilsley her “cute friend” saw it too. The figure went by the screen again. The black flashes were recorded in a video. They continued to talk and then Ilsley told Marcil he saw white flashes behind her, according to Marcil. She couldn’t see anything. Jokingly, she turned around and asked her dolls, “Ok, is someone trying to talk to us?” She turned to Clowny, and the flashes started going nuts. She began asking Clowny questions and the doll started answering by flashing behind her to her friend. Ilsley got his iPad to record what was happening.
She has never seen an apparition in her home only strange figures on her phone screen.
“They manipulate the energy in phones,” said Marcil.
Marcil doesn’t want to give Clowny away because she doesn’t want to make her mad.
Gina Marcil sitting with Clowny in her home. Photo by Mina Rose Maurnais.
“Well, she’s so cute,” added Marcil while laughing and looking at Clowny when describing why she wants to keep her.
She eventually got a paranormal investigator, Nicolas Robert Grossmann, to help her figure out what was going on. Grossmann claims there is a spirit attached to Clowny. She’s a little girl, her name is Sara, and she drowned.
Marcil bought an EMF meter for Clowny. On her YouTube channel called “Clown Town Paranormal,” there are many videos showing the EMF meter going off while next to Clowny.
Despite her belief in the paranormal and testimony from some of her friends, Marcil admits mentally she has good days and bad days.
“As weird as it sounds, Clowny saved me,” said Marcil.
Mina is a graduate student studying journalism at Emerson College. She is also a creative writer, poet, photographer, and film aficionado. Mina loves traveling and is interested in international journalism.
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I’m working on the sleep chapters of my book right now. I had originally planned one sleep chapter, but I’m realizing that it’s such a huge topic that it needs to be split into two chapters: one on the question of where baby should sleep and one on sleep strategies and sleep training.
I have been focusing on the question of bedsharing for the last several weeks. I have read the major studies associating bedsharing with SIDS and suffocation and studied the professional opinions of those recommending against bedsharing from a public health perspective. I have also read the studies coming from James McKenna, Helen Ball, and others that take a more holistic view of bedsharing. These authors talk about bedsharing as the cultural and physiological norm for human infants, particularly in the context of breastfeeding. They advocate for a more tempered view of bedsharing safety, one that recognizes that all bedsharing situations are not alike and that, though not proven, it is certainly possible that a safe bedsharing environment can exist.
I’m trying to understand both the science and the controversy of this topic. There are the data, and there are the people analyzing it and interpreting it. Reading these papers, I get the feeling that it is difficult to find someone conducting research in this field who isn’t at least a little invested in the outcome. I wonder if these guys ever sit in the same room together and talk it out, because it feels like they are coming from different planets. There’s the epidemiology planet, where numbers rule and nuance is scorned. (And don’t get me wrong – I’m a numbers girl – but I can see the limitations in them here.) Then there’s the anthropology planet, a beautiful land of skin-to-skin, breast milk, and perfect physiological attunement between mother and babe. In my opinion, neither world completely represents the reality facing new parents in today’s world.
I wonder, for example, if the members of the AAP committee, which recommends against bedsharing, have ever cared for a baby who had extreme difficulty sleeping alone. And I wonder if the anthropologists have ever cared for a baby who wanted her own space, perhaps needing a break from all that day-and-night sensory input. I have met both types of babies, and as parents, I think we have to recognize that their needs are not the same.
In the real world, lots of factors determine how different families handle sleep. Infant temperament is one of them. Safety is another. There are also cultural expectations, family dynamics, work schedules, parenting styles, and feeding methods to factor in. Where baby sleeps is a complex parenting decision, one that is exceedingly difficult to study in a quantitative manner.
As I’m writing this chapter, I’m trying to present the science in a balanced way. I also recognize that this parenting decision – and most of them for that matter – can never be reduced to science and statistics. Parenting is about people and their stories. I know that I need to understand those stories as well as the science to write a worthwhile book.
So, I’m hoping you can help me.
Help me understand WHY your babies slept where they did – in your bed or in a crib or some combination of the two. What factors were important in your decision? Did your baby sleep where you had planned, or did you have to adjust your expectations? What worked well about your arrangement, and what didn’t?
I may be interested in including some of your stories in my book, but I’ll send you a direct email if that’s the case. Thank you – as always – for sharing your stories!
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My nine-month-old daughter slept first in a bassinet in her bedroom. Once she outgrew the bassinet, at about 3 1/2 months, we moved her to her crib. We have lived in two relatively small apartments since her birth. Even when she sleeps in her own room, she is only about 15 feet away from us.
Before she was born, my husband and I discussed sleeping arrangements at length and decided that we wanted her to be taught to sleep in her own bed. We made this decision with an eye toward maximizing our ability to sleep well and care for her better during her waking hours. Also, we were concerned that if she got used to sleeping with us at night, she’d be unable to take naps without us during the day. As it turned out, our daughter seemed to prefer being left to sleep on her own, and would get annoyed when we’d try to cuddle her for a nap. This has changed as she has gotten older, but it did make things easier at first.
By and large, we have stuck to our plan. Our daughter does sleep by herself in her own crib at night and for most naps. When she wakes early (before 6:30), we bring her into our bed to cuddle before we start the day. Sometimes she falls back asleep, sometimes not. In recent weeks, she has begun to be unable to take her late afternoon nap in her crib (all crying, zero sleep), so we have taken to either going for a ride in the car, taking a walk, or letting her nap on one of us on the couch. My husband and I enjoy it and I think she does, too – that’s what I’m assuming being offered a sticky, warm pacifier means, anyway.
February 18, 2013
I love that you are covering this topic so thoroughly! As a new, breastfeeding mom, I struggled greatly with making a decision on where and when my baby would sleep. Initially we kept our daughter in a bassinet by the bed. I wanted desperately to be one of those peaceful, co-sleeping mamas, practicing skin-to-skin and nursing on demand. But the reality for me was that I just couldn’t do it. I was so afraid of hurting my baby that I would end up getting no sleep at all! I would lay awake with her, sleeping peacefully on my chest, terrified to go to sleep. In the end I had to do what worked for both of us and we went with the bassinet. And now my daughter, at 15 months, is one of those need-my-own-space babies. As she got older I felt more comfortable napping with her and bringing her into our bed at night, but she wants no part of that co-sleeping business! She asks me for “night night” now, often bringing me a book to read her, and gladly goes in her crib and falls asleep. I am still nursing, and I do not feel that our bond has suffered. She is still a mama’s girl and loves her mama milk! It is just what worked for us. I look forward to reading more of your writing on this topic, as well as the other comments!
February 18, 2013
Your experience sounds much like my own. I was too nervous to sleep with Cee next to me in bed. Plus, she rarely nursed to sleep, even in the middle of the night. She slept well in her own space, right next to our bed, and I could relax and sleep too. And today, she CAN’T sleep in our bed, which I find to be inconvenient sometimes. Even when she is sick, I know that she sleeps better in her own bed, and you’ll find me asleep on a pallet on her floor:) How much of this temperament around sleep is nature and how much is nurture I don’t know, but I do know that she adapted readily to sleeping on her own, and it was a fine fit for us. That’s just one experience though, so I’m really interested in reading all these many stories below!
February 18, 2013
This sounds very much like our story! I wouldn’t have cared for my son to sleep in our bed, and my husband would nap with him often. I just COULDN’T sleep because of the fear of hurting him. I am a very sound sleeper, and was worried I would not ever wake up or realize something was wrong. I breastfed until he was 10 months old (when I found out my massively lower milk supply was due to a new pregnancy). He is 14 months, and still in our room in his crib. We initally had no choice but to keep him in our room, but we have a much larger house now and that is not the case. I like knowing I can wake up and put my eyes on him at any time. We are going to work on moving him to his own room over the coming weeks to prepare for baby #2 this summer. I plan to keep her in my room until she is at least 6 months…maybe longer if I just can’t let her go! We also use the sleep sheep, and the ocean is my favorite one. The whales definitely creep me out. Now, he would probably like to sleep with us, but I have noticed he gets much better rest in his own space and in his own bed (and so do we)!
I have nothing against cosleeping. I just knew I could never live with myself if something were to happen and I hadn’t followed all of the “rules” I guess. He didn’t even get a blanket in his bed until he was 1.
March 7, 2013
I’ve been following your blog for the last six months and this is the most interesting one.
Our baby’s sleep for the first year was not a great one. The first three months he would wake up every hour or two during the night for feed. He was breastfed. Most night he fell asleep on my chest and I was reclining on stack of pillow on our bed. It took ages to burp him and because I was so tired, I couldn’t stay awake to wait so I let him sleep on my chest until the next hour or two.
And then I discovered the convenience of breastfeed him side by side in bed. I started doing at nap time to catch up with some sleep but then it carried on at night time because it was too exhausting to constantly waking up to pick him out the moses basket, feed him, burp him, and to put him back. My body could not be forced to stay awake and alert any longer. I took him in bed with me when he passed 3 months of age. It was a lot easier for me and everyone got their sleep.
We tried to sleep train him few times in his cot but I had always been the one who gave up. I was to exhausted to resist. We co-sleep until he was 13 months old and then I realized he was ready to learn to sleep on his own.
We started sleep train him again 2 weeks ago. There was 2 points in our goal; he fall asleep on his own and stay asleep through the night without snacking IN his cot. We went cold turkey in the end. It was hard to start with but now he gets the message. It took him 10 minutes to cry before he falls asleep; longer when he’s overtired. But he no longer needs the breast or me laying next to him all night.
The other thing I notice is for our baby it might be better if he had his own room earlier because we disturb each other sleep. We’ll soon move to a two bedroom flat but at the moment I have to sleep on the sofa in the front room while my husband sleep in our bed in the same room with little man’s cot. My husband complaining that his sleep somehow disturbed with J sleep noise.
I hope this comment help. I know there’s a lot of books saying that co-sleep is not ideal but that was the ONLY way everyone got their sleep and to be able to function during the day.
February 18, 2013
Thanks for sharing your story, Merlyn.
February 18, 2013
Very interesting topic. I myself am also a public health researcher and wanted to make the best choice for my babe. We now have a 3 month old little guy, he is wonderful. Before giving birth I had planned to keep him with us in our room for the first few months and also bed sharing which would make night feedings a bit easier. Although he has since calmed down, Oskars was very colicky the first two months and although he slept well next to us, we realised that we were unable to sleep well because we were too afraid to move and either wake him up or push the covers over his head,etc. So after three weeks of us walking around like zombies (which made the colic even more hard to deal with) we decided to put him in his own room and see how it went. Although I was very hesitant to my partners suggestion of this, we gave it a try because we were so sleep deprived and it ended up being exactly what we all needed. Oskar started sleeping even better and so did we. It was really important that we were able to sleep well during those hours between feedings because then we were better equiped to handle the days ahead of us and those evening hours of colic without loosing our minds. I guess I learned that even though we can plan what we think is best for our babies, we have got to bend to what is realistic and what works for both babies and parents and for us was very situational!
February 18, 2013
Did you try having him sleep in your room but in his own bed? I wonder if that would have worked for you. One of the things I find interesting about the research on SIDS and sleep environments is that room-sharing has been shown to be protective for the first few months, but I feel like we hear much more about the bedsharing debate. But I do agree with you that those early days are so trying and that sleep deprivation can be debilitating. You have to take care of yourself so that you can take care of your baby, and flexibility goes a long way towards achieving that goal.
February 18, 2013
Yes we did. We had one of these old fashioned gorgeous ‘berceau’ (crib) that was passed down in the family and set it up next to our bed. We would initially put Oskar to bed on his own, but I would bring him into the bed during the night for feedings. That worked great for us most of the time but sometimes he would get quite cranky, usually in between on or two of the feedings around 3 or 5am and we would have to walk around for an hour and then he would eventually fall asleep on one of stomachs. Yeah the main deciding factor for us was really the sleep deprivation. We decided to move him into his own room just next to ours so that at least one of us could sleep during the ‘hard’ hours and then the other would take over later. I think the colic made everything that much harder and I had noticed the days that I was really tired, I felt like it also affected not only my emotions but decreased my milk production so it was just turning into a vicious cycle. I felt like a cold heartless mum putting Oskar in his own room so young but after trying it for a few nights, I realized that it was really great in this situation and best for us to get some sleep. We also had a particular situation since we knew that I was going to be starting a new job when he was only two and a half months old and we were moving to a new city and that it would be Pierre staying at home. So we felt it was really important to get into some sort of rhythm and both get rest before I went back to work. Oskar is now three months old, his colic has settled down and he is into a great sleeping schedule. He sleeps in his own room next to ours in a crib and often naps on his daddy in the daytime and loves to fall asleep in those african wrap baby carriers with myself in the evening. It is all such a learning curve. Like breast feeding, which is a whole other story that I also expected to come much more naturally or easier than it did for myself. I guess we really learned that its great to have a plan and be motivated but also its really important to be open to change and to evolve with your baby and what works best. Thanks for writing this post! Look forward to the book!
February 19, 2013
I should add that I gave birth in France. I had read a little about co-sleeping but not a lot, was so busy reading about breastfeeding, birthing process, etc that I totally missed the subject. I knew that my mom had done it with my sister and I but my family in law thought it teaches children bad habits. I had just briefly heard about SIDS and not stomach sleeping. However at the hospital, all the beds were actually set up with little cots for babies that attach to the mothers beds and all the midwives encouraged co-sleeping. I was really surprised in a great way because I was still kind of trying to convince my partner that co-sleeping will not necessarily teach our child bad habits and that it does not mean at age 10 he will still be sleeping with us. As it ended up, Oskar needed his quiet space to sleep and so did we. We still bring him into bed with us some mornings after his early morning feeding and its absolutely lovely.
February 21, 2013
The more you talk about your book, the more excited I get to read it! We are a cosleeping/family bed/bedsharing, whatever you want to call it family with a 22 month old son. We started out with a sidecar cosleeper, but our first night home with my son I swaddled him up, set him in the sleeper, and promptly felt such a sense of *wrongness* that I lasted maybe twenty minutes before I scooped him up and tucked him up next to me. It was the only way I could possibly sleep in those first few days, and the sidecar quickly became nothing more than a holding bin for blankets, boppies, and water bottles. It took us a few weeks to really hit our stride with breastfeeding, but once we figured out sideline feeding we never looked back. My son is the type who is happiest when he is being held even now, though I never thought of him as a “needy” baby. Nursing to sleep was just so very easy. We didn’t have to go through all the contortions that my new mom friends were bemoaning. CIO was unthinkable for me, though we did try a couple times. When he cried so hard that he vomited on himself I threw in the towel for good on that idea. When he started rolling, and then crawling, I started staying in bed after he went to sleep. We had upgraded the sidecar to a full crib next to the bed, but again it was just a place to throw blankets and clothes, and rarely got any use beyond a few minutes of play while mama dozed first thing in the morning. This was not at all ideal, but the idea of rocking the boat terrified me. I spent many months lying in bed with a blanket over my head, reading fanfiction on my smartphone for hours before my husband came to bed. I was also suffering from some hardcore PPD so I wasn’t really trying to be social at the time. Kind of a vicious cycle. Eventually we decided to put our mattress on the floor and I started creeping away again, much to the improved health of both my mental state and my marriage. After he turned one we put the crib mattress on the floor next to our queen. A few times I got him to go down on his bed and stay there maybe half the night before he ended up between us. More often than not I ended up sleeping half over/half in the crack between our two mattresses. My back was absolutely killing me, so I basically demanded a king size mattress and we ditched the crib mattress completely about two months ago. Two weeks ago I started night weaning. No Cry Sleep Solution has been very helpful. The all night nursling scenario she describes is us to a tee. Mid-night nursings are still a challenge. “Nanas wake up” is a new phrase my son has learned, much to my chagrin, although “nanas sleep” when he tugs up my shirt after our bedtime story feels like a real victory every time. I’m hopeful/confident that progress will continue. I don’t have any plans to move him out of our room, even though we are currently trying to get pregnant again. The logistics of our house make it challenging to give him his own room, and honestly, knowing my son as I do, I just can’t see him wanting to sleep by himself any time soon. He is fiercely independent when playing, but when it’s time to relax or sleep he comes running for us. Oh god I could go on and on about napping at daycare once a week and Papa trying to put him down even a couple times a month and the shame/longing of not being able to get a babysitter after 8. If you want to pick my brain at all I would be delighted!
February 18, 2013
Thanks for your honesty. I sometimes feel like bedsharing advocates make it seem so darn rosy, and I know that can’t be the case all the time. In your case, bedsharing may have been the right thing for your family, but it sure doesn’t sound easy! Hang in there, mama!
February 18, 2013
My nine month old sleeps in his crib in his room and has since he was about three months old (when I went back to work). Before that, he slept in a pack and play (bassinette style set up) in our room. I’m glad we were able to have him in our room while he was still in the early newborn phase, but I found that I sleep much better with him in his own room. I was too attuned to every little movement, waiting for him to wake up that I didn’t get much sleep – or as much as would be possible to get with an infant anyway.
I never really considered co-sleeping before he was born, being the worrying type who would have been too afraid of him getting suffocated. We did try it a couple of times in the morning when I was home alone with him and my partner wasn’t also in the bed. I could sleep with him in the crook of my arm and not worry too much about him getting stuck anywhere. The idea did seem appealing some times when he was still waking up multiple times per night, but the logistics just never worked out.
We’re lucky to have a good sleeper now though, who pretty much knows that when he goes in the crib, it’s time to sleep. I think this was more a matter of luck than any sleep training or something we did. But I do think he benefits from having a place that is clearly where he sleeps.
February 18, 2013
I forgot to mention in my original comment that moving my son to his own bed was a relief in one way for me: my husband and I could go to bed without fear of waking him up prematurely for whatever feed was next. The bathroom we use is in our room, so if he was asleep in our room, we’d have to tiptoe in, after getting ready in the more “public” bathroom and try not to talk too loudly. While I miss having him near us sometimes, he’s always been a loud, wiggly sleeper. With him in his own space, he can thrash about without me waiting for him to wake up with each noise.
February 19, 2013
This is a practical aspect that isn’t usually mentioned by bedsharing advocates. There is a balance between being attuned to our babies in a good way and being so attuned that you can’t get any rest yourself. I think some mothers are better at getting rest while still being tuned into baby’s movements (it seems to me that you need to be able to do this to bedshare safely). Maybe it is something that you get used to. It was hard to move Cee to her own room when we finally did it, but that first night of real sleep was truly delicious, and I trusted myself that I would wake up for any real noise beyond the usual rustling, kicking, and grunting.
February 19, 2013
Jess, your son sounds EXACTLY like my 8 month old daughter. She’s such a wiggle worm that I was sure that she and I were waking each other up because I’d hear her rolling about in her Pack’n’Play and would think, “Hey, you’re up, let’s eat.”, when that wasn’t the case at all. She’s been in crib in her own room, right next to our room, since 3 months old.
February 22, 2013
My daughter slept in a bassinet next to our bed for the first four weeks, but she hated it. We moved when she was four weeks, and she started sleeping in a crib in the next room after that, which she much preferred. She has occasionally slept in bed with us when she’s having a tough night, or when I’m so tired I can’t hold her to nurse. But I don’t sleep as well when she’s in bed with us because she always ends up on my side, so I prefer she sleep in her crib. She does just fine in her crib, so I don’t worry about it either way. I do what works best for us on a specific night–since she doesn’t have trouble transitioning between our bed and her crib, I don’t feel like it has to be all-or-nothing either way.
February 18, 2013
I just wrote this in my last blog post “some nights she is pretty fussy…hard to get down for the night in her crib. So I will take her into our bed, lay her on my chest and we fall asleep together. Then when I have to get up for potty, I’ll put her in her crib and she continues to sleep. Some mornings when she starts to wake up because it is to bright out, I’ll take her out of her crib, take her to our bed and put her on my chest again and there she’ll sleep for at least one more hour or more. Yes, I did worry about forming bad habits, but then I read that she is still way to little to learn bad habits and she still needs very close contact and lots of it, to her mommy. She has been in my tummy for so long and all of the sudden is expected to sleep in a big crib by herself. Makes no sense eh?” … I also have read a ton of articles that speak against co-sleeping and then on the other hand, I’m part of a group/page on facebook “naturally born” and they are all FOR co-sleeping. so I believe, everybody has to decide on their own, what is safe and what not. I believe that natural mother instinct will kick in and just let us do the right thing. I have NEVER been a mom and I have NEVER even had close contact to a baby. I have NEVER babysat… but still, I strongly believe, that I’m doing the right things as I’m doing them. If it calms my baby and she ends up being happy… what’s wrong with that?? ….
February 18, 2013
I completely agree with your observation about how baby was cuddled up in your warm, soft, heart-beating tummy for so long, why on earth do we expect babies to sleep on a cold, firm, lifeless, solitary crib just days after they are born? I’m not offering a judgement on those parents that do this – it was just a revelation I had when I was so frustrated with my non-sleeping babe. Once I went back to more skin-to-skin, holding her, etc…she was calm again. Again, each mother/baby dyad is different but responding to my kid the way she needed made me feel better about trusting my mommy instincts too.
February 19, 2013
Jen #
I never planned on sharing my bed with my child. I was of the opinion that a child must learn to sleep in their own space (in our case a bassinette in our bedroom). After 3 weeks of abysmal failure in our sleep plan, exhausted, having nothing left I fell asleep, unintentionally, on the bed and my husband came home to find that somehow my little one, 3 weeks of age, had shimmied up to the curve of my stomach and was fast asleep. It was the best sleepis ha ididI’d have in months (rough pregnancy). In the end it was me who had to learn how to meet her needs. We shared a bed until she was 12 weeks then moved her to a play pen beside the bed. By 15 weeks she was in her own room. It was tough but I’m converted you do what your child needs and everyone is different. The first 3time weeks was some of the most difficult in my life. I was nursing every 3 hours and it took almost an hour every feed. I’d set the alarm for two more hours and repeat. My daughter was born small at just over 5 lbs and a bit early. I think she needed just a little bit more heat and touch to make up for lost uterine time. In the beginning she was a ‘sleepy’ baby and we used cold cloths on her head to get her to wake to feed, it was torturous to us both. Somehow after the feed we’d snuggle back together and sleep in blissful oblivion for two more hours and all was forgotten. It was strange though, no matter how asleep she was, the second I put her in that beautiful bassenette beside the bed shed wake and scream and fuss. She needed her momma.
February 18, 2013
Alice, My children slept with me (and sometimes Bruce). It was much easier for me to breast feed that way. I didn’t need to get up. I wasan older mother (3 5 when Ray was born and 37 when Laura was born) and working full time. Bruce was staying home with them while I worked and I came home for lunch to breast feed. When i had to travel for work they went also. I think I needed that contact with my little ones at night to make up for being away from them all day. Ray left the shared bed on his own when he was about four.It was getting crowded!. Laura stayed until she was about 12! Bruce gave up on trying to sleep with us also. I have no regrets (well maybe about not sleeping with Bruce, but we did out best to make up for that). It never seemed to bother the childrenthat I snored and talked in my sleep (but that certainly bothered Bruce, much more than our babies being in our bed.
February 18, 2013
Diana, thank you for sharing your story! I’m glad to hear from a mama from your generation. I’m curious to hear whether this was common among your friends. Was it something you discussed with other moms at the time? From talking with local moms in your area, it sounds like cosleeping is very much the norm or at least a well-accepted way to sleep in today’s generation. However, my mom doesn’t remember sleeping with me, although she did breastfeed. Was there a “norm” in the KY community in those days? (For other readers – Diana is a friend of my parents’. I grew up with her children in the same community of families.)
February 18, 2013
Ooh interesting topic. I was just thinking over today if I had to do it again would I do it differently?…
My daughter slept in a moses basket next to the bed however, there were many nights we co-slept and certainly in the day we would snuggle together for naps. Around 6 months she moved to a cot in her own room, a transition that she managed well. However shortly after a friend moved in with us for a bit so she came back into our room with her cot which then got all a bit confused. Sometimes we’d co sleep, sometimes not. In retrospect I don’t think it was consistent enough which was a lot down to me enjoying the co-sleeping but also wanting her to be able to sleep independently and therefore thinking she should sleep solo. I struggled with consistency around sleep and was hyper sensitive to her crying so at times it was a difficult path! I think that if I were to have the time again I’d like to be more consistent and use the moses basket and cot however, co-sleeping moments were so precious and beautiful that I also wouldn’t want to miss that. Plus it makes breastfeeding so easy. So as you can see, still undecided and inconsistent! What’s the middle ground?! Complete co-sleeping just felt too be a huge commitment.
February 18, 2013
katie #
Before my daughter was born, I thought she would likely sleep in a bassinet next to my bed, but I was also open to the idea of bed sharing. Her first two nights, in the hospital, she slept with me. She was struggling with latching on and nursing (or trying) constantly. She would also cry and wake every time we placed her in the bassinet; the nurses encouraged me to keep her with me and said they’d watch us to make sure she was safe. Sleeping with her those first two nights was the most cozy, wonderful experience of my life thus far.
When we got home I kept the bassinet next to my bed and alternated between having her in there and in my bed. She slept best (and therefore I slept best) when she was laying on my chest. My husband and I removed most blankets, each of us just kept a small fleece throw (like you’d use on a couch) and created our own “sleep sacks” as we called them. We also moved our mattress to the floor. Around 3 months she struggled to get comfortable one night, rolled off my chest and began sleeping next to me, snuggled up against my side. This was a very eye-opening experience. I had just begun to wonder what we would do when she got too big for my chest and it was clear at this point that she could and would lead the transitions in her sleep, as needed. Since that time we’ve had many transitions in the details of how we sleep and most have been lead by her.
Naps have been mixed. She sometimes sleeps on a crib mattress on the floor in her room, sometimes in my bed (either with me or alone), sometimes in the stroller or car (errand time for mama!) and occasionally in arms (usually this is with grandma).
She is now 20 months and we’re currently shopping for a full sized mattress for her room. She’s sleeping much more soundly now and I think she may begin to sleep through the first portion of the night alone. I’ve noticed she often wakes when my husband and I come to bed, previously, we’d been heading to bed when she woke and it was about that time. I’m not exactly sure how her new bed will go but I expect that whenever she wakes I may join her or she may join my husband and I in our bed, we’ll see.
Overall, this has worked very well for our family. The challenge is that I haven’t been comfortable hiring an evening babysitter. It seems strange to ask someone else to put her to bed in our bedroom. My hubby and I have compensated with lunch & brunch dates, taking turns going out in the evenings sometimes, and lots of rented movies once she’s asleep. We both have non-standard work schedules so this is actually great for us.
The biggest advantage is that I’ve been relatively well-rested throughout her life (illness and teething are major exceptions!). We had a lot of trouble with nursing early on and I quickly learned to sleep or semi-sleep while nursing overnight. Also, waking up early and watching my husband and daughter sleep is amazing and I think I’ll cherish those memories forever. Overall, this was definitely the right choice for our family, and was very clearly what my daughter needed.
February 18, 2013
My first baby did not sleep well anywhere but in my arms. It was a very difficult first few months, as you can imagine. We finally realized she slept well in her car seat and the doctor said it was okay for her to sleep in that at night. So, we put the car seat in the crib and laid a blanket loosely over it and there she slept from 2 months of age to 6 months. At 6 months, se became able to roll out of it and, because I knew that was going to happen, we had to move her out of the car seat. I had been reading everything I could about sleep and decided that I did not trust any research done by the Juvenile Products Manufacturer’s Association, JPMA, which is what the AAP advice is based on. JPMA are the people who represent the crib makers. Why would I trust them to make an unbiased recommendation? I also looked into the incidence of crib death versus co-sleeping death and discovered that more children die of SIDS in cribs each year than in co-sleeping situations. There are babies who die in dangerous crib situations and of accidental injuries from cribs or crib bedding, but those are not SIDS. There are also babies who die each year in co-sleeping situations that were dangerous, where they were suffocated by a pillow or sibling or drunken parent, for example. Still, there are more unexplained crib deaths than co-sleeping deaths. I also read quite a bit on safe co-sleeping. My favorite sources for good information on co-sleeping are Drs. William Sears and James McKenna.
So, at 6 months of age, my daughter moved into bed with just me and little bedding, no pillows. We slowly added more bedding and pilows as she got older. I did everything I could to make the bed safe. We both slept well and kept it up until she turned 4 and her sister was born. When the next baby was born, she was brought into my bed the same day and still has not left. We have slept far better than many new parents, especially since dad is in the guest room. Since I stay at home, we don’t need to worry about sleeping through the night until baby is ready. Both of my babies slept through the night at 24 months and both nursed until 36 months. This has not affected my marriage or sex life at all and I love sleeping next to my babies. Sleeping babies are beautiful, especially your own. I followed all Dr. McKenna’s safe co-sleeping guidelines so I knew there was very little risk involved.
February 18, 2013
The AAP recommendation are not based on the JPMA data but rather on many case control studies that show an association between bedsharing and increased risk of SIDS. Those data have their limitations, but they are the current data. As I said above, I think there is always a bit of bias involved in this debate, but that doesn’t mean that we should completely disregard the data. The safety concerns with bedsharing are real.
There are babies that die of SIDS or suffocation in both cribs and adult beds, as well as couches, armchairs, car seats, etc. That there may be more SIDS deaths in cribs does not make cribs more dangerous. Which environment is safer depends on how many babies bedshare or sleep in cribs in the population. The case control studies try to capture that. For example, if 40% of SIDS deaths occur in an adult bed but only 20% of control babies (those that survived) are bedsharing at a given time, that study will say that bedsharing is associated with increased odds of SIDS. Most of those studies show that bedsharing is not an independent risk factor once you factor in sleep position (supine vs prone), smoking, and heavy blankets. However, in the studies that break out the cases by age, there remains a significantly increased risk of bedsharing in babies in the first 2-3 months of life – also the peak for SIDS. These are the data that the AAP used for their recommendations.
Then there is also the suffocation risk to consider. In a US study published last year, only 38% of SIDS cases and just 14% of suffocation cases were found in a crib or bassinette – most of the rest were on an adult bed, couch, or chair (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22515860). I could go on about how these data are limited, but I’ll save that for the book. The real question is – if we do *everything* right, follow all the safe sleep guidelines, etc, are our babies safe in our beds? I think you can make a good argument that the answer is yes, but it is inherently speculative given the data we currently have.
I’m not criticizing your choices because, as I said above, I think this issue is much more complex that the data can ever show. I just want to be sure that we’re representing the science accurately here. Thanks for sharing your comment!
February 19, 2013
We planned to have our daughter sleep in a co-sleeper we could put in bed with us. I knew I’d need to be flexible to accommodate her needs though. She ended up needing to sleep right next to me, sleep-nursing all night. I was nervous with this situation at first, but I am so glad I did it in the end. At 5 months I’m not worried anymore. I know how responsive I am to her movements while she is next to me. This allows our whole family to get plenty of sleep and I can be a much better mother because of it. She is changing naturally to not be quite so needy of constant contact. I love being so close to her and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
February 18, 2013
I intended to use a co-sleeper/side car arrangement with my son, but he had other ideas. He needed to be touching someone at all times when he was asleep, even for naps during the daytime. For about the first 12 months our night time routine was nurse, dad rock him for 30 minutes to go to sleep and then he cuddled next to me in the bed the whole night. For naps, rock to sleep and then whoever had him, held him for the entire nap. If we tried to sneak away at any point he would wake up in less than five minutes. I couldn’t even sneak away to let the dog out our he would wake up crying.
After a year, we could sometimes sneak away at nap time. He also would fall asleep nursing, which is not sometime he did until well after his first birthday.
At about 18 months old, he started going to daycare three days a week and started to be able to fall asleep for naps independently at his school, but when at home he still needs to nurse and cuddle to sleep.
At three years old, he nurses or cuddles to sleep for naps and at bedtime at home, then I put him into his toddler bed that is next to the big bed. Most naps, he wakes up after an hour and comes and finds someone to cuddle back to sleep with on the couch. At night he climbs into our bed sometime at night and cuddles back to sleep.
I’m pretty sure my mom and mother-in-law must have done some kind of bed sharing with us when were kids. I’ve always had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. My mother-in-law told me she had to hold my husband every time he was sleeping until he was over a year old. I feel like my son just needs these cuddles because it’s the way both of his parents were set up somehow.
February 18, 2013
We have two children, both breastfed. Both prefer to sleep alone. With my son, he was an extremely noisy sleeper, and we had him in his own room from about a month old. He was always a good sleeper, and sleeping in his crib worked best for him.
With my daughter, she was colicky and needed more comfort during the night. We had her in a co-sleeper for a while. I threw out my back with odd nursing positions, which led her over to sleeping in our bed for a few weeks at around 2 months. She was waking up all the time – the slightest movement would wake her. We eventually moved her back to the co-sleeper, but she was still waking every hour or two. (A sheet rustling would wake her.) So we moved her into her own room for all of our sakes at around 3-4 months. She immediately slept much better – only getting up 3 times or so in the night instead of 6 or so. I would have loved to have her in our room or bed, but we were both so tired and it just wasn’t working for us.
I do wish I had children who could crawl into bed with me and snuggle, but these are not the children I have! Bed time with mommy = party time.
I’m really looking forward to the book!
February 18, 2013
We also have the “bed time with mommy = party time” dynamic in our house. I sometimes wish for those snuggles, too, but having a child who wants to sleep independently has it’s advantages as well!
February 19, 2013
I’m a FTM at almost 40. Before my baby was born, the only nursery item I insisted on was a full crib with a top-safety-rated mattress. My daughter was born several weeks early (but fine, no NICU or anything) and the crib was the only thing set up! Her first few nights home, she would sleep for about 40 minutes in the bassinet attachment of her pack-n-play, and sometimes snooze in her bouncer, but really she only slept if I or my husband would hold her on our chests. We tried a few times to put her in the infamous crib (which we had set up in our room) but she hated it and I couldn’t sleep, I’d keep going over to check on her. I also had problems keeping her awake during the day to nurse, but she’d wake almost every hour overnight to nurse… at about 4 weeks I bought a sleep nest that came into bed with me while my husband was on a 3-week business trip, and I loved it – she was right next to me but in a separate sleeping surface, I could see her through the mesh sides, and she would scoot over to the side of it to be close to me. It took up a fair bit of room in our queen-sized bed, but even once my husband returned we kept using it; most nights, she’d sleep in the nest from 10-4 (with at least one nursing session, sometimes more) and then I’d lie her on my chest with pillows all around me from 4-7, it was the best sleep either of us got! When she outgrew the nest, at around 3 months, we bought an arms-reach cosleeper, but like another poster said it was really just a shelf for blankets, books, ipod, etc. She would only stay asleep in it for an hour at a time, and would wake every time I’d nurse her back to sleep and then try to transfer her to the cosleeper. Around the same time, I finally learned how to do side-lying nursing, and my baby had better head control, and I just started full-on cosleeping with her – and, truly, nestling her on my arm and letting her nurse to sleep next to me was what she needed, and what I needed, I guess, since I stopped waking up to check on her. She started waking only twice a night to nurse, sometimes only once – I latch her on and we both go back to sleep. As she grew and became more mobile, we made her crib into a sidecar cosleeper – she plays in there in the mornings while I check weather, email, etc – which makes me feel better safety and space wise. I also bought foam magic bumpers to ensure she can’t fall off the bed. I generally love the arrangement – and my husband wishes she would sleep nestled with him. The downsides: at 8 months, my baby only sleeps on her own in a moving car. For her naps, if we are not in the car, she sleeps on my lap – she sometimes falls asleep with my husband, but it’s really me. She used to nap in a swing, but she’s outgrown it. At bedtime, she won’t fall asleep unless I’m lying next to her, nursing – which means I get to bed at a decent hour (9-10) rather than staying up and doing other stuff (which means my house is messy!) So = summary: was totally against co-sleeping before I had a child, thought it was dangerous and weird, now I offer it up as one (but one among many) option to moms having issues like I was.
February 18, 2013
I don’t know if this is helpful, but my baby boy was born 5 weeks premature and kept in an incubator for 9 days. We were only allowed to touch or hold him for very limited amounts of time each day, and by the time he was well enough to come home I felt no bond with him. He stayed in his Moses basket in our room until he was six weeks old, by which time I couldn’t bear to have him in any longer – I needed some space.
I’m pleased to say things couldn’t be better now, and I am loving being a mum! Although I don’t think my husband and I’s decision to put our son in his own room so early was for the right reasons, I would probably do the same again if I was to have another baby, but for much more positive reasons. It gave my husband and I a calm space just for us, and we avoided any problems moving our son in to his room when he got older.
February 18, 2013
With both kids (2 years and now 9 months) we used a combo of co-sleeper, crib, and shared bed, but all with us in the room for the first year. Because I read how infants regulate to the presence of their moms and believed it was safer and healthier or them to have them close. I think so many people use and abuse substances / take ambien/ etc. I wonder if this influences the recommendation against bed-sharing…? But, I am both looking forward to sleeping through the night after the next few months are over, and will miss that sweet little babe next to me!
February 18, 2013
Yes, the alcohol and drug factor is usually poorly-defined in studies. Even where it is included as a variable, you always have to wonder how how honest people are being about it. I think it is safe to say that you shouldn’t bedshare if your awareness is impaired in any way, but how many deaths could have been prevented if that recommendation was followed, we don’t know.
February 19, 2013
My son, now 15 months, was born at 29 weeks and stayed in the NICU for the first 70 days of his life. I was terrified of SIDS, and even had a motion sensor monitor under his bassinet so I could be sure he was still breathing. He slept in the bassinet of a pack n play in our room for the first 3 or 4 months home, and then we moved him into his own room once we felt comfortable he could handle it. But at Christmas (with him 13 months) we went on a 3 week vacation to visit a variety of relatives, and as he is not used to sleeping in the same room as us, and his sleep was particularly bad at that point, we ended up with him in bed with us every night of the trip. And when we got home, the same thing happened. He would take naps and start his night sleep in his crib, but end up in our bed for the rest of the night. We didn’t get much sleep as a result, and it definitely caused a deterioration in his sleep patterns, so about a month after being home we worked hard to get him back into his own crib. Overall I think that is best for him, but I think for that period, it was important that he was close to us to get comfort in an ever changing world with new environments/people/sleep spaces. It also makes me think that we could have bedshared earlier, and it may have helped him at other points, but I was very firmly in the no bedsharing camp even before he was born early with all those related difficulties. Now, having experienced both, I can see that neither camp is completely right, and it makes me a little sad there is such a divide, which led me to feel I had to pick one or the other.
February 18, 2013
The data on preemies is really mixed. On the one hand, they are more vulnerable and smaller, so bedsharing may be an added risk. On the other, they might really benefit from more skin-to-skin and sensory input during the night. I think we really don’t know. I agree with you that bedsharing can be wonderful during travel to help ease the anxiety of being in a new place! I consider it one of the under-recognized benefits!
February 19, 2013
This comment made me wonder what the policy on it is for Kangaroo Mother Care. To the best of my knowledge, mom is supposed to wear baby chest to chest all the time, and I would think that would include sleep. That would include preemies, since KMC is often used in places incubators are unavailable.
February 19, 2013
Yup, there is disagreement about this as well. You can see some conversation about this question here: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/128/5/e1341.short/reply
My comment came from the finding that preemies are at higher risk of SIDS, and some studies find an association with bedsharing among preemies that is larger than that of term babies. The 2006 paper by Blair et al. is an example. It shows a significant risk of bedsharing among small-at-birth babies where there is none among term babies. BUT if you look at the data closely (check Table 3), you’ll find that only 2 of the small at birth babies were bedsharing with a NONsmoking parent. That’s not a great sample size. There were 24 small babies that died of SIDS and were bedsharing with a smoking parent. The study also found that the biggest risk for these small babies was sleeping in a separate room. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2082697/
So, we know that closeness is important for these more vulnerable babies. Kangaroo Care clearly benefits these babies as well, but whether or not there is a risk to sleeping with them, I don’t know. It’s a complicated risk/benefit analysis!
February 19, 2013
Hello! I delivered my baby in Denmark, where bedsharing is encouraged and quite common. I had an inkling that bedsharing wouldn’t be for me, and when I put my son in a bassinet, the midwife said, “oh, I think it’s much better if he sleeps with you.” I thought, why not give it a whirl? She put my son next to me, and his tiny, matchstick arm reaching out to grasp me is one of my most cherished memories. And then I proceeded not to sleep a wink because I was terrified of crushing him, because I have always been a deep sleeper. (I remember in college, an ear-splitting fire alarm went off in my dorm, but I only woke after my roommate had half dragged me out of bed).
Also, I am a believer in boundaries. The marital bed and the parents’ bedroom more broadly, is husband-and-wife space in our home, and I like it that way. We all get so busy during the day, and it’s nice for my husband and I to have a place to re-connect before the day is done in case we didn’t get the chance earlier. Also, I like that my son (now 9.5 months) has his own space to be himself, to think his thoughts without us being in his face.
February 18, 2013
Great story, mt. It seems that whatever the cultural norm is, there will always be those who don’t fit it:)
February 19, 2013
Wow, Alice, you are going to be very busy keeping up with all these posts!
Before baby arrived we discussed sleeping her in the bassinet in our room and moving her to the crib in her room when we felt ready. We were both adamantly opposed to bedsharing, due to the safety hazards and the fact that we wanted to get optimal rest ourselves and also keep our bed for us – so we didn’t have to break her of sleeping with us later down the road, in order to have privacy as a married couple.
The first 6 weeks or so we were up 3-4 times per night nursing. Sometimes I would be up with her for 90 minutes because I would wait for her to be in a deep enough sleep that she would hopefully not wake up when placed in her crib, or she would wake up when placed in the crib and then I had to try and get her to sleep again. I found she liked being walked around with a pacifier in her mouth to fall asleep but I realized fairly quickly that as she grew bigger, I would not be able to do this with her for long and we needed to establish good sleep habits.
We worked on sleep during the day for naps. We would watch for cues of tiredness (yawns, rubbing the eyes) and then lay her down wide awake but before she became fussy. I swaddle her for each nap as a way to indicate to her that it is nap time. I believe she has learned swaddling means sleep (she’s about eleven weeks now.) If she cried or fussed when trying to fall asleep, we would go in every few minutes to assess. Sometimes it was just giving the paci back to her; other times when she cried for longer I would pick her up to give her a little hug for about 30 seconds and she would sometimes immediately fall asleep after that. Or I would put my hand on her chest and wait for her to start drifting to sleep. Over a few weeks’ time, this began to work.
When she was about 9 weeks old she started waking only once in the middle of the night to eat. This was about the time she learned to suck her thumb, which I believe helped put her back to sleep without my assistance. By this time she was comfortable enough in the crib that she didn’t stir much when I set her in it. Swaddling also helps because there is less disturbance as you transfer, and no heat difference (she did not like being placed in a cold crib!) Less than a week after she started waking only once she started sleeping through the night.
I believe several things may have attributed to her night sleep success:
-since day one home from the hospital we napped her alternately in either the crib or the bassinet so she would be used to sleeping in both.
-we rarely let her fall asleep while holding her (though, sometimes we did because we all love it!)
-investing the time during the day to work with her on learning to fall asleep on her own in her crib.
-not letting her nap for more than about 2 hours at a time during the day.
With that said, although I feel we have great success in her falling asleep on her own for naps and sleeping through the night at two months, she typically will wake up early out of naps during the day when I feel she is still tired and needing to sleep longer. I cannot figure out why she does this. I have tried everything: decreasing her waketime, increasing waketime, increasing exercise/stimulation, feeding her when she wakes; and I still can’t get her to take long enough naps.
February 18, 2013
I forgot to mention also that we did end up caving on the bedsharing every now and then. If I was especially sleep deprived, I found that the only way to get a little more rest (and be a better mom during the day) was to lay on the couch with her head in the crook of my arm. I figured out that I could basically lay in bed the same way with her head stationary in my arm so that I felt she was safe from suffocation. I also pushed the covers way down so I didn’t have to worry about them covering her face. We did not sleep together as the norm, but every now and then when I really needed the sleep. Sometimes we did this at naptime during the day, too.
She also went through a quirky phase for a few weeks where she would wake up around 5:45 every morning. Typically we just fed around 4:00 so I knew it wasn’t hunger; she just would squirm and grunt, unable to fall back asleep. I would bring her into bed with us during that time as well.
I would like to mention that one of our friends gave us their video monitor since they didn’t need it anymore. Using it has really helped, because at night when I would lay down after feeding her and she would make noise, I could check on her from bed. If she had her hands in her mouth I knew she would most likely fall asleep soon on her own. Hands flailed to the sides usually means she needs my help sleeping. Also, if it went quiet for a few minutes I could see if she was asleep or just being quiet. This allowed me to rest my brain to fall asleep, without worrying she would start making noise again any moment. During the day I find it helpful for naps, because I see how often she is waking up and sometimes, putting herself back to sleep. I have also noticed a couple of times that she turns a 90 degree angle and has her face near the rolled up blankets I use on her sides to keep her on her back. Then I can go in and move the blankets away from her.
February 18, 2013
We found that naps were much more difficult for Cee than nighttime sleep. During the day, she had a hard time connecting sleep cycles and would rarely sleep more than 30-45 minutes at a time. She’d wake up grumpy but be unable to go back to sleep. It was so hard. I remember doing some internet searches at the time and finding that this phenomenon had been named the “45-minute intruder.” When Cee was 4-5 months old, she suddenly started connecting cycles and sleeping for 2-3 hours for naps. Pure bliss.
Reading the comments on this post, I’m struck by how important the parents’ goals and attitudes are for determining how things turn out with sleep. Some parents are comfortable with sleeping with their baby and just going with the flow. Others – like you – really work on getting baby to sleep independently and figuring out how to facilitate this. Parent can have trouble with both approaches, but I think recognizing your long-term goals, coupled with some flexibility, is important.
February 19, 2013
Also, your comment made me think about the “occasional” vs. “habitual” cosleeper. A lot of dangerous cosleeping can occur because parents are at the end of their rope, exhausted, and they fall asleep on a couch with baby. Even if this only happens every once in a while, it is still a serious risk. In this case, being in a bed that has been cleared of blankets and pillows is much safer. Wherever you and baby sleep, it is important to be intentional about making sure the environment is as safe as possible. I’m glad that you did that with your occasional cosleeping!
February 19, 2013
I had planned for my daughter to sleep in her crib beside our bed. However, she slept in our beed between us for about 6 weeks. She would not stay asleep without being next to one of us. In Canada (or at least Nova Scotia), Public Health is much more accepting of this (perhaps because we accept multicultural practices?). They also call each new mom a day or two after leaving hospital. The public health nurse help me to make sure we were practicing safe co-sleeping and assure me it was common for a newborn not to sleep in a crib that easily. By 6 weeks, she would sleep in her crib.This was also a time that she had quite a bit of reflux so I was not feeling her while lying down. She moved into her own room around 3 months, mostly because we would wake her sometimes when we went to be. Day sleep was a bit different. She mostly slept in my arms or carrier until about 3-4 months for day time naps.
February 18, 2013
With my 19 month old daughter, she slept in a bassinet in our bedroom for the first 6 weeks, at which point she would actually sleep through the night without needing to nurse. (I was way too lucky with her!) She slept in her own crib from then on, and if she ever had difficulty sleeping we did a modified version of CIO: we wouldn’t let her cry more than 5 minutes, then would rub her back and reassure her that we would play with her when she got up, etc; we never would pick her up to reassure her. It worked well for our family. My 19 month old can nap and sleep very easily, and even if she isn’t tired, she will sometimes look at a book in bed during naptime.
My almost 3 month old has been on a similar regime, though she still isn’t reliably sleeping through the night. When she does wake in the night for feedings, I am apt to fall asleep in our bed with her next to me. Neither my husband or I minds now, except when her diaper leaks!
I have had experiences with children who are catered to by their parents in one way or another, and I personally have a hard time understanding how some parents expect their children to ever learn to sleep on their own if they don’t force them to early on. When habits are learned early, they are more readily accepted. When a child is catered to for years, then suddenly expected to fall asleep on his or her own at age 5, there are so many more months of training to reverse and expectations to shatter.
That being said, I still hate hearing my LO’s cry, so I have to shut the door if anyone is CIO.
February 18, 2013
As a baby nurse, having the knowledge that babies have died when parents sleeping soundly have rolled over onto them, I wonder why any parent would consider taking that chance.
February 18, 2013
We periodically let our two month old sleep in bed with us but only if she is really having a hard time sleeping on her own and everyone needs the rest. If she sleeps with us, I move all pillows far away from her and keep the blankets at the bottom of her body (she’s swaddled anyway, and doesn’t need them). I then lay on my side and put my arm over her to keep me stable and can feel if my husband creeps into our territory. I don’t sleep deeply in this position because it’s not that comfortable, so I don’t worry about rolling on her. With that said, I am not comfortable allowing her to sleep with us like this all night, for fear of falling into deep sleep while she is in bed with us. When she comes into bed with us, it is usually at 5:30 or 6 am when we would be getting up in 30-60 minutes anyway.
I used to have the same view on this as you do, and was adamantly opposed to having her in bed with us. But when she was really new, she just had a hard time staying asleep without comfort of mom or dad there. After 3 weeks of insufficient sleep, I allowed her to sleep next to us occasionally while taking precautions. Anyway, just thought I would share some insight as to why we would sleep with her in our bed from time to time.
February 20, 2013
First, what I remember of what my mom did (older brother born 1973, me 1978, younger brother 1983). As far as I’m aware, for my older brother and I, we did some combination of crib and then bed-sharing. I remember helping set up the crib in my parent’s bedroom for my little brother, and then I think when he got too big for that he and my mom went into his room, although I don’t recall if she bed-shared at all or just room-shared (different mattresses). The room-sharing I recall was due to a combination of my dad snoring and my little brother’s nightmares as an toddler/preschooler, and she stayed in there until somewhere in his elementary school years. I do recall her saying that she slept with me until he was on the way, and that my dad slept with my older brother at one point as well. I believe we were all breastfed somewhere past age 3 (I know it was 3.5 for me).
What we planned to do and what we really did definitely don’t match up. We had several complicating factors – a waterbed for DH and I, and a cradle that my ILs sent us that arrived broken. I had wanted to have DD sleep in the cradle in our room until she was too big for it, and then do something else. I don’t recall precisely what, probably transitioning to something age-appropriate in another room. I was interested in the Arms Reach, but didn’t feel that it would work with our waterbed, so we ended up quickly buying a crib/mattress at IKEA from their in-stock stuff (we got the broken cradle too late to order from most places and still get a crib by EDD). DD slept in the crib in another room until about 8 months old for the majority of night-time sleep. Naps took place on me on the couch while breastfeeding – and it wasn’t a plan thing, just what was easiest at the time. There was lots of unintended couch co-sleeping going on the whole time since birth, since I often would fall asleep BFing on the couch, being unable to lie down to sleep due to other health issues as well as DD being a cesarean, and of course, the waterbed. We bought a twin mattress to put on the floor in DD’s room for end of the night nursing at 7months, because we had started to have problems with her waking up and not falling asleep again alone, as well as pretty bad daytime separation anxiety (as in, 15-20 minutes in the room with me at the doctor’s office was too long for her to be out of physical contact with mama). Months 7-8 were a slow transition to just having me go to bed with her and stay all night, since the amount of time it took to get her back to sleep in the crib was getting longer and longer each time she woke up to BF, and she only slept 40 minutes without waking up, when alone. I remember spending more than an hour for each wake up between Bfing and getting DD to settle to sleep at this point.
Anyway, after 8 months, it was Mama and DD on the floor in a twin mattress in one bedroom, and Papa in the waterbed in another bedroom (there was also a combination of Papa and Mama’s health issues that made it better for us to be in separate beds, not just the separation anxiety/wakeups/etc from DD). We’ve since moved twice, and have stayed with DH in one room and DD and I in another, but with different bed arrangements over time. After a bit sharing in a queen bed with me, near DD turning 2 we side-cared the crib mattress to the queen (both on the floor with no box springs), and attempted to get DD to start the night there (didn’t happen). Naps stayed as either happening in the car and (hopefully) transitioning into the house onto the crib mattress, or as happening during BFing and then staying right there (full body contact, usually long periods of nipple in mouth too) until they stopped at 3.5. After naps stopped, we switched the crib mattress for a twin, and have been much more successful at starting the night in the twin, sometimes for as much as 6 hours, and sometimes for as little as 40 minutes. However, if DD decides she must BF to go to sleep, then she sleeps with me all night in the queen bed.
Whee, that was long. Also, I feel like I’m one of the rare people among the people I know with kids, even among the group that co-sleeps, to have chosen not to night-wean DD at a much younger age. She just turned 4 (last week) and still nurses 1-5 times in 24 hours, with usually 2-3 of those happening at night. I have always needed to snuggle with something to sleep (stuffed friend, pillow or DH) so I think that’s part of my sense of comfortableness for sleeping with DD.
February 18, 2013
I had babies that easily slept with us. My husband loved it. I was able to breastfeed and we all went back to sleep. I night weaned when it made sense for us, and we slept that way until we moved them to their beds. For us it worked.
As a pediatric sleep consultant, I see plenty of people for whom that arrangement is painfully not working. The idea sounds good, but when baby or young toddler does not nurse and go back to sleep but instead needs more help, like bouncing or rocking or walking, then bedsharing is no longer working. No one is sleeping and everyone is cranky. Maybe baby is too stimulated by the all night buffet or maybe the parents make too much noise and movement for baby to sleep soundly. Or maybe baby has no self-settling skills and isn’t settled simply by nursing back to sleep. All I know is I get lots of calls from parents for whom bedsharing is not a working answer.
And then of course, I have plenty of clients who would never consider it as an option, and that’s fine. I believe it is a personal choice and no one should be judged for finding what works best for their family.
February 18, 2013
It seems like for some families, bedsharing works great in the early months in terms of getting everyone some sleep. Then, in late infancy, they have babies that need to nurse frequently to return to sleep between cycles and the family’s sleep is really disrupted. I’d imagine that’s when they need your help. Other families don’t seem to run into this issue at all. I would love to see a randomized trial investigating how sleep behavior is different over childhood among those bedsharing and those with solitary sleep. I doubt such a study will ever happen, but it would be interesting.
February 19, 2013
My initial plan was that after our home birth, baby would sleep in a bassinet next to my side of our bed. I figured that it would be close enough to be convenient for night feedings, yet far enough that I wouldn’t have to hear my husband complain about lack of space. Also, although I intuitively felt that bedsharing was totally natural and safe, my husband very strongly believed that we should follow the recommendations of the medical community and abstain from bedsharing.
However, the home birth ended up with a non-emergency transfer to the hospital and while we were there, it seemed totally unnatural to let the baby leave my side. Hospital rooms already feel so cold and impersonal; putting my baby into a plastic bin to sleep felt cruel! And so the co-sleeping began.
My husband and I co-slept with our son for just under 3 months. There were many reasons that we continued until we did and a few compelling reasons why we stopped when we did.
During the co-sleeping time, the frequency of nursing and sleep deprivation was extremely difficult for me. While my midwives wouldn’t go so far as to say that I had postpartum depression, they did recommend a therapist, who I saw for 6 weeks. Adding sleep deprivation onto my already fragile emotional state would have been (in my current opinion) unwise at best. Thus, although I’m sure I didn’t get much more sleep than someone who never co-slept, even a few more minutes was better than none.
Also, for the first 3 months of his life, our baby had a very high need to be held. For the first month, he rarely slept unless he was in someone’s arms or we were wearing him in a Moby wrap. Sure, it wasn’t convenient, but at the very beginning, my husband and I would have slept with him while standing on our heads if that would have given us a bit of rest. The older he got, the more that need diminished (and the more we encouraged his independence), and that made the transition out of our bed much easier.
Most of the other reasons we co-slept were just due to personal preference. Strange as it may sound, I never worried about whether baby was too hot or cold, because I could gauge his temp so easily. I never worried about whether he was breathing, because there he was breathing ON me. Plus, it just felt right to me, to have my baby lying next to me, with his little body facing mine. I loved waking up and seeing his little face peacefully sleeping. I loved hearing his soft breathing. Even now, I get jealous of people who co-sleep with their newborns. I remember what a special, magical, intimate, time that was for us — and how finite it was.
Ultimately, I noticed that the benefits to co-sleeping were far outweighed by the negatives. As time went on, baby started grunting in his sleep and squirming (rather violently from my perspective). Frustratingly, it would wake ME up, but HE would just sleep through it. Often, he would also cry in his sleep or shriek. Again, HE would sleep through it, but then I would be startled awake. At this time, I was still nursing him ever 2-3 hours, but getting up between those times due to his big movements and bigger sounds was too disruptive.
Finally, my husband and I both realized that we didn’t want co-sleeping to become a long-term habit. We knew that object permanence would appear in just a few short months and (many thanks to Alexis at troublesometots.com!!) we desperately wanted to make sure that he could a) fall asleep on his own, and b) wake to the exact same conditions he fell asleep to. Co-sleeping would have been a direct threat to both of those goals, so we stopped doing it. Baby didn’t really mind at that point, but it sure was emotional for me! Ultimately, however, we helped baby develop into an amazing sleeper, we got to enjoy co-sleeping for a bit, and I think our family is all the better for doing both!
February 18, 2013
I love that you’re writing about this, and hope that your book is out before I have my next baby! With our son, now eleven months old, we had originally planned to start out with him sleeping in an arms reach co-sleeper, then move him to a crib in our bedroom, and then move that crib into his own room after the six month mark. My parents co-slept with me until I was three, at which point my baby sister joined the family bed, and then my sister and I co-slept until I think I was four or so, when I finally had my own bed. My husband’s parents also co-slept with him while he was young, although more in the style of having him start the night in his own crib/bed and then joining them than the way my parents structured sleep. So, we were both aware of an open to co-sleeping (although I was more open to the idea than my husband).
My son was unexpectedly born three weeks early, and that really threw me psychologically. I felt strongly that he was too little and new to the world to be apart from me, and that for those first three weeks in particular, he was still supposed to be inside me. So he was rarely in the co-sleeper during those first few weeks. For the first few months of his life, we used the co-sleeper sporadically, but it was rare for him to spend the entire night. He was also napping during the day either with me in bed, or in a baby carrier.
When he was four months old, the constant physical contact from nursing, co-sleeping, and baby wearing, combined with the interrupted sleep, was really wearing me down and I began to yearn for some time when I could have my body to myself. We started putting him down for the night in his crib, then bringing him into our bed after his first wakeup (which was never more than 4 hours after he first went down). By this point, I was fairly convinced that he couldn’t fall asleep on his own, and that if we let him cry, he’d go for hours, it would be horrible, and we’d all be scarred for life. So the bedtime process was long, and involved nursing or walking him to sleep. By 5 1/2 months, he was nursing constantly while he was in bed with me, and I couldn’t take it. Additionally, my husband is a pediatric dentist, so he was not thrilled with the idea of our son nursing all night long! We consulted with a local holistically minded nurse practitioner/sleep expert, who helped us come up with a plan to get our son napping and spending the night in his crib rather than on me/in our bed. It was a little bumpy, but much smoother than we’d anticipated, and he adjusted quickly. We ended up doing a modified cry it out approach a few months in when putting him down very drowsy/asleep stopped working. We let him cry without a time limit, but went to him when it was the “I need you” cry. Otherwise, we let him work it out on his own. We tried sitting in his room with him, and going to him at intervals, but quickly found that this was incredibly distracting for him, and didn’t help any of us.
Now that he’s eleven months, it’s clear that he sleeps far better in a crib in his own room than in bed with us. I’ve brought him into our bed a few times since we transitioned – when he’s been sick, or I’ve felt like he’s needed more from me – and it’s never worked out. He just wants to nurse and play, and then happily falls back to sleep in his crib when I bring him back. He still has nights when he cries, but we rarely have to go in. And, most importantly, when he wakes up from almost every nap and nighttime sleep, he plays happily in his crib, and I know that he feels comfortable there, which reassures me that our sleep learning process hasn’t traumatized him.
I don’t regret the time that we spent co-sleeping, or the fact that he solely napped on me for the first five months of his life, because I feel like I needed time to get to know him, and for him to become more expressive, before we attempted any form of sleep training. We haven’t tackled night weaning yet, and he still wakes 1-3 times a night, but if he doesn’t drop these wakings after a year, we will do some sort of sleep training again (likely a cry it out method, because he’s taught me that he really needs me to give him space to get to sleep on his own without my distracting presence – such a hard realization for a mother to make!).
With my next baby, though, I won’t have such a long maternity leave, and so I wonder how we’ll handle things differently.
February 18, 2013
Wow, thank you all so much for sharing your stories here. It is going to take me some time to read and digest them all, but I will. They illustrate so well how complex this decision is, how different we are with regards to our parenting priorities, and how different babies’ needs can be. Thank you thank you – you are giving me the perspective I need to understand this issue.
February 18, 2013
Our baby boy, now nearly 2 years old, has slept with us every night since he was born (even in the hospital). I have never once felt “scared” or “uncomfortable” with him being in bed with us. I cannot imagine my child being his own bed, especially in another room, it horrifies me. Miller is an extremely laid back and content little guy, very well-spoken and outgoing. He still breastfeeds several times through-out the day, and usually once during the night (he always sleeps a good 10 hours). We all sleep nicely, and co-sleeping has worked super well for us. I dread the day that he wants to sleep in his own room I will be one sad Mama.
In stating my situation I would like to add that I have an equal amount of girlfriends that co-sleep with their babies/toddlers as I do those who do not. I would never judge another Mama on her sleep decisions, as long as Baby and Mother are both happy and healthy. I feel blessed to be part of a Mama-social-group that feels the same as I do, and shares my respect for different parenting decisions.
I do however find it concerning that some folks are using terms like “bad habits” when referring to co-sleeping. We should all do what is best for our own children, and then for ourselves as well. If you have a happy baby then you are doing it right!
February 18, 2013
I agree!
February 18, 2013
I agree as well that respect for other decisions should always be the foundation of any parenting discussion or debate. We all come from different places with regards to our expectation and priorities for our children’s sleep – and our kids are different, too. It would be silly to think we could know what is right for another family. What some might call “bad habits” might not seem that way to you at all – that’s a personal judgement based on personal expectations. I personally want my girl to be able to nap on her own, but other moms here don’t mind laying down to nap with their kiddos. I’ve learned that whether that’s a “good” or “bad” outcome is completely in the eye of the beholder.
And thanks for sharing your story again, Esmee! It’s already in the book!
February 19, 2013
February 21, 2013
We kept our son in a bassinet next to the bed for the first four months, and moved him to a crib in his own room once he outgrew the bassinet. This arrangement worked well for us. In the newborn days, I really appreciated having him right next to me so that I could be aware of his movements. It was easy to pick him up for nursing during the night, and also I could reach over to the bassinet to soothe him when he was fussy. I missed that closeness once we moved him to his own room, but our house is small enough we could still easily hear him when he woke during the night. We never considered bed-sharing, because my husband and I are both fairly deep sleepers and didn’t want to take the chance of rolling over onto him.
We were fortunate in that our son has always been a pretty good sleeper once he is down for the night. He woke once or twice per night for milk during his first year, and after that the night wakings gradually tapered down to zero by the time he was about 18months old. Our biggest sleep challenge was getting him to go to sleep in the first place. We had a consistent routine of bath, bedtime stories, and rocking to sleep, but as he became a toddler he started to actively resist falling asleep, even clapping his hands or talking loudly to keep himself awake. If we tried to put him to bed before he was fully asleep, he would become hysterically upset. We could not bring ourselves to make him cry it out. Recently (at 21 months old), we began to talk to him about going “night night” in bed, and pointing out characters in his books that do so. This made all the difference, and now he is happy to lay down in bed after a few stories, and a little singing and rocking. I think the key for us was waiting until he was old enough to talk through the transition together. That said, I think with our next, we will try to get the baby comfortable falling asleep in bed at a much younger age, maybe 4-6months old, before he/she is able to stand up in the bed.
February 18, 2013
Hi Alice! Great work here! Just thought I’d chime in here – co-sleeping really was not an option for us with TK as my husband is a very restless sleeper and tosses and turns a lot. He was in a cradle for about 3 months (that my grandfather built) right next to me so that I could put my hand in it if I felt it would help settle him; a crib in our room for the next 6 months while we finished his room (wish we could be a step ahead with planning/executing but the realities of a dairy farm often prevent that); and then his own room in the same crib from 9 months on. I wish we could have gone right from the cradle to the crib in his own room – it would have saved a lot of wakeful nights, especially of me jumping at most every sound, but alas it was not to be. I do hope to do about the same with #2 who should be arriving sometime in the next 4 weeks.
My question though is, if you think your baby “needs” to co-sleep, what do you do if it’s not possible?
February 18, 2013
This is a fantastic question! Totally seconded.
February 19, 2013
4 weeks! Gosh, the time flies! Best of luck with #2!
I agree with KT – your question is fantastic. I don’t really know the answer, but I’ll tell you my opinion. I get the feeling that the “neediness” varies in intensity. In many cases, a compromise of a sidecar cosleeper can work great for everyone. It gets baby on a safe separate sleep surface but allows proximity for easy feeding and touch. A friend’s baby seemed like one of those babies that really needed to cosleep but they weren’t comfortable with it. The cosleeper worked great for them, and they were able to transition to a crib within a few months. Based on others stories, some babies really seem to need that physical touch, and sleep seems impossible without it. In that case, I think you either muddle through or you find a way to make cosleeping work for you and do it as safely as you can. If you read some of the other comments on this thread, it isn’t uncommon for dad to sleep in a separate bed or room. That’s also not uncommon in traditional cosleeping cultures like Japan. If we had chosen to cosleep, I wouldn’t have been comfortable with my husband in the bed. He’s a also a deep but active sleeper – sometimes I’m not comfortable cosleeping with him!
February 19, 2013
PS – I’d love to hear more responses to this question. Anyone else have a baby that seemed to need a lot of physical closeness but for whom bedsharing wasn’t an option?
February 19, 2013
katie #
My youngest started out sleeping in our bed, on my chest, for the first 3 weeks of her life. This was the only place she would sleep AT ALL. So, I slept (sort of) sitting up at an angle, with pillows on either side of me in case she should roll off of me (she didn’t). She would not sleep next to me or just near me because she could not sleep on her back. We tried to move her to an attached co-sleeper, but she would have none of that. So then, she transitioned to a swinging swing in our room where she stayed for at least another month. We slowly were able to wean her off the swinging and then moved her to a bouncy seat in our room for another month. Finally, at a little over 3 months, she started sleeping in the cosleeper, swaddled. She stayed there until she was 7 months old when we moved her to her crib down the hall. I would say “transitioned” her but there was no transition. She could care less. To this day (21 months) she goes to sleep at night and for naptime on her own with not so much as a pat on the back. I think we were just lucky!
My older daughter slept in a pack-n-play in our room for the first 4 months and then moved to the crib. Again, zero transition issues.
I nursed both of them well beyond the move to their own cribs, but I also noticed an immediate change in their number of wake-ups (less!) in the crib. I had noticed a similar phenomena when I would leave early for work when were still co-sleeping with my younger daughter – she slept in and skipped her early morning nursing session. So, a pro of co-sleeping with a young baby is ease of nursing and ensuring frequent nursing, but a con of co-sleeping with an older baby is more frequent wake ups to nurse because they are aware you are there and available (in my experience).
I love reading your blog! Your book sounds fascinating.
February 18, 2013
Your observation about more frequent wake-up s with the older cosleeping baby is a common one. That puts you in that awkward place of baby wanting to feed but not necessarily needing to. Many argue that a want is a need for a baby, but there is an age where that dependency becomes really draining and not necessarily helpful for the child, in my opinion.
I think there are some legitimate safety concerns with sleeping in devices not designed for sleep, but I really don’t have other solutions to offer in these cases:(
February 19, 2013
You are absolutely right in that each child & situation brings very different “right” answers.
Before having my first son, I was adamantly against co sleeping. I thought it was dangerous & something for hippies & third world countries. I spent about the first 2 months of my son’s life getting little to no sleep. He ate often, would not let you put him down unless he was in a deep sleep, & only slept in 45 minute cycles. Every night was torture & went something like this: baby skips fussing & goes straight to screaming, walk across room to get him, change him, nurse him for about 30 minutes, hold him in my arms without moving a muscle for another 15 minutes, carefully put him back down in the pack n play bassinet, sneak back to bed, pass out for 30 minutes before the cycle started over again.
My husband was extremely supportive & helped with what he could, but our little one spit up buckets when we tried to give him formula, & since he ate so often I did not have the time or patience to hand pump breast milk for those night shifts. Despite the sleep deprivation torture techniques that our little one was using on us, the thought of co sleeping still did not cross my mind.
One night, I was so tired that I laid back with our little boy on my chest. I fell asleep, & we both slept wonderfully for the next 3 hours. That was that. Co sleeping was our survival technique, but I still felt horribly guilty about it. I felt that I was headed for a lifetime of sleep issues. I was embarrassed that I didn’t have what it took to get my child to sleep in his own crib. I researched co sleeping endlessly to try to make myself feel better & convince myself that I was not going to harm my child. I kept our co sleeping a secret.
If I didn’t have pre-conceived notions in my head, those first few months would have been a lot easier. If I would have just listened to my baby & my motherly instincts, we could have bonded much sooner & spared each other a lot of crying. Co sleeping became such an easy and wonderful thing. Sometimes our son would snuggle with my husband, & sometimes he would snuggle with me. It certainly made breastfeeding a lot easier, & everyone began getting more sleep.
The best part of this story is that it doesn’t end with a 12 year old who is still in mom & dad’s bed. We very gradually transitioned our son to his own room (that he essentially never slept in) around 18 months. We put a queen mattress on the floor, & we all slept together on that in his bedroom for a few nights. Then my husband stayed with him overnight (he stayed asleep longer when the “milkies” weren’t so readily available) for a few nights. Now, most nights our little 2 year old sleeps through the night in his own room. We never made him cry it out or did any extensive “sleep training,” & I am very proud of that.
Now with another little boy on the way, I am so appreciative for my first son & all of his stubbornness & high demands. He would not settle for anything else than co sleeping. He demanded that we listen. He made us throw the books out the window & do what was best for our family. He taught me that you can’t spoil a baby. I am curious to see how this new little boy sleeps. If he prefers co sleeping, we will co sleep. If he prefers his space, we will allow him that gladly. My only plans are to follow his cues & keep the peace
February 18, 2013
Beautiful story, Shari. I think the guilt and embarrassment you felt about bedsharing – when it was clearly the only thing that worked for you during that time – illustrates why we have to be careful about how we discuss this topic. In situations like these, I think parents need information and support. They shouldn’t be afraid to talk with friends and their pediatrician or other health workers about their situation. Rather than condemning the practice, I think we should tells moms in your situation: We have some real concerns about the safety of sleeping with your baby in your bed, but we also know there are steps you can take to make it safer. Here’s what they are… Many parents enjoy bedsharing for this, this and this reason. Others find some challenges with it, including this, this, and this.
February 19, 2013
Thanks! (& sorry for submitting twice… thanks for deleting the repeat comment) Yes, it is definitely important to be well educated on all aspects of the topic. My main professional resource on the topic became Dr Sears; however, it would have been so helpful to have local resources that I could reach out to besides forums on the internet (since we all know that those are not the best place for accurate info haha)
February 19, 2013
We never considered co-sleeping prior to having our son or even when we brought him home and he wouldn’t sleep well. We were greatly influenced by the sleep campaigns, friends, and family saying not to co-sleep and were very scared to do it. When looking at how to do it “safely” it seemed impossible – we would need a different mattress, no blankets, no pillows, guard rails on two sides of the bed, etc. etc. It just seemed un-doable. I feel I know better now. It would have been doable and I would not have had to take all of those steps.
Our son had a lot of trouble sleeping, even in the first two weeks. After putting him in the car seat to sleep (next to our bed) he slept much better and spent the first 6 weeks sleeping there. The next step we took was to move him to a pack-n-play at the foot of our bed and have him take naps there as well. It didn’t work well but with being consumed with sleep deprivation, crazy hormones, and feelings of helplessness, I couldn’t think of an alternative. There was lots of crying and my bending over his bed to cuddle him while he lay in the crib. 5-10 minutes after we put him down he would awake and be unconsolable. Then the process would repeat. I believed the *only* way to solve our problem was to teach him to fall asleep in the crib instead of in my arms at 8 weeks. So we continued “comforting” him as he lay in the crib. It worked. He was sleeping through the night for 11-12 hrs by 3 months. We moved him to his own room at that time because he started waking when we rustled and because we were told by a book that we were doomed to have a big struggle if he wasn’t out of our room by 3 months. Ultimately the nighttime sleep was easy to get, the naps to get the nighttime sleep were the most difficult part. According to “the book” naps need to be still and respected like night sleep, so I didn’t use creativity there, either. All of the training really took a toll on my conscience, my back, and my stress level. At the time we blamed many of the sleep issues on his nature of just not wanting to sleep (he always cried falling asleep even in our arms) and on reflux. In hindsight I think he really needed shorter awake times, but he also needed to be cuddled. I wish I had given that to him. To this day (1.5yrs later) I feel deep remorse about not co-sleeping.
February 18, 2013
This is an interesting topic! I’ll join in — Our now 15-month-old daughter has slept in a crib in her own room since her first night home from the hospital. We never considered co-sleeping, partly due to the suffocation concerns and partly due to how it would likely impact our own sleeping patterns and married couple intimacy and all that. Everything went as planned, and the setup worked great for both us and our daughter.
February 18, 2013
Hi there! I’m also glad about your book, and looking forward to reading it. I have often searched for sleep solutions (as if it were so easy) and the search continues. Here is our story (one to add to the reality not matching expectations file):
Our son (and only child) is 10 1/2 months old. He was exclusively breastfed (no bottles, formula, or pacifiers) on demand until 6 months. And when I say on-demand, I really mean it. He ate every 2 hours (both sides!) for 3 months, and then every 3 hours after that. Day AND night! The no-formula, no-pacifier was by choice. The bottle, not necessarily. He just didn’t like any of the bottles we tried. Eventually he drank EBM from a cup, so I was able to get the occasional break.
In those first 6 months, he slept in a bassinet next to our bed. He woke every 2-3 hours, when I would feed him in a rocking chair in his room. He easily fell back to sleep while nursing, and I put him in his bassinet and went back to sleep myself. I thought this was (on the edge of) normal for an exclusively breastfed baby.
I should mention, he really is a thriving child – extremely healthy and happy. This has made me reluctant to question my instincts too much.
At 6 months, we started him on solid food. Using ‘baby led weaning’ and big healthy meals, he really took to food and shovels it in. I assumed he would begin to sleep for longer stretches. At this time, he outgrew the bassinet and we moved him into a crib in his own room, which is next door to ours. For a few weeks, he went to sleep while nursing, and was then placed in the crib.
But still! He woke every 2-3 hours, when I would go to him to feed him. I was so tired, inexplicably more so than when he was a newborn. I started bringing him into bed with my husband and myself around 5am. We didn’t mind him there, as it’s very nice to wake up as a family.
It got worse when he started standing up and we had to lower the crib mattress. That was 2 months ago. Since then he falls asleep nursing, and screams bloody murder as if he is being lowered into the fiery pits of hell when we try and put him in the crib. To avoid the 20 minutes of resettling required, we put him into our bed, where he stretches out comfortably and sleeps, staying until morning. He wakes a few times during the night, has a quick feed and goes immediately back to sleep.
My husband and I wish he were in his own bed, but we can’t seem to bear any crying from him. His is the kind that quickly escalates into a full-blown, red-faced scream. There’s never a chance of him whimpering himself off to sleep.
We really don’t know what to do. I am going to introduce cow’s milk when he is 12 months old. It would be really great if he ever once in his life slept for more than this 2-3 hour stretch. Intellectually I know he will, and this period is a finite one in what is hopefully a long life. I just wish it were more on my terms, and less on the baby’s!
I hope our story is helpful. Good luck with your book!
February 18, 2013
Thank you! Is there any chance your son will fall asleep without nursing, even in your arms? That might help. Or laying down with him on your bed, awake, and seeing if he can go to sleep. Have you checked out Pantley’s No-Cry Sleep Solution? Just some thoughts… It sounds like he prefers to be close to you, but maybe allowing him that while also reducing the association of needing to nurse to sleep might get you more sleep.
February 19, 2013
To me, co-sleeping has always seemed incredibly dangerous. I don’t really understand how someone can sleep with a baby in the bed. I do have a friend who breastfeeds and uses a co-sleeper that attaches to her bed. I don’t think I could sleep that way, but I can see how it would be convenient for some, and safer than straight-up co-sleeping.
As it happens, I take medication at night for chronic pain, and that medication puts me OUT. Even co-sleeping advocates tend to say that one shouldn’t co-sleep under the influence of drugs. So, I suppose it’s a good thing we didn’t want to do it in the first place.
My son always slept in his crib. Once he moved to a bed, he could sometimes come in and sleep with us if he has a bad dream. My daughter has been in a crib since she came home. She’s now at the point, at 16 months, where we put her in the crib, she lies down, and says “bye!”. If I try to rub her back, she pushes my hand away and says, very forcefully, “BYE!”.
My children were adopted, and we have open adoptions. DD’s birthmom was somewhat critical of us using a crib. She said she was afraid of SIDS, so she co-slept with all of her children. How? By putting the bed next to the wall, a row of pillows next to the wall, and the child between her and the pillows. I’m pretty sure that’s the recipe for SIDS, right? Fortunately, her other kids survived infancy.
DS had serious nap issues, so we used the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I read 12 sleep books total, and that was the one that worked for us.
February 18, 2013
I agree that sleeping with your babies next to pillows or sleeping with them while medicated are both dangerous options, and putting your babies to sleep in cribs is safe and works well for you. That’s what matters! Whether or not bedsharing CAN be a safe option is a complicated question, and I don’t think we really have the answer yet. However, even James McKenna recommends that if you doubt the safety of bedsharing and would feel guilty if your baby died of SIDS next to you in bed, then it probably isn’t a good option for you. The right choice for you depends a lot on your own comfort level. Luckily, most babies seem to be fairly adaptable!
February 19, 2013
Our first baby slept in a bassinet next to our bed for a few days, and then we settled him in his own room next to ours. He slept pretty well, we were lucky.
In between his birth and his sister’s, I read that the risk of SIDS is slightly decreased by having a baby sleep in his or her own bed, but in the parents’ room, possibly because you might wake up if something was wrong. I am terrified of SIDS. Slavishly following the recommendations was the only thing I felt I could do, so baby number two slept for five months in our room in a portacot (and slept in her own room, in her proper cot, for daytime sleeps).
Eventually at five months I conceded that (a) she was as strong as an ox and I was being ridiculously paranoid, and (b) we were going to go crazy if we didn’t have our space back, so she moved to her room permanently. It really helped her sleep. She used to get annoyed when she would hear us chat, or turn a dim light on, or turn over in our sleep.
Sleeping in their own rooms worked really well for us, but our babies slept easily and liked their own space. I completely agree that different families and different babies will have different solutions. It worked for us, but I also found the SIDS recommendations completely terrifying. I’m lucky my babies were suited to the SIDS recommended sleep regime. I guess all they can do is present the recommendations derived from the statistics but you’re so vulnerable as a new parent. Even now I read about someone sewing or buying cot bumpers and I freak out. My babies slept in empty, bare cots with tight fitted sheets, no toys and zipped up in sleeping bags. Poor little beasts. I used to tie a teddy bear to the cot rails, up well above them where they couldn’t reach it so had no chance of suffocating on it (!!) just so they would have a ‘friend’.
I’m prepared to accept that I may have been over-reacting a little bit …!!
February 19, 2013
I agree that this is a controvercial topic – but as with many others the right answer is “it depends”. It depends on… family relationship, child ability to sleep alone and well, and probably many others. Here is my recent post on this subject:
February 19, 2013
With my first born (a baby boy named Eli), we had planned on him sleeping in an antique cradle built by my hubby’s grandfather for my hubby to sleep in as an infant. That was right in line with all the latest research and the AAP recommendation. Hubby and I are both engineers, so doing the right thing that all the research supported was important to us.
That sleep situation lasted about 2 nights. Eli just wasn’t comfortable and was up every 30 minutes or so. I’m a light sleeper so that meant that by the time I would get calmed down and get back to sleep, Eli was waking up again. I can survive on very little sleep, but having absolutely no sleep just wasn’t cutting it. About day 3 of being at home, I realized that Eli was sleeping best during the day when I’d let him nap on my chest while I finally got some sleep. My newborn could sleep for 3-4 hours at a time this way. Anytime I laid him down he’d sleep for 30-45 minutes and be back awake. I was desperate for some real sleep in a real bed. I wasn’t functioning without good sleep for myself, I was highly emotional, and I didn’t feel like I was able to be the Mommy that my baby deserved and needed. So one night, around 2am, I laid down with him beside me in the bed and, finally, we both slept for 3 consecutive hours.
At his 1 month appointment, the nurse chastized me for putting my child in my bed, but I didn’t care. We made the situation as safe as possible. I would wear sweatshirts to bed (which I hated) and sleep with no blankets above my waist. Eli slept beside me swaddled or wearing thick pajamas snuggled in the crook of my arm. I’m a very light sleeper so I wasn’t sleeping as well as I was before he was born, but at least I could rest through the night.
By 6 weeks old, my child was sleeping through the night and we had adjusted to our sleeping arrangement. At 4 months old, I moved him into a Pack-n-Play (which was softer than the cradle) in our room. He had no problems with this transition and continued to sleep through the night. At 7 months, we moved him into his crib in his own room and he made this transition easily as well.
My original plan of craddle then crib at 6 weeks didn’t work out. What did work was paying attention to my child’s needs and adjusting accordingly so that we had a sleep situation that worked for our family. Our sleep situation evolution and being a mother in general has mellowed me a great deal and taught me that sometimes research and the “experts” don’t have the right answers. The best any of us can do is to make decisions based on what we feel is best at the time. The “experts” and research should be considered but 90% of the time, mommy’s intuition will lead you to the best answer for your family.
February 19, 2013
I think Sarah at Parenting Myths and Facts has a great synopsis of the research on safety. http://parentingmythsandfacts.com/2011/12/15/the-truth-about-bedsharing-risks-and-why-it-may-not-be-what-you-think/
I also think it is interesting that I frequently see claimed that “Parents in other cultures bedshare and don’t report sleep problems,” yet the evidence I’ve seen indicates that parents in Asian cultures where bedsharing is the norm DO report more sleep problems than parents following the Western model. It isn’t clear whether this is due to the parenting affecting the rate of sleep problems, or just different perceptions of the rate of sleep problems, but it does disprove this common claim. I’m not sure if this is the study I was looking for, but there are other similar ones: http://www.tau.ac.il/~sadeh/clinic/Mindell%202010%20cross-cultural%20infant%20sleep.pdf
Due to the information on safety, I don’t want to bedshare with a young baby. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out another way to get through those early weeks with my sanity intact. So we do bedshare early on, but transition to crib by three or four months, although we sometimes continue the early morning cuddling. After that point, cosleeping itself severely disrupts my own sleep. My sleep is definitely my priority, as I can’t be a good mother without sufficient sleep. I also find that babies who sleep well on their own and take good solid naps tends to be happier and less clingy during the day. Bedsharing outside of early infancy negatively affected both my child and myself, and gentle sleep training was highly beneficial for the whole family. I don’t find the information from McKenna, Sears and other bedsharing advocates to be scientific at all.
February 19, 2013
Yes, I like the Parenting Myths and Facts post! It’s a great summary of the research, and she has a nice understanding of the complexity of the topic, which helps.
I’ve also seen these cross-cultural surveys that find sleep “problems” are just as prevalent in cosleeping cultures. Other studies suggest the opposite, though they are much smaller than the ones by the Mindell group. I think it matters a LOT how these questions are asked and how “sleep problem” is defined.
The thing about the safety data is that some studies show that bedsharing doesn’t pose an additional risk beyond 8-12 weeks in nonsmoking families, but as you said, those early weeks are often when parents find that they HAVE to sleep with their babies. Beyond that time, the safety concerns fade and it is really about your preferences for how you want to sleep and how well your baby can adapt to other sleep situations.
February 19, 2013
My newborn slept in a cradle in our room. I would not have been comfortable either with her in our bed or with her in another room. I am an extremely active sleeper who can be a very light sleeper woken by the slightest sound, but when tired have done crazy things in my sleep (sleep walking, hitting other people, etc.). That said by 5 weeks we were so exhausted by her noisy sleeping that we moved her to her own crib in her own room a few feet away from ours and all was well. She has always been a very independent baby. She was breastfed but I almost always fed her in the rocker in her room even when she was sleeping with us so as not to wake my husband, who was in the midst of an insanely busy schedule at the time. Moving her to her room actually made it easier to feed and change her because all the supplies were there. There isn’t really room in our room for a changing station and I find nursing in bed to be a messier proposition than I enjoy, although that can easily be fixed by slipping a towel under Mom & baby before starting.
At 7 weeks she started having horrible gassy episodes from 4 a.m. until 6 a.m. or so. It was miserable. A warm rice sock tucked tightly into her swaddle would get her back to sleep for a whopping single sleep cycle, and then she was up again. I would cuddle her on my chest and she’d sleep and I dozed off more often than I was comfortable with – maybe 10 or so mornings. Thank God everything was alright. Trust me when I say I was cursing the fact that no one knows the real risk factors for SIDS and I wasn’t comfortable with my child sleeping on her stomach in her own sleeping space because she hated and fought her swaddle, had an intense Moro reflex, and the gas would’ve been soothed by tummy sleep.
With the gas, the swaddle problems, and using a pacifier as a plug to fix the above problems we ended up with terrible sleep associations and sleep training. I honestly wish we could have found another way, but co-sleeping was impossible and sleep training did work well. My daughter now adores her crib – she sleeps happily there and is content there for stretches if she wakes up but I can’t go get her immediately. She’s a light sleeper. When she’s had to sleep in a room with us due to travel we’ve woken her up most nights just by turning over to get comfortable for sleeping. While I kept night feeds and sleep trained my daughter has always cluster-fed during the day, allowing her to go long stretches at night between feeds (though not always wake-ups) at an early age by her own choice.
If and when there is a kid #2 I’m thinking of trading the cradle, which is pretty and has sentimental value for us, for a Fisher Price Rock ‘n’ Play because I’ve heard the incline helps make back sleeping tolerable for babies. We’ll see. I really, really do not want to ever be up every 15 minutes at night with a baby again, nor do I want a future child to go through that experience after seeing how cranky it made my first.
February 19, 2013
We had not planned to cosleep, but I ended up having an emergency C-section and couldn’t get into my bed or even up the stairs, so E and I slept on the couch downstairs for a few weeks. By that time, she was diagnosed with GERD and screamed all. the. time. The only thing that would tamp the screaming was being held, so we kept sleeping on the couch for ease. Slowly she moved to a baby chair (a non-bouncy bouncer seat) where she could sleep with my hand on her. We did Ferber at 6 months to get her through part of the night on her own and she finally did whole nights by herself around 13 months. Sometimes she still comes into bed with us if she is having a rough night. She’s still what I’ve seen described as “highly reactive” and likes to be in bed with us if something is amiss.
February 19, 2013
My daughter slept in a bassinet until she was 3 months old, the plan was to then move her to her room. I couldn’t do it, I wasn’t ready to have her sleeping so far away from me, so we moved her crib into our room and she slept in our room in the crib. Around the time she was 5 months old it got to a point where no one was sleeping, every noise she made had me jumping to check on her, which would wake her, then my husband would be up. I was a SAHM at the time so it wasn’t a big deal for me to be up with her, I could nap if I had to, but he was working. So we moved her to her own room. We did CIO at that point in time, we’d been rocking her to sleep but again she got to a point where if we put her down she woke up and she couldn’t fall asleep anywhere w/o being rocked. We did the let her cry for 3 mins, go in comfort her, leave let her cry for 5 mins, then 7, then 10. The first night I must have gone in 20 times, sat outside her room feeling horrible and crying myself, by the third night she didnt’ cry at all and was asleep in 5 minutes.
With my son I had the same plan, bassinet until he outgrew it then to the crib. He HATED the bassinet, slept in it twice. So we had to alternate between his bouncy seat and his pack and play. He would sleep in those with out a problem, I didn’t want him in the bouncy seat all the time b/c I’d read it wasn’t healthy to sleep that way all the time, but he slept so much better in there. So usually I’d put him down for the night in the pack and play and when he woke for a feeding he’d end up in the bouncy seat or sleeping in the bed with me if he fell back asleep immediately. Around 3 months he started to get fussy if there was any noise or any light in a room while he was sleeping, so I had to put him into a crib. He didn’t need more than 3 mins of crying the first night before he fell asleep, after that we’d have the occasional night where he’d need to be rocked but otherwise he just put himself to sleep. Honestly, I got lucky, I have no clue how he managed to do it, or if I did something “right” and that made it happen for him faster than it did for her. But the plan is the same this time, I’ll get a bassinet for Baby #3 and hope it all works out. I personally can’t sleep well with a baby in the bed, when baby startles or whimpers it wakes me up immediately and I usually end up accidentally waking the baby. So we’ll do a bassinet in the room with us, and depending on babies personality, if I’m back to work again (still undecided), school schedules for the older 2 etc….we’ll move baby into his/her own room somewhere between 3-6 months if baby (and mommy) is ready to handle it.
February 19, 2013
I currently have a 3 and a half week old infant. We planned to have her sleep next to our bed in a small travel crib for the first few months, to facilitate easier night feedings. I was familiar with the room-sharing SIDs study and liked the idea of being able to hear her if she was having trouble, reaching her before she was full-fledged screaming/crying (in hopes she would have a more peaceful night and go back to sleep more easily), and I hated the idea of walking into another room and fully waking up each time he needed to eat. In reality, having her in a crib next to the bed did not work. I could not sleep because I kept trying to watch and listen to her, and feeling like she was just out of sight/reach. I was able to have better sleep and respond to her during the night as soon as she wakes up when I have her next to me in bed. I also found that it still jarred her back away after feedings to be plopped down in the crib – where if she eats laying next to me she will let go when she is full and calmly lay awake for a few minutes and slowly drift off to sleep. So, I sleep better and she sleeps better when we are next to one another. We have a large extra firm mattress on pur king sized bed, bed so she has her own third of the mattress with no pillows or covers, we are non smokers and don’t drink, or use drugs, and I wake easily and do not roll around or move at night – and she is too young to be mobil and roll or crawl into a crack or off of the bed. I believe these factors make it a safe solution for us. Many of those factors seem to be contributors to the “unsafe” aspects of bed sharing found in most studies- I haven’t seen a study that teases out all of those variables.
February 19, 2013
I should also add- she is a voracious eater and easily latches on to nurse in a side-lying position or reclined/laid back position; and she only wakes 2-3 times per night then goes right back to sleep. These facts also contributed to my choice to bed share. If she did not need to nurse at night, had long wakeful periods throughout the night that caused me to be fully awake for hours, or if she could only nurse with me sitting upright, some of the convenience / benefits of this arrangement would be lost. I could see making a different choice with my next child if he or she has different needs.
February 19, 2013
The great sleep debate. When I was pregnant with my first, I did a ton of research. My husband and I decided that we would have our son sleep in a bassinet beside our bed for the first few months. After we got him home, however, it became clear that he was not going to sleep in his bassinet for more than a few minute at a time. He also hated being swaddled. So we adjusted and I slept propped up with him laying on my chest. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but I actually slept way more than when he was in the bassinet, nursing was easier and I actually really enjoyed that time. It was soothing to be able to feel his breath on me and know that he was okay.
I don’t really know how it happened, but he went from sleeping on me, to next to me. It was a huge point of contention between my husband and I who thought it was totally unsafe. I pointed out the fact that in a many countries it is common practice to sleep with your children for years. We solved our differences by using one of those bed sharing co-sleepers. Once he grew out of the co-sleeper it seemed only natural to have him sleep next to me, especially since he was still breastfeeding. I should also mention that this period of time was incredibly hectic for us as my husband had just started a new position within the same company and it required us to move. for a couple of months we bounced around between temporary houses and I think that sleeping with me gave my son a sense of consistency and security. I actually slept better too because I wasn’t worried about him. As crazy as it sounds, and it still happens even though he is sleeping through the night in his own room, I get really sleepy when I hear him make noises because it allows me to relax, knowing that he’s alright. It backfires in the morning when I actually need to get up, but at night those little mewing noises are soothing to me.
Anyway, back to the co-sleeping situation. While I loved it, and I felt like it was what my son needed at the time, it continued to cause some issues between my husband and me. Ultimately we ended up sleeping in separate rooms because he couldn’t sleep next to our son. Eventually, around 7 months our son grew out of being able to sleep with me. He started waking more frequently and was having trouble going to sleep on his own. We read several books on sleep training and moving babies to their own crib, and even though it wasn’t a method I wanted to use, we ended up letting him “cry-it-out”. It worked for us, and despite the marital strain, I wouldn’t change anything. I felt like I was listening to what my son needed and that is the best feeling in the world. I think so much of the time we turn to doctors and take their advice and the research as a golden rule, but in the end if no one is happy or sleeping, then is it really worth it?
With the second baby coming in a matter of months, I can’t say if things will turn out the same way again. If I learned anything from the first time around it’s to be flexible.
February 19, 2013
When I was pregnant with my son (now 3) we knew that he was sleeping in the bassinet beside the bed, and no way was he ever sleeping with us. We felt that way mostly because we didn’t feel it was safe, but also because we wanted our space to stay ours. When my son arrived we stuck to our plan. I exclusively breastfed, but always got up at night and nursed him in the recliner, held him until he was in a deep sleep and ever so gently laid him down, which worked most of the time. If he just wasn’t going back to sleep my husband would walk with him. When he was 2 months old we moved him to a crib in his room, where he has been ever since. When my daughter (she will be 1 in 2 weeks) was set to arrive we had the same plan. She was born in the evening just like her brother and after her awake period and all our checks with the midwives were completed we went to put her in her bassinet, and she woke up, and cried, and screamed, we picked her up, got her back to sleep, laid her down, and repeat. She ended up spending her first night in Daddy’s arms. For the first two weeks of her life we could not put her down without her immediately waking and crying, so she slept in bed with us, we made sure not to have blankets and pillows near her. We got so much more sleep this way than we did with our son. After the first couple of weeks I discovered that she would sleep on her stomach, another position that the experts recommend against. I felt that this wasn’t much more dangerous than co-sleeping, it made me very nervous to have her there with me when she was so little. We did buy a breathing monitor that clipped on her diaper that helped me relax in both situations. We slowly transitioned to the bassinet, having her sleep there when she went to bed and bringing her into our bed when she woke in the middle of the night. We didn’t move her to a crib in her room until she was over 6 months. If we have another we won’t be planning how we sleep, we will just take it as it comes.
February 19, 2013
Hi Alice, I love the comment about the two sides of the debate seeming to come from different planets and can relate to wanting each side to be brought some sort of rational discussion about the true risks and benefits.
Whilst we always had to work very hard to get our daughter to sleep, it became much worse after 6 months of age. She did not transition into a cot from a bassinet or cope with not being swaddled. Any attempt at controlled crying/controlled comforting resulted in literal bloodshed (she would scratch her head raw in distress or beat her head against the cot bars). She would wake in distress every 90 minutes. She could only be comforted by cuddles from mum. After about six months of this, she was diagnosed with a gut abnormality. She was successfully treated but the sleep issues and separation anxiety stayed around for a while…
We live in a state of Australia that promotes a very strong public health message about the risks of co-sleeping, which is particularly disseminated through its maternal-child health nurses. What helped us was a lovely nurse that, seeing the extent of sleep deprivation suffered by the whole family, found some creative ways to give us the information to reduce any risks associated with co-sleeping.
For us it came down to a risk benefit analysis: were the risks associated with co-sleeping outweighed by the risks of a parent sleeping only 1-2 hours a night for months on end and also attempting to drive/conduct experiments involving dangerous materials/operate large machinery each day.
I also wanted to mention that some studies make distinction in risk based on the age of the infant (4 months seems a common cutoff for increased risk of SIDS from bed-sharing. I found DOI:10.1111/j.1651-2227.2007.00413.x and 10.1016/S0140-6736(03)15323-8, but was looking for a study widely reported in the Australian media about two years ago..maybe you are already aware of it.)
February 19, 2013
My daughter was an emergancy C and borderline premie. At 1 1/2 weeks she developed severe RSV and Bronchiolitis resulting in a week long hospital stay, an oxygen tent, an EKG (her heart stopped at one point) and a very long/slow recovery. For weeks afterwards at any point during the day start choking/drowning in her own mucous. She was tired and weak as was I. Our family did bed sharing with her daddy sleeping next to the wall and I next to him. My daughter slept on my other side with a flattened pillow on her other side and then a bed rail next to it. I am a very light sleeper and this was the easiest way for both baby and I to get rest as well as making it much easier and faster for me to help her breathe again if she started choking.
February 19, 2013
My daughter is 23 mo and we are still bedsharing. Before she was born, I was resolute that she would always sleep in her own bed. Then when she a tiny little infant I WANTED to stay with her and sleep with her. I didn`t want to separate from her at night. Plus, I breastfed so it was handy. It turns out she`s a “difficult” and light sleeper. She doesn`t fall asleep on her own, I still rock her to sleep every night, put her down in her bed and she`ll sleep on her own in her bedroom until she wakes up calling for me which can be anywhere between 10PM to 6:30AM. It`s usually around 11PM or 2-3AM. Then I get up, pick her up and take her into the double bed that`s in her bedroom and we sleep together for the rest of the night. Every night. there`s times now when I wish she could sleep through the night on her own because she kicks a lot and there`s nights when she`s quite agitated.Most of the time though I like cuddling with her. I never wanted to let her cry to sleep. Actually I tried once and for one, it didn`t work and second, I think it did more damage than good. I think she`s even more insecure at night now. I`ve tried other softer techniques to get her to sleep on her own but nothing works. It seems like nothing can replace Mommy`s presence. What influenced my choice were that I went with my gut feeling at first (wanting to be with my baby), my baby`s personnality (light and insecure sleeper) and I believe that parenting doesn`t stop at night. I think some babies are probably naturally better sleepers but I went with my baby`s personnality and I`ll help her sleep if she needs it.
February 19, 2013
I am one of those rare unicorns who made plans before giving birth that we actually wound up being able to implement for the most part. The plan was an Arm’s Reach cosleeper for the first several weeks, then moving to a crib in his own room. I am a light sleeper, my husband is a very deep, active sleeper, and bedsharing just seemed like a really bad idea with that combo. Also? I just didn’t want to do it. I like boundaries. And I love sleep. LOVE IT. I know that the party line is “cosleeping is great because you get more sleep!” but I sleep terribly when I am in bed with a baby.
As it happens, we lucked out with a baby who was extremely non-snuggly. Not that I don’t like snuggles, but I like it best when snuggles have an “off” button and newborns don’t understand off buttons. So he slept swaddled in his Arm’s Reach at night, and often took naps in his crib. After 8 weeks or so, we moved him into his crib and he didn’t miss a beat. I feel like the Arm’s Reach was the best of all possible worlds–baby was next to me or my husband, able to be touched and soothed and watched, but he was able to become accustomed to having his own sleeping surface and his own space.
I do sort of get prickly about the idea that in order to successfully breastfeed, you must cosleep. I’ve been very happily breastfeeding for nearly 8 months and the only time I have ever bedshared with my son is under extenuating circumstances such as illness or sleep regression survival mode. Even when he slept in his cosleeper, when it was time to feed him at night, I took him out and sat with him in the glider in the nursery. Nursing was very difficult, physically, at first for reasons that had nothing to do with supply or willingness or anything like that. But in order to latch him on, I needed to be sitting in a very particular way, with the lights on so I could see what I was doing, and then I had to sit there for 30-40 minutes while he did that newborn nursing-forever thing (I watched a lot of the Olympics this way). I wasn’t going to be able to do any of that in bed.
But I think, all practical and safety concerns aside, the thing bind my decision to try to avoid bedsharing at all costs was a need to have a boundary between me and my baby. I spend so much time with him, I nurse him many times a day, we are together a lot, and I just need some time and some space that does not contain a baby. And luckily, I produced a baby who agrees with me on this point.
February 19, 2013
I love your comment. I’m glad to hear from someone for whom sleep did go as planned. I think flexibility is important, but I also hope new moms will read this and know that it is possible to have some control over how things turn out.
I second your prickle about bedsharing being necessary for breastfeeding. The research on this only shows that people who bedshare tend to breastfeed for longer and feed more frequently during the night. I have yet to find evidence for a causal relationship here or that fewer feedings during the night will diminish your supply. My daughter breastfed for 2 years, and she also slept in a crib with long stretches of sleep early on. She was feeding once per night from 3 months, then sleeping through completely from 7 or 8 months – that was all she asked for. (I pretty much always offered the breast when she woke during the night.) I think she wanted to sleep, not eat during the night, but she might have snacked more if I had been lying right next to her. I have no doubt that bedsharing helps make breastfeeding easier for many mom-baby pairs, particularly during the first few months, but I don’t think it is necessary for a healthy nursing relationship. It also does have the effect of increasing number of feeds during the night during late infancy. Many moms don’t mind this, but others would prefer to be sleeping longer stretches by then (me included!).
February 22, 2013
I feel like a rock star just noticed me from the stage!
The research on breastfeeding and besharing sounds like it just says “people who feed a lot at night have babies who feed a lot at night”? Who funded this?!
I think there’s a lot surrounding this topic that’s so wrapped up in very qualitative issues of how we see ourselves as mothers and what our relationships with our babies are all about, statistics about who breastfeeds for longer (when I get the impression that pretty much everything after 1 year for babies living in developed nations is kind of a wash, health-outcomes-wise) probably don’t come into play for most parents. Sleep is so extremely intimate (we’re vulnerable while sleeping, there are other more adult things that traditionally take place in bed surrounding sleep, each of our individual sleep habits are with us from childhood and are sort of an immutable part of who we are) and it’s also a biological necessity that takes up a huge amount of our time. It’s not optional, but a lot of people talking about parenthood act like it is. How we deal with the issue of sleep once we become mothers I think says a lot about how we view our own new status as parent and nurturer. It’s probably the parenting topic I feel most strongly about and am most interested in, for these reasons.
While I have you, I’d also like to thank you for your series on sleep. It was reading your entries that got me interested in the science of infant sleep and the greater issues surrounding sleep and babies. Once upon a time, I was very anti-CIO (before I really knew what it was or what it was supposed to do, I just knew it involved the word “cry” and who wants to be pro-crying?). Reading your blog completely changed my mind about properly and safely applied sleep training. And not a moment too soon, too because our son’s 4 month sleep regression was a doozy and at 5.5 months my academic interest suddenly became very personal as we cried it out ourselves. (It worked like gangbusters and we are all sleeping fabulously now.) So, thank you for doing what you do and I really am looking forward to your book.
February 26, 2013
Hi – For some reason, I missed this reply! I’m glad you appreciated my series on sleep, and thanks for letting me know. I think I got a little too engrossed in the topic, but it still fascinates me and leaves me feeling conflicted. No, nobody wants to be pro-crying, and I really don’t want to be known as a sleep training advocate. But I do think it is so important that we be honest about the real potential risks and benefits of sleep training and acknowledge that sometimes we really just need some kind of solution worth trying, because, yeah, sleep deprivation can be debilitating. I’m glad it worked out for you. And I love your thoughts on why this topic matters so much to us. This is so true: “How we deal with the issue of sleep once we become mothers I think says a lot about how we view our own new status as parent and nurturer.” Thank you for your thoughtful comments!
April 4, 2013
My daughter slept in a bassinet that attached to our bed. My husband is a very heavy sleeper and I was breastfeeding, so we thought that was the safest and most conducive option to everyone’s needs. We planned on her being there for 6 months, but ended up moving her to a crib at 3 months. That was when she started sleeping through the night. This told me the nighttime stimulation (mostly my husband snoring =]) was keeping her from having a restful sleep. We are a few months away from having our second child and don’t plan to change the sleeping arrangements, although we are flexible to what is best for the baby (ie. earlier crib sleeping, or longer bassinet sleeping).
February 19, 2013
I have two boys (4 years, 6 month), and both times my experience is little different. With the oldest boy I tried to put him in his cot, but sometimes, when I breastfeed, I felt asleep together ant then he shared our bed. I didn’t like it, because he wanted to seep very close to me and I felt tired. Second time around my son never slept in our bed in the night time, because I had experience how tricky is teaching him enjoy his bed after, and because I think parent’s bed is for parents. And it is not very safe , too. Now I am very happy that we got back our bed and both my boys sleep at night-time at their beds. For naps it is ok, if they want to seep in our bed. They can choose.
February 20, 2013
Oh baby sleep. I opted for a co-sleeper those first few months, the kind that is a mini crib but snuggles right up to your bed. I passionately wanted my daughter near me at night but felt that neither of us slept much if she was actually snuggled in my arms. With her next to me, I was able to get some solid sleep myself but still be aware of her needs. I could nurse with as little disruption as possible and pull her in for some long snuggles if that’s what she needed. I felt this worked for us as it combined the need for us to be close, hear each other breathing, smell each other and all that good, basic, human connection while at the same time providing her with a safe un-smooshable space to sleep and with any luck help us on the journey to being an independent sleeper. At three months she transitioned herself to her crib almost by accident. This was no end-all transition, she still spent many mornings in my bed and there’s those sleepless teething nights but now at 16months she confidently prefers to go to sleep on her own, in her own bed.
February 20, 2013
So…Emily would not sleep alone for the first two months of her life. Period. Put her down, and she’d wake and cry. So, we coslept. At first, she slept on one of us, and then, at about two weeks, between us. At two months of age, I experimentally put her down in her basinet, and she slept on with no problems. I didn’t continue to cosleep, because I simply can’t sleep with a baby in the bed with me. I was a zombie that whole two months, because I was never truly asleep. I was constantly afraid I would hurt her.
Zachary, on the other hand, slept alone from Day 2. Not Day 1 – that single night in the hospital, he couldn’t sleep alone. He was a terrifically poor sleeper, though – he screamed and screamed from 4 in the afternoon until 11 or midnight, and then would start the two hours at a time deal. It was actually worse if I tried to let him cosleep. At six weeks old, in a moment of desperation, I put him on his tummy, and he’s been the dream sleeper ever since. I mention this because the AAP also seems to ignore the babies who can’t sleep on their backs. And Zachary always preferred the comfort of his own bed to ours. He’s that mythical baby who just goes to sleep when you put him down in the crib.
(Incidentally, Emily still winds up in our bed every morning.)
February 20, 2013
Your point about prone sleeping is an interesting one. Many babies DO sleep better prone (or maybe ONLY sleep prone, like Zachary), probably why prone sleep was adopted so quickly by parents in the 50s. I was reading this paper (below) today and actually thought of you because I remember that you brought this up before. I think the evidence is solid that back-to-sleep makes sense as a public health recommendation, but I like how this paper discussed the “healthy adopter” phenomenon. When prone vs. supine sleep was first studied in the 70s and 80s, when lots of babies were sleeping prone, the ORs for SIDS and prone sleep weren’t really that high (though significant). But after Back-to-Sleep, the ORs shot up, probably because those babies already at greatest risk of SIDS were the ones that weren’t getting the public health message, while prone sleep in the control population dropped dramatically.
February 20, 2013
I am absolutely fascinated by the prone/supine sleep question, largely because my daughter was clearly a baby who preferred prone sleep but I was terrified of it. One of my parents is current working on a PhD in a research-intensive field and very much poo-pooed the studies that back-to-sleep is based on after reading them, opening up a lot of doubt in my mind. So now I’m just stuck between low-level rage over the days of lost sleep I’ve experienced and knowledge that back-to-sleep will always be a huge factor in my sleep decisions
for future children.
On one baby sleep forum where I spend some time the mothers who are comfortable with attempting tummy sleep say that their children are able to transition sleep cycles between naps much more often (so far fewer 45 minute cat-naps) and sleep much better at night. Given the long-term negative effects of sleep deprivation on babies and fmilies plus the delay in gross-motor-skill aquisition related to back-to-sleep I really find myself struggling with the whole thing. That and the way that new parents are smacked over the head with terrifying messages about SIDS.
February 21, 2013
I would have had Zach sleep on his back if he was able, but he really wasn’t. And he was really miserable. (As was I.) I decided that the risks of riding in a car with a mom who was completely sleep-deprived were greater than the risks of SIDS. And he was a lower-risk baby for SIDS – his only risk factor was maleness…and then, of course, the prone sleep.
February 22, 2013
Yes, geekylabmom. I don’t want to be blase’ about SIDS, but I do think it is important to recognize that MOST babies that die of SIDS have more than one risk factor for it. There’s some evidence that using a pacifier is protective of SIDS (though this is not as overwhelming as the supine sleep observation), but if your baby doesn’t take a pacifier, what can you do? There are some factors that we can only control so much – I think it’s OK to accept that.
February 22, 2013
I think it is a combination of your own views on sleep and the temperament of your child. Both my children were swaddled until they were mobile and wanted the freedom to move around in their sleep (son until 5 month and daughter six and and a half months). I can’t imagine the early weeks without swaddling – it worked like magic and was their cue that it was time to sleep. Other than this I worked hard to minimize the help I gave them to get to sleep and tried to promote self-soothing as I think it is an important skill and as someone who doesn’t sleep easily I would like my children to be better at it than me. We also all seem to have a better day when we’ve had a peaceful night. As far as where to sleep is concerned it never crossed my mind to co-worker with my son. We lucked out – he has always been a fantastic sleeper and slept through from four months with very little help from us and transitioned from bassinet to cot in our room, cot in his own room (at four months) to being in a room on a different floor in the house and then to a bed with no problems at all. However he is a very active and noisy sleeper and just wouldn’t have snuggled down and slept in bed with us even if we had wanted to. Any illusions we may have had his sleep pattern was anything to do with our great parenting went out The window when his sister was born. Although she learned to self-soothing relatively early ( when she was left to cry for a few minutes while we were attending to a toddler tantrum!) she is a much more erratic sleeper. Sometimes she sleeps great and sometimes not so good. I have had to be much more responsive to her differing needs. Sometimes I have co-slept with her because that has been what she needed on that night and sometimes I have left her to cry because I know she is just having a bit of a grizzle in the night. I have also been more flexible in terms of breastfeeding at night. My son just didn’t need any milk at night after five months so if he woke in the night my husband would go in in and check on him. My daughter is now seven months and it is much more of a judgement call because although most of the time she will settle herself sometimes she does still need milk in the night.
Generally I think that you have to be prepared to adjust your plans for each child and be responsive to their needs. So many stories on here seem to echo this but they really are all different and if you have too many preconceptions about when, how and where your child will sleep you might miss the clues about what will work best for them.
February 20, 2013
Originally we planned to co-slept with our twins. I thought that not only would we get more sleep but that perhaps I could somehow make up for my divided attention by keeping them with me at night. Unfortunately things did not work out as planned. I found that my babies just wanted to eat all night long one after the other after the other. My partner on the other hand was so afraid he was going to roll over on one of them, despite following correct bed sharing procedures, that he woke up for every cough, burp and fart. Needless to say neither one of us got much sleep. Around 6 weeks after the kids were born I reached such a point of exhaustion and depression that my milk supply began to dry up. In a panic we called a lactation consultant who suggested we remove them from our bed. We compromised by putting them in a crib with it’s side removed and firmly attached to our bed on my partner’s side, the hope being that when they were not next to me they would sleep a little more soundly and we could all get more sleep. This situation worked for us until they were 3 months old when we put them in separate cribs across from our bed both because they were getting too big to share a crib but also because we wanted them to begin to experience a bit of separation from each other. At 6 months we finally moved them to their own room because we needed a bit of privacy and because we were much better able to darken their room for naps.
February 21, 2013
My son Kosta slept in an Arm’s Reach MiniCosleeper attached to my side of the bed. I roll all over during sleep–even on top of things– and our bed has a very soft mattress and is full of pillows, so I was really too nervous to have him sleep in the bed with me! I thought a cosleeper would be a perfect compromise and help me reach him more easily to nurse during the night, or even do side-lying nursing with him in there and me on the edge of the bed.
The side-lying nursing never ended up working out, but we loved having him right there at arm’s reach! It was lovely being able to have an arm around him, but know he had his own safe space. We knew we didn’t want to do long-term room-sharing and we were starting to wake HIM up during the night, so we moved him into a crib in his own room when he outgrew the cosleeper at 5.5 months. He didn’t have a problem at all! He’s been sleeping so well that I think he probably would’ve been fine there from the start–but it was better for me to only have lean over to grab him and nurse every few hours early on.
Now at 12 months, I really miss those early days of seeing him right next to me when I woke up and hearing his snuffly noises in the night! We sometimes bring him into our bed in the morning, but he wiggles to get down and play–he doesn’t want any of it!
February 21, 2013
School of Smock #
Wow! What a great conversation… Sleep has been the hardest issue that I’ve struggled with as a parent. Like you, I’ve tried to balance what I learned from research about sleep, my own judgments about what’s best for my son’s temperament, my son’s developmental stage, and what our needs were as a family at any particular time. I have an entire shelf of baby and toddler sleep books, and I must say that I’ve hired professional help — from a sleep “consultant” twice — when things became completely unmanageable. As far as co-sleeping, before my son was born, I didn’t want to have anything to do with it, both for safety reasons and because I knew far too many parents whose babies started sleeping in their beds as infants and were still there in elementary school. Once my son was born and I was breastfeeding, I quickly came to understand the practical, potential, and immediate advantages of co-sleeping and then when it became obvious after a few months that my son was not going to be a naturally good sleeper, I tried again to co-sleep. I was so tired of getting up again and again to rock him back to sleep that I figured that co-sleeping might allow me to get some rest. My son would have nothing to do with it. He wanted his own space and resisted co-sleeping with every ounce of his little body. Since he was born, he has either wanted to be held and rocked while sleeping (preferably walking around the room and rocking him vigorously) or his own space completely.
I don’t know the research on this, but it seems to me probably the most “dangerous” co-sleepers are the ones like me: whose babies resisted both sleeping in bed with their parents and often staying asleep in their cribs. What I would often find myself doing is falling asleep in the glider or on the couch in the middle of the night, trying to stay awake while rocking him in my arms. And then I’d awake up an hour later in horror, realizing that I had fallen asleep unintentionally with the baby in my arms. Isn’t that where many of the co-sleeping deaths actually happen: on the couch or in a recliner?
February 22, 2013
As a pediatrician, I advise against bedsharing, but I frequently share my own history with it with my patients. My daughter was a great breastfeeder from day one. She slept in her bassinet easily (up to 6 hrs!) when I was on maternity leave, but things changed with going back to work when she was 6 weeks. My stubborn baby refused to take a bottle when she went to daycare. I worked long hours, but she simply wouldn’t take more than a suck or two. They tried various people feeding her, different bottles/nipples, and different temperatures of milk. We even tried formula to see if it was just the breast milk. Nothing helped. My daughter gained weight well by feeding every 2 hrs from the time I picked her up at daycare until the time I dropped her off the next morning. This lasted until she was eating foods well and could get in calories during the day. Needless to say, I was exhausted. She slept with me and it was very dangerous, but I was exhausted and didn’t see any other way to survive. There were times I didn’t remember feeding her, but I know I did because my bra was unhooked. She had a complete crib phobia and would sleep between feeds fine if held or in bed with me, but if placed in her crib she would wake after only a brief sleep (5-10 minutes). Even at daycare she was known as a cat napper from day one. She only slept brief naps throughout the day. I have no idea how she did it. She is now a tween and still not a great sleeper. I often wonder how things would be if I was a stay at home mom…
February 22, 2013
Kristen, I have talked with several pediatricians who have similar stories. One was in med school and training when she had her babies, and bedsharing was vital to maintaining her milk supply and spending time together. Your experience sounds difficult, but you survived! Thanks for sharing your story:)
February 22, 2013
With my first son, I was afraid of rolling on him and suffocating him in his sleep. In addition, the nurses at the hospital where I had my emergency c-section told me the story of one woman who fell asleep in a chair holding her newborn and dropped the baby, leading to brain damage (hello, scare tactics, anyone?!). I hadn’t even considered bed sharing with guy. However, he was colicky, and would only sleep in his bassinet for short periods of time. So I’d bring him to bed, and TRY as I might to stay awake (thanks to the nurse’s comment). After a few weeks of that, I got smart and decided to co-sleep.
Every night, we’d put him to sleep in his bassinet at the foot of our bed, and then bring him to our bed at his first wake-up (usually 2-3 hours later). At 4 months, he got too big for his bassinet, so we moved him to his crib but still brought him to bed after his first wake-up. After about 6 months, however, he was waking every 1-2 hours and would cry if I didn’t nurse him back to sleep. We ended up sleep training with a sleep doula at 7 months. I still dream-fed him until he was 10 months, but at least he (and we!) was getting 6-7 hours of consecutive sleep.
With my second son, I bed-shared with him at the hospital (nurses be damned!). He wouldn’t sleep in the bassinet, so he was with us in bed all the time. But, because he was used to sleeping with me at night, he wouldn’t nap without me, which is next to impossible to do when you also have another kid (there’s 22 months between the boys). He’s a big guy (was 23 lb at 6 months), so we decided to sleep train him at 6 months since milk wasn’t absolutely necessary around the clock. I did still dream feed him until he was 10 months old. Now (he’s 13 months old), he does come to bed with us for the last hour in the morning (5-6am). Otherwise, they’re both good sleepers on their own, for the most part!
February 22, 2013
oh, and we’re in Canada. First time around, I had trouble nursing in the early days. My milk didn’t come in until he was over a week old and I had started taking domperidone. Had to supplement my son with formula for the first couple of weeks. But, we kept with it and nursed until he was 17 months old. Second son, my milk came in on day 2. Maybe the cosleeping made the difference? Both were c-section births.
February 26, 2013
March 2, 2013
Our initial plan was for our baby to sleep in a bassinet in our room for the first 6 months, then in a crib in her own room. Before she was born, I used to imagine her sleeping peacefully nearby, no fuss! Nothing prepared me for the reality of colic. Getting her to sleep by herself in the bassinet/crib, whether for naps or at night, was impossible. She always needed to nurse or be carried to sleep, and the second I’d put her down she would immediately wake up screaming. It was a very difficult time and we ended up bedsharing. She would either nurse to sleep next to me, or she would fall asleep on my chest after being carried around or rocked to sleep. We practiced safe bedsharing- no pillows or blankets, no sleeping in the middle, etc. She’s now nearly 16 months old and still sleeping with us. I love the experience, but my husband thinks it’s time for her to sleep on her own. Although I’m happy to co-sleep, I do worry she will have a hard time transitioning to her own bed.. but at the same time, I cherish this fleeting period in our lives. One other issue is that she is still breastfeeding and wakes up frequently at night to nurse. It’s easier to have her in bed with us because I can nurse and fall right back asleep. It would simply be too exhausting to get out of bed 3 times a night to feed her. [I’ve considered night weaning, but to be honest I’m scared of the sleepless nights. She also needs to gain weight, so it doesn’t make sense to me to cut out the extra (and much-needed) calories- plus she still refuses to drink anything else besides water. No formula, no milk, no juice, nothing!]
You can say I’m an accidental co-sleeper. It was never planned, but that’s just the way it worked out, and I have loved the experience and would do it again. I just hope it’s not too challenging to get her out of our bed when the time is right.
February 22, 2013
When I was pregnant, I planned to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months. We didn’t seriously contemplate sleeping with the baby at night, mostly because of the safety concerns we had heard about, but we planned to keep the baby’s crib in our room for the first six months to facilitate breastfeeding (as recommended by Canadian public-health officials.) So, we bought a crib and set it up right next to our bed.
And then our beautiful, screaming baby girl was born and, within days, exclusive breastfeeding had been established but back-sleeping most certainly had not. As she did not tolerate sleeping flat on her back, for the first four months of her life (the approximate duration of her “colic”), our daughter slept primarily in a bouncy chair in front of me, which was the only place where she could relax enough to sleep (other than my chest, which was not a restful option for me). Once the long stretches of crying/screaming abated at about 4.5 months, we discovered that our daughter was fine with sleeping flat on her back in her own bed, so we moved her crib into her own room, where she has slept well ever since.
In the end, I did exclusively breastfeed her for six months, and, 14 months after her birth, I still nurse her before her bedtime and when she rises at about 6 AM (as well as on-demand during the day). During bedtime, this obviously entails rising from my own bed to fetch her and bring her to our bed to nurse, but I really don’t mind the extra step, especially now that her nighttime nursings are infrequent.
I have since done a lot of reading about attachment and sleeping arrangements in other cultures, and if I were to do it all over again, I would talk it over with my partner. Perhaps we would at least try co-sleeping with a sidecar-style cot, as I think it can be the most rest-promoting way of breastfeeding (at least for mom and baby!), and another wonderful way to bond with baby, and help him or her feel secure.
February 22, 2013
With my first baby, my daughter, I had it all planned. She would be in the bassinet next to our bed for a few months and then her crib. I ended up with a c-section and had a lot of trouble recovering emotionally, and she did NOT have any interest in sleeping alone. She was in our bed from the start. I am a very light sleeper though, and barely got any sleep sandwiched in between my daughter and my husband. We slowly slowly transitioned her to a crib around a year, and for close to 2 years she would come back to bed for part of the night. I worried a fair amount about getting her into her own space. When my son was born I decided that he would just be in bed with me. My poor husband got the boot, because all I wanted at that point was to maximize my sleep. My son loved sleeping with me, until he started moving. He became more and more wakeful – every little wakening would jolt him wide awake because he was so thrilled to see me. He scooted around the bedrail and rolled off the bed one night, and we started transitioning him to a crib. When I do try to sleep with him, it is a sleepless venture for everyone. He pops awake saying “hi hi mama mama” several times, and sometimes I can’t even nurse him back to sleep without getting up anyway and sitting in the glider. He is a baby that sleeps much better in his own space – and this time I was disappointed! For both, I did really have to follow their lead. I felt guilty about having our daughter in our bed. It’s seems like lately I’ve been hearing a lot more talk of people defending their co-sleeping (understandably!) and how beneficial it is – and now I feel guilty that my 12 month old sleeps in a crib. Oh well! I trust our parenting enough to know we’re getting the best sleep for everyone.
February 22, 2013
I had planned to put my son in a crib or bassinet right next to our bed. I had friends who co-slept and I thought they were insane, although they assured me it made breastfeeding much easier. But I also knew I was adamantly opposed to cry-it out type sleep training. The thought of it made my toes curl.
In the hospital, after my son was born, I remember sitting awake holding him while I slept pretty much the entire first night. I couldn’t sleep, and I was afraid to move or disturb him! Also, I just didn’t want to let go of him.
When we got home– he wouldn’t sleep in the crib or in a bassinet or pretty much anywhere but in our arms. He would startle awake the second we laid him down, and on the rare occasions he didn’t wake up immediately, he would wake up within half an hour to an hour. All night long. Swaddling didn’t help and he never would take a pacifier. Putting him down drowsy and awake was also a failure, both then and later.
We struggled through that for the first week or so, and then stayed at my parent’s house for a few nights. They didn’t have a crib, so he was in bed with us– and suddenly he slept for 4-6 hours at a stretch!
So we ended up cosleeping. In some ways, it worked well for us. My son was always a very frequent nurser and had trouble gaining weight, so I felt good about letting him nurse at night. And he very clearly wanted to be in close physical contact at all times– any attempt to ease him away from me, even just a few inches, resulted in immediate hysterics. Also, I was pretty anxious and tense, and I had a hard time letting go of him, even to sleep. I do like the snuggles.
But the fact remains, I didn’t sleep well, and really haven’t slept very well since he was born. I was exhausted, and I think it contributed to my post-partum depression. I had trouble falling back asleep after nursing sessions. And as he’s grown older, he’s become a much less pleasant bed companion– he thrashes and kicks and takes up an incredible amount of room.
He’s nearly three now, and gets really upset and frightened if we talk about having him sleep without us. I have to lay down and nurse him still to put him to sleep. I can get up and sneak away once he’s asleep, but he cries if he wakes up and we’re not there. He still wants to sleep pretty much right on top of me. Sleeps through most of the night but still has an early morning nursing session pretty often.
So right now I’m feeling pretty ambivalent/unhappy about our co-sleeping experience. I wish in some ways that I’d been able to bring myself to do the whole sleep training thing, because the notion of being able to put him to bed and walk away sounds so blissful. But for various reasons it’s never felt like a feasible option. We made attempts to keep him in his crib more, but they always ended up with him back in our bed, because he resisted strongly and it was just too exhausting and too hard to stay awake all night trying to get him back to sleep. And now it feels like it’s too late and I really don’t know how we’re going to move him, but it clearly needs to happen.
Long note, but I wanted to add: we learned later that my son had sleep apnea, and as I said he never nursed/fed well when he was small (possibly due to a lip tie and congenital overbite, but that’s speculation), so I suspect those physical issues contributed to his sleep issues. It’s hard to sleep when you’re hungry and can’t breathe! We finally got surgery for the apnea when he was 2, and that made a huge difference in his sleep– but of course by then he was pretty set in his ways.
I have a friend with a newborn right now with really bad reflux, and she won’t sleep anywhere but upright in her parents’ arms. And I have cautioned her that it might not work so well for the long term– but it also drove home for me that some children have physical issues that make sleep really challenging for them. Which is a perspective that seems to be lacking from a lot of sleep books and recommendations by sleep experts.
February 22, 2013
Sara, thanks for sharing your story so honestly. I think it is important for new parents to know that whatever route you choose, there are pluses and minuses, and there are some factors that just feel like they’re out of your control. Taking control of them (as in sleep training) is a possibility, but that’s a personal decision based on your own comfort level. Your point about physical issues is also important. For your sake, I hope that your little boy gets comfortable with the idea of his own bed soon. Have you considered a mattress on your floor or something? I feel like I hear lots of stories of bedsharing toddlers who transition to their own beds with little to no fuss, but I don’t really believe that it is always that way!
March 2, 2013
maggie #
I never hear anyone address the correlation between feeding habits and infant sleep. They are almost always addressed separately. And yet we found that using the very old fashioned method of giving our daughter cereal before bed made all the difference in her sleep patterns. Any time she started to wake up in the middle of the night, we increased her dinner by about a half a teaspoon of cereal. So she slept through the night from about 3 weeks on, and that made moot the need to have her in bed for easy breast feeding.
Everyone in the comments talks about feeding and sleep inter-related. But when parents are researching the topic, they are hardly ever mentioned together. It would seem to me that the choices of how you feed your child and how you sleep are dependant on each other; certain sleep methods work better for certain feeding methods, etc… Can you address that in your book?
Also, we found that an issue that was overloked was the wake-up time. Insomnia experts tell adults that the best way to set good sleep habits is to set a fixed wake-up time, but that doesn’t filter down to the discussion about children’s sleep habits. Because our daughter was in daycare from a young age, she was required to wake up at 6am, every day, no matter what. That helped fix her sleep schedule, and really improved her routine. Of course, it does mean that she wakes up on weekends at 6am, too.
February 25, 2013
Maggie, I think you’re right that feeding method plays a big role in sleep situations. I think we’re seeing and increase in bed-sharing in part because of the increase in breastfeeding. Breastfed babies do wake more frequently during the night (on average), and breastfeeding in bed is pretty easy to do for many mom-baby pairs, whereas fixing a bottle will require getting up out of bed whether baby is sleeping in a crib or the bed. Many bedsharing advocates actually ONLY recommend bedsharing for breastfeeding moms, because they assume that a breastfeeding mom is more attuned to her baby sleeping next to her, and the breastfed baby already has more arousals during the night, which may protect her from SIDS. I’m curious if there are formula-feeding moms who take issue with this assumption, however.
But on your point about adding cereal to baby’s bottle – this is not recommended and has been shown to not increase sleep duration. It may have done so for your baby, but it doesn’t for the average baby. More importantly, though, babies really aren’t equipped to digest solid foods (even when added to a bottle) until at least 4 months. http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/feeding-nutrition/pages/Cereal-in-a-Bottle-Solid-Food-Shortcuts-to-Avoid.aspx
March 2, 2013
maggie #
I never added cereal to the bottle. We always fed from a spoon. And I’m interested in the studies because every single mother over 50 (and that was close to 25 women and almost 70 children) that I talked to had the same experience that I did; cereal from a spoon helped them sleep.
As for “equipped to digest”; she clearly did digest it. My husband is a medical provider, and he very carefully examined the diapers when we started to be certain. Better him than me
March 3, 2013
I find this interesting because I too found that solids helped with sleep, but we started them after proper sleep associations were already in place via sleep training. Solids coincided with my daughter dropping from 1-3 night wakings to none. I also made sure to begin meats on the early side at 6 months (with my pediatrician’s approval) because I am 100% convinced that whatever foods help adults feel full should help babies feel full, assuming the digestion is prepared for them. I also think it is valuable to look into not just feeding method but feeding schedule. 12 Hours by 12 Weeks and Babywise anecdotally do seem to help some babies eat better/feel fuller at night even though they are absolutely the wrong feeding method for others.
March 5, 2013
I have been reading a lot of everyones stories as these comments continue to roll in. As a new mum, I began a new job when our little one was only 2 and a half months old but am convinced that paid maternity leave should be at least four months after birth! Seriously the lack of sleep and the time it takes to really learn the new habbits of our little one sure takes time.
February 26, 2013
for us, we thought the baby would sleep the first few months in a little crib next to our bed before moving to her own bedroom… here in Quebec, we get a visit from a community nurse a few days after getting home from the hospital with a new born baby. That nurse was the greatest thing that happened to us. In the hospital, the nurses had forbidden me to keep my sleeping baby in my bed with me all night and said she needed to learn to sleep on her own from the start (!!!!). We did not know any better, so we trusted them and tried that, of course it did not work and nobody got much sleep in our house until that community nurse came to visit and said “you know, you can sleep with her in your bed if you want, she might sleep better that way”. We were surprised and relieved to hear that from a health professional ( I am a nurse myself, but adult ICU nurse). From that night, she slept in bed between us, and boy did it make a huge difference. From then on and for many weeks, I would go to bed with her very early (around 7pm!!) and we had the best sleep ever. It’s only when she started turning and rolling more that we started putting her down in her own bed, in our room, for the first part of the night (at some point I started spending evenings with my husband again…). then she would come to bed with us after she woke up the first time. The transition to her own bed and her own room was very long, but in the end it was the right way to do, we did it when her sleep was no longer as good and felt it was no longer the best solution for all of us.
I am now pregnant with my second baby and will be much less stressed out this time about sleep as I will know that no pattern lasts forever and that we can change things when they don’t work anymore.
By the way, I really can’t wait for your book to come out. Good luck with it.
February 26, 2013
Thanks Sandra! One of the things I find most interesting about this topic is how vastly different advice is on infant sleep! It’s also amazing how the advice that you get during those first few weeks can really shape how things turn out for you and baby. Glad you found something that worked well for you:)
March 2, 2013
During his early months, baby K slept in bed with me most of the time, simply because he wouldn’t fall asleep in his bed and I was tired. After a while I figured out that I was the reason he didn’t sleep in his own bed, because I liked the company, but as he grew older he wanted space for himself and both of us sleep better now. He is now 6 months old and I think he prefers to sleep alone and so do I, because we both move in our sleep. Still happens that he sleeps with me though, if he wakes up during the night and won’t fall back asleep again, I just put him next to me on my bed and we continue sleeping. Easy little sweetheart ˆˆ
Your book sounds great by the way! Never read anything that focused on both sides of co-sleeping/not co-sleeping, so what you’re planning on sounds really great!
February 27, 2013
We started in a co-sleeper (bassinet) from 0-4mo, then from 4-6 in a pack n play because he out grew the bassinet, then his crib in his room from 6-20mo, and bed sharing 20mo-current (22mo). Each step was child led and directly connected to his night time breastfeeding schedule. We weaned at 21 months. But after over a year of independent sleeping, a switch got flipped and he needed us for emotional and physical comfort. He was still waking 1-2x a night at 18/19 months but as soon as he moved to our bed he started sleeping 12hrs. Again, all child led…he needed to be close from 0-4, he wanted his own space from 6-20 months, and now he seems to need us at night again.
February 27, 2013
I’m so glad that you commented, Bonnie, because this is actually a really unique scenario among parents who have responded to this post. Interesting that the same child can have such different needs at different ages, and contrary to the stereotypical belief, it isn’t a linear path from needing close proximity to needing or tolerating greater distance. Fascinating – thank you!
March 2, 2013
February 28, 2013
February 28, 2013
I am a new mother at a young age. I just turned 21 two months before my beautiful baby girl was born. My older sister has 4 children, two being a set of twins. She breastfed all of her children. I started to breastfeed my daughter when we brought her home from the hospital. I put her in her bassinet, on her back the first night and she seemed to be doing well with it. The bassinet was in our room right next to my side of the bed. Oh how I freaked out that night making sure everything was perfect and she was still breathing! She slept in her bassinet for a couple more nights until she started to fuss with the idea. One night I fell asleep with her on my chest, her lying on her chest. She slept 7 hrs straight like this. I couldn’t believe it, a 7 day old baby sleeping 7 hrs straight at night. That’s unheard of. However, she soon came to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to sleep in her bassinet anymore that moms chest was much more comfy. I do not sleep heavy at all so I was able to be aware of just laying on my back and not moving at all. After about 3 weeks of this every single night I couldn’t do it anymore! I put my foot down and said that she was going back in her bassinet. I felt so much like I was pregnant again when she would sleep on me. I had to stay in one spot and couldn’t roll around. The first night in the bassinet was a bit of a challenge but nothing I couldn’t handle. I rolled up a blanket into the shape of a log and I put it against the wall of the bassinet. I then layed her on her left side with her back against the blanket. She loved it. Finally at about 3 months of age, I wanted the privacy in the bedroom back. I decided then I was going to try her in her crib. I put a boomerang shaped pillow in the crib and rolled up a blanket, again in the shape of a log, and I put it next to the pillow. She sleeps on her left side with the pillow and blanket on her back. She does amazing in her crib. For some reason though she just loves having the pressure of something on her back. I really want to try taking out this pillow and blanket but I’m not sure on how she is going to sleep then.
I changed my thoughts on her sleeping habits a lot once she was here.
March 1, 2013
Alisha, thanks for your story. I know I couldn’t sleep with a baby on top of me, either, so I’m glad that you found a way to transition your baby to her own bed so that you could get some sleep, too! I do want to add that I would be very careful about side-sleeping and adding something like a rolled-up blanket to your baby’s sleep environment. Neither are recommended. Babies often roll from their sides to their tummies, which increases their risk of SIDS. Also, anything besides a fitted sheet and a firm mattress in the sleep environment could potentially pose a suffocation risk. I know we all do what we have to do to help our babies sleep, but for the sake of other parents reading this, I just want to point out that these may increase baby’s risk.
March 2, 2013
I just wrote a lot on the various baby sleep books i read and how they applied to me. (http://sixfortynine.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/mommy-training-part-one-resources-on-baby-sleep-and-routines/) I think I’ve done the whole gamut – from co-sleeping to CIO,based on each child’s personality and age.
March 2, 2013
I DO NOT like to be touched when I sleep. I just can’t sleep if I’m being touched. I knew this before having a baby and had no illusions of idyllic co-sleeping fused with peaceful nighttime nursing. My baby slept in a bassinet next to my bed for quick response to his needs. We went to my recliner to nurse every time. When he was too big for his bassinet, he moved to a crib in his room and the nursing routine stayed the same. By three months he was sleeping through the night. I have tried to sleep with him on two occasions because he was having a hard time. These experiences were so freaking terrible because of his rambunctious sleeping tendencies. I am pregnant with our second child and I have the same plan for sleeping.
March 2, 2013
My baby girl is just now 10 weeks old. Since we brought her home from the hospital she has slept in her crib at night. We decided before we had her that we were not a family-bed kinda family. Partly because the folks I know that went this way still have five year olds in bed with them but also because we wanted to foster her independence and be able to sleep soundly ourselves without worrying about the covers suffocating her (we live in a cold climate and she was born in December). Her crib is in our room. But, for the first week she was home we had her sleeping round the clock (she was slightly premature, so a very sleepy baby) in the pack and play in our living room, with one of us awake and keeping vigil over her at all times, taking shifts! Quickly we realized that was ridiculous and moved to having her go down for the night in her crib in our room. She has never had a bit of trouble with this sleep arrangement. Also, I am unable to breastfeed so we have been doing bottles since the beginning. If I had been able to “sleep-breastfeed” like my friends, I guarantee you she would be in my bed right now (I am writing this while waiting for her to rouse for her last feeding of the night!). She is now sleeping 5-6 hours in the evening, followed by 2 or 3 stretches of 3-4 hours. She does like to wake up at 6:30 and thrash around until we release her from the swaddle. At that point I have been bringing her into our bed and she happily lies next to me and waves her arms around while I doze until she is ready to eat and then we get up together. This works for us. Every family and situation is different and I think feeding habits, baby temparment and parent needs all factor into it. I read a bunch of sleep books while I was pregnant and they just made me anxious, and it turned out that just following our instincts and her cues was the best way to go. Of course, I realize she could wake up tomorrow and have sleep problems so I still think it is good to read those books when you are pregnant and have the time, so that when you need the information you can groggily search your memory and maybe find the book that possibly speaks to your situation!
March 3, 2013
The first six months with Georgie were a nightmare, I am sorry to say. He suffered with colic for four months straight, crying for hours on and sleeping very little. I spent the majority of those months with him in my arms and at night, occasionally in our bed much to the dismay of everyone who kept warning me I was asking for trouble, setting myself up for a trap. But I found it easier as a mother who was breastfeeding and a thoroughly exhausted person overall. I had read up on the matter of ‘habits’ and knew that a one month old could not really form any. He eventually got used to the bassinet in our bedroom, which he slept in until he was four months old. His bedroom and bigger cot was used at nap times, to get him used to the feel of the room so the transition wasn’t that hard. Where I come from, mothers, unfortunately, are ill-equipped when it comes to sleep and food, carrying on silly ‘sayings’ and ‘traditions’ that make no sense. I was even told he was ‘being difficult’ and I shouldn’t give in! I was told my milk was to blame and i should get him started on formula. I tell you, the support was overwhelming! When I began sleep training, they could not, for the life of them, understand what I was talking about. It was hard to say the least, being judged like that and at the same time trying to deal with a baby who wasn’t too keen on learning how to sleep. I insisted on an early bedtime which was followed by a bath and milk -breast until 18 months and now organic goat’s milk. Again, where i come from, tucking your child in at 6.30 is considered madness. But I am so glad I stuck to my guns because now, at 2 years, he sleeps in his own bedroom for 12 hours straight while I sit around hearing horror stories of parents begging their children to sleep at 11 o clock at night. Routine is important, I have found and so is discipline on both parts.
I have read ALOT on the matter, became kind of obsessed you could say. But I was and still am adamant that a child should LEARN how to sleep well and it is, as parents, our obligation to help them do this.
I wish I could write more but my hair is begging for a wash!
Thank you for touching on this subject. New mothers dealing with sleepless nights should know that there is a way out.
March 3, 2013
Well, I’m not a mom, I’m a dad but I had a sleep story I wanted to share in any case.
Our daughter is almost 4 now. When she was born we had her in a cosleeper next to the bed. That worked out great for about 6 months then we actually, and quite painlessly got her to self sleep in a crib by following the sleep guildelines from our pediatrician.
About a month into it, she got a cold and my wife brought her into bed. I found out at this time there was no chance of me being able to sleep with our baby in bed. I am too sensitive to sound and movement and the first 2 nights didn’t sleep at all and the duration of the cold, I spent on the couch.
The issue became however, is once our daughter was well, my wife decided she didn’t want to return Her to the crib. Fast forward to almost 4 years, and my wife still sleeps in bed with my daughter, in her room.
The unfortunate part of this was that I as the father and husband was never considered in this decision and it has resulted in a large strain on my wife and my relationship. I have been bery upfront and vocal about my opposition to this. We have maybe slept in the same bed 10 times in 3 years. My wife also does not sleep well in my daughters bed and I constantly hear that frustration when my daughter “keeps her up”. I have found I can’t even be sympathetic because she is doing this out her own fears of our daughter one day leaving the house and not being close enough. This is not a “poor me” situation. But if both parents are not on board it does make things difficult. Thank you for listening.
March 4, 2013
Hey, I’m SO happy to hear from a dad! I wrote this post hoping to be inclusive of both parenting halves, so I’m glad you responded. You bring up an excellent point – that whatever the path you take with your baby’s sleep, parents might have different ideas/plans/tolerances, and that can cause a huge strain. I know that if we had chosen to have Cee in our bed when she was an infant, it would have meant that she and I slept together and my husband slept in the guest room or on the couch. That probably would have been fine for a while, but I think that would have eventually been a strain on our relationship as well, and I think I would have missed him! It’s one of those tricky balancing acts of early parenting. Some are willing to make more of a sacrifice in the adult relationship department, and sleeping separately from spouses for the sake of sharing a bed with an infant is a norm in some cultures. In our family, I don’t mind my daughter knowing that my husband and I have our own special relationship and that we value time alone because we love each other. Plus, I’d rather her have parents with a happy marriage than a strained one. Other couples don’t have a problem with this at all or make a joint decision to make the nighttime proximity with baby more of a priority.
Thanks again for sharing your story and good luck:)
March 4, 2013
Great to hear a dads point of view on this subject. Thank you!
March 16, 2013
Jen #
Our daughter slept in a hammock next to my head. She was as close to me as she could get without actually being in our bed. There were nights when she just wouldn’t settle and I would nurse her and bring her into bed with us. Spooning with her normally did the trick, but the problem was that I couldn’t sleep. I was too nervous that I would unintentionally do something to hurt her that I would lie there listening to her breathe…. and eventually move her back into the hammock. There were nights that I was so tired that she would fall asleep nursing and I would fall asleep too, only to wake up with a start thinking “Oh god, I fell asleep, is she ok?” Of course she was perfectly content and fine, but I felt terribly guilty about what might have happened. I think bed sharing is perfectly safe, done correctly. But I think most Mum’s aren’t completely confident that it is safe and therefore avoid it, just in case.
March 5, 2013
we never intended for our little guy to be in bed with us although we had read about & discussed co-sleeping. we bought a co-sleeper & attached it to the bed. when he came home, he was jaundiced & ended up with a biliblanket (day 2 of being home). that night i just couldnt stand the thought of him all alone & i was afraid he would be cold, i cant explain it i just needed my baby close to me, touching me, and so into the bed he came. as he got older he developed horrible colic that always hit in the middle of the night (oversupply/ foremilk/ hindmilk imbalance) and so when he was gripy/ gassy he calmed much better if he was next to us & we could soothe him. we figured once he was clear of that we would move him out of the bed & into his crib. well the gassiness never let up, he had both reflux & MPI. he’s almost 9 months old & still sleeping in our bed. why? well he nurses to sleep & so when he wakes in the middle of the night, its just easy to start nursing him & we both fall back to sleep. we are hoping to move him out of there soon, maybe at 1 when my work schedule gets better & i can deal with the transition.
i think a few things let us be comfortable with the co-sleeping-I am a very light sleeper so I knew i would not hurt him. he has always been a big guy (8lbs 7 oz at birth, regained birth weight in less than 1 week) so he was physically a presence in the bed. I dont know if i would do it differently. if you guaranteed me more sleep if he was in his crib id be there yesterday but right now this works for everyone.
March 5, 2013
Our son was very small when he was born. At full term, he was only four pounds and a few ounces. He spent his first nights in a bassinet next to us because that’s just what you do, right?
When he was bigger—at probably 1month—we were having a particularly tough night. I’d nurse him to sleep, and when I tried to put him in his bassinet, he’d wake up crying. He would only sleep while I held him.
I was tired, confused, and frustrated. All those post-partum hormones. Such little sleep. My darling husband saw my distress and said, “Why doesn’t he just sleep with us?” So, I made a little next next to me, and he’s been in our bed since then.
Only later did I learn what a controversial issue this is. It was only after I started researching having the baby safely in our bed did I see terms like “co-sleeping” and “bed sharing.”
But that seems to be a running theme in our parenting choices. We do what seems natural, common sense only to discover later that there are a whole host of nay-sayers who disagree with a gentler way of raising baby. But we have also discovered a community of breast-feeding, baby-wearing, cloth-diapering, bed-sharing folks, too.
March 8, 2013
Honestly, neither husband and I could really bear the thought of our tiny baby in that giant crib, all alone. Baby seems so much safer nestled in my arms, baby hairs tickling my chin, little wiggly legs kicking mine.
There have been a few night where he’s kept me awake. But I imagine I’d be awake worrying about him if he were alone in a crib.
March 8, 2013
Chloe and I co-slept until 5 months. Dad sleeps on the couch.
We made an informed decision after a few bad nights sleep for Mum that it was better for the purpose of getting more sleep. It really did in our case work. We would ensure it was a safe environment by moving pillows and blankets from around her and I slept on my side she slept on hers.
The transition came after she was sleeping through once her 4 month regression ended. I would recommend it to breastfeeding mothers needing more sleep. I think it’s natural and great for bonding.
March 9, 2013
We planned to have our daughter sleep in her own bed in our room, but ended up with her in our bed. Having her in our room seemed best for easy night feedings and also for reducing SIDS risk, but she just wouldn’t sleep on her own. We would spend hours nursing, rocking, holding her and waiting for her to fall into a deep sleep, only to have her wake up as soon as we set her down and then we’d have to repeat the whole process. If we set her down awake, she’d just scream, never tested how long, I couldn’t stand listening to it. I was falling asleep while nursing on the recliner or propped up in bed, then waking up in a panic as I felt her slipping from my arms. I was exhausted, my husband was tired, our daughter was cranky and spent a few hours most nights screaming because she was tired and couldn’t sleep. The best sleep everyone got was when she dozed off on my chest after nursing, so we finally, when she was about 4 weeks old, accepted that she would have to sleep that way. We did some research on safe bedsharing and babyproofed our bed the best we could. At 6 weeks or so I finally mastered nursing laying down, and we’ve slept with her in bed next to me ever since. My husband and I both work full time and our daughter dislikes bottles (she eats about half of what I pump most days), so cosleeping has made it easier to deal with her need to eat at night. She’s almost 8 months old now and we’re satisfied with the current sleeping arrangement but also looking forward to someday transitioning her to her own bed, maybe once she’s eating more solids during the day and not needing the night feedings anymore.
March 9, 2013
Here is my personal experience: Being a physician, I have unsuccessfully tried to revive several babies brought in to the ER in the morning after being found lifeless in bed. Every single one so far has been bed-sharing. The faces and cries of their distraught mothers has been etched into my mind for eternity, I’m afraid. This is only my personal small sample, but as you can well imagine, I can’t bedshare. Even in situations where it would be preferable (camping, traveling, sick child), I cannot fall asleep!!! I was lucky that my son agreed with this plan and slept well in his own bed from the beginning.
March 11, 2013
Wow Lori, I can’t imagine how horrific this experience must have been, especially for those parents of course. Even though it is terribly sad, thank you for sharing.
March 12, 2013
Mar #
How old were these babies?
March 15, 2013
The oldest was around 6 months old and the youngest 1 week old.
April 6, 2013
Mar #
I used to judge bed-sharers. Our daughter slept in a bassinet in our room until about 5 months. It was around then that I finally learned to side-lie nurse and so that’s when we started bed-sharing. It was just so much easier not having to get up in the middle of the night. She always woke up when we moved her to her bassinet and preferred to be next to us. Around 6 months, we tried Ferberizing her, but after 2 weeks of crying, I couldn’t handle it anymore and quit. She is 15 months now and we are still bed-sharing. It is not ideal but it works for us because it is the only way I can get a good night of rest. We also like the cuddling, too. I think in an ideal world, she would be in her crib in our room for the first 2 years, and then she’d transition to her own room after that. I am uncomfortable with this modern western model of forcing babies into sleep independence.
March 15, 2013
Just a bit of background – I have a Phd in developmental psychology and specialized in educational research about children with special needs, evaluation, assessment and stuff like that. My partner and I (we are a same sex couple) have two kids ages 5 years (girl) and 4 months (boy). I grew up co-sleeping with my uber-hippie parents. We all slept with them, and then room shared with them, for a few years – I believe I was 3 when they got me my own bed, and was 9 when I got my own bedroom. I am the oldest and my youngest sibling is 7 years younger (there are 3 of us.) It was mostly happy but very crowded. I don’t remember sleep trouble as a child but have had lots of trouble sleeping (insomnia, and lots of anxiety related issues) since high school. So, I always thought I would co-sleep with my own kids. Maybe not to the extreme they took it, probably only when they were actually babies. In any case, when my daughter was born my partner and I planned on co-sleeping with her. We had an arms reach co-sleeper but did intend to bed share. The baby hated the co-sleeper and almost never slept in it. The cats slept in it more then she did to the point that we referred to it as the cat-sleeper. Anyway, for a while, bedsharing went really well. And it was lovely and cozy – FOR THEM. Not me. I could not sleep well with my baby next to me. Not because I was afraid I would hurt her, but because she kept me awake. It was like my body went into a hypervigilant state. So I’d nurse her, then she’d sleep in her other mom’s arms. They slept really well together for a while. Around 3 months old it started going downhill, little one woke up a lot and wanted to eat every hour or so. We put up with this for a bit, thinking that it was a growth spurt or some kind of phase. Eventually though we couldn’t take it anymore. I was struggling with some PPD and sleep deprivation was definitely making it much worse. We tried a lot of things (I can’t even remember what all at this point) to get her to sleep longer in the bed with us but nothing worked. One night at about 2am in a haze of no-sleep we decided to put her in the crib and see what happened. It broke my heart a little but we had to at least try it. Right then we decided if she cried for more than 15 minutes we would go back and get her and just deal, and she cried for exactly 8 minutes, then slept for 4 HOURS. It seemed clear to us that she needed her own space – she was around 5 months old at this point. After that we embarked on sleep training (I read a bunch of books in about 2 days…) and (to my horror at the time) ended up doing CIO. We tried some of the “softer” methods (pick up, put down, mom in room…) but all of that actually seemed to just make our little one mad. If we were in the room, she had to have our attention and would stay awake for astounding periods of time. She still fights sleep now, but does go to sleep on her own and sleeps well and has slept through the night since I night weaned when she was 11 months old. With our new little guy, we also co-slept in the beginning and it lasted for about 2 months when he got very wiggly and woke us up a lot. He was not waking, just waking us. So then he slept in a little rock n play sleeper for a few weeks, until one night I put him in his crib instead and he did fine. He is a mellow guy and does not fight sleep. He is swaddled because otherwise he whacks himself in the face and wakes up. He goes through periods where he wakes every 2 hours and is hungry, but they usually resolve within a week or so. He gets rocked to sleep because it takes about 5 minutes, so why not? If it stops working, we’ll change something but right now I am enjoying learning through personal experience that there are in fact babies who enjoy sleep and rest. Our daughter still does not really know how to rest her body. We talk with her, and lay with her and have tried to sort of do guided meditation with her to help her but she typically ends up jumping on the bed or something. I feel like it is important though for her to learn to chill the heck out – I’m not worried that she has an actual clinical problem with this, but that it would be a disservice to her to not at least attempt to help her learn to rest and be calm. I could go on all day about this, but I’ll stop here. Thanks for your work, I have just recently discovered your blog and am really enjoying it.
March 18, 2013
This topic definitely deserves its own chapter! I look forward to reading your thoughts as I really respect your research and enjoy your blog very much.
Our son is almost 15 months old. We planned to have the baby in a bassinet in our room for the first while, then transition him to a crib in his room around 6 months, as per guidelines. But this was all very fuzzy in my mind. I knew babies woke in the night but had no idea of the minefield of baby sleep. I had heard of ferberizing but somehow didn’t think of it as something I might ever need to do.
For the first few weeks he slept in the bassinet, waking every 2-3 hours to feed. Around the time the books said he would start lengthening his between-feed times after regaining his birth weight and then some (three weeks or so), he stopped sleeping in his bassinet or anywhere other than on a person. Literally as soon as we would start to lower him down, he would wake up. On the rare occasion we could put him down asleep in his bassinet, he would wake up within 5 minutes. Putting him down awake didn’t work very well either, but in retrospect I wonder if we could have worked harder on that. We swaddled, sound machined, bedtime routined…he did not take a pacifier though and that might have helped.
So what did we do? I started passing out on the couch with him while nursing. We have a sectional and I would prop my feet up there and that’s where we slept, with him nestled in the nursing pillow. My husband and I had endless debates about the safety of this. I knew it wasn’t “safe” – but it was literally the only way I slept. After a month of discussion, we agreed that I would try sleeping in the bed with the baby and my husband would sleep in the guest room as this was a safer arrangement than me passing out on the couch from exhaustion. This was when our son was around 2 months old. And that is still what we do now. We borrowed a co-sleeper from someone that went in the bed, but that didn’t serve the purpose we needed as my son seemed to need close physical contact to stay asleep.
The upside has been very decent sleep for all of us, except when our son is sick. Even when he is sick, I feel like his sleep is less disturbed because I nurse him back to sleep very quickly if he wakes. He has no trouble falling asleep when we travel. And I LOVE sleeping with him. Absolutely love it: the cuddling, the closeness, his sweet breath. Especially since he has started daycare and I’ve gone back to work, I crave that closeness. We have the micro wake-ups for a bit of nursing through the night, but this doesn’t disturb me that much. The downsides are that I miss sleeping with my husband (who still does not feel safe sleeping in the bed with us, though I am keen to try) and that our son is very used to me being beside him so he wakes up every hour or two if I’m not there, so I rarely go out of the house in the evenings. We have a mattress on the floor where I put him down around 7-7:30pm, then I creep away when he’s asleep, and then I bring him to bed with me when I go to bed. He sleeps until 7 or so most mornings.
I would have never anticipated this arrangement, although as a child I slept on and off in my parents’ bed until I was 7. I put a lot of research into it myself (I am also a scientist with a PhD) and feel confident that we have minimized the risk factors associated with bed sharing. I am ready now to spend more time with my husband and have more of a life in the evenings but as I mentioned I really do love sleeping with him and change is hard. We have discussed at length trying to sleep train him but neither of us can face it. He now naps well alone in his crib at daycare so that’s a start.
I would be happy to provide more details and discussion if needed for your book.
March 19, 2013
My almost 9mo old son initially slept in his moses basket next to our bed, and then we both discovered the world of co-sleeping. I had never considered it, and did not know much about it. My son was a big guy at birth, 9 lbs, and was rooting around immediately. That was a characteristic of him for all of those early months, if fact, he would rather eat than sleep. There were nights that he would need me every two hours, and there were others when he would only be up 2-3 times. He slept in his own space a lot of the time, but it got to a point where worked out better for the both of us when he slept in our bed. It was a lovely time, he fit in the crook of my arm perfectly and we breathed each other in each night. The toughest part of bedsharing was the social pressure to not do so, and the eyebrow raises I received from family & friends. My guess is that I was very sensitive to what others thought because O is my first baby, and it was a new adventure for us both. So, again, I tried to give him his space and transitioned him to his own crib at around 3 mo old, some nights would be ok, others…not so much. I remember one morning I called La Leche League cause they had a help line that would connect me with another mom immediately, and she gave me some very valuable advice when it came to my baby, she said, “Do what works for right now.” She helped me remember that my mothering gut was and is always right. So, at that time O slept with me. Yes, it disturbed my husband a bit, yes it went against what my mother thought, but it worked for us. Now, at nearly 9 months old, O sleeps in his own crib. He still gets up often, 2-3 times per night, but we are getting 6 hour stretches from time to time and I am so proud of us both.
March 28, 2013
I think one of the most interesting things about the debate around bedsharing is that it is SUCH a debate. It’s a scientific debate, too. Researchers in this field can read the same papers, look at the same data, and come to different conclusions. That’s frustrating to us parents, but it is an indicator of how complex these questions are. Meanwhile, we are somehow so quick to judge when other do things differently or to get defensive when our practices are questioned. I think that in many ways we as a culture are a bit unmoored when it comes to infant parenting practices right now. Our cultural expectations for parenting are shifting, and we don’t just expect to do things the way our own mothers did. That leaves us feeling vulnerable to criticism. I’m glad that you did what felt right and what worked for you. I think that’s important, whatever the data say.
March 28, 2013
sleeplessworkingmom #
This is so emotional for me. My first wanted her own space and has never slept with us. She is 2 now. I work full time and after I became pregnant with number two and stopped breast feeding I almost wished she would have slept in our bed occasionally because I missed that closeness. With number two she is 13 mo and is a horrible sleeper. I haven’t slept through the night since she was born. I’ve tried everything including nursing her all night and having her sleep with us. Nothing has helped and I realize she is a different entity all in itself and cannot be compared to the normal child. That being said, every woman has a choice to breast feed or not. I feel like the mothers that didn’t are so defensive about NOT breast feeding that they are so quick to poo-poo the idea of co-sleeping. What a sensitive topic! And who is right? You do whats works at the time. Mama bear knows best and don’t try and give her advice on what is an innate instinct in her. Your chapter will be interesting to read. Sleep deprivation is emotional and has the potential to make you crazy. The first child is easy, subsequent children add so much fuel to the fire on already empty tanks. Good luck. I so enjoy your posts. Cheers to you.
March 28, 2013
Yes, sleep is so personal, and is it any wonder that we aren’t going to do things the same way, given our different philosophies, needs, feeding types, baby temperaments, etc.? And sleep deprivation is so tough. Bedsharing helps some to get more sleep, but it has the opposite effect for others. No one-size-fits-all solution, that’s for sure! Thanks for your comment and your kind words!
March 28, 2013
My son was born at home and we decided to co-sleep for many reasons, one being the ease of breastfeeding. We felt most compelled to co-sleep so we could monitor our son. I didn’t personally feel it was a safe option to put him in a bed by himself away from us. I needed to wake up, check his breathing, feel his chest move and the warmth of his skin for my own personal sanity. I have always struggled with sleep, so waking and traveling to the nursery to check on him 6-7-8 times a night was not an option for me. However, I, too, was a little concerned with the risks associated with co-sleeping so we opted for a mini-bed placed between my husband and I (I don’t want to advertise but it was called a Snuggle Nest) for the first month or so. It worked out great but he soon out grew it. We received a second-hand mini co-sleeper that attached to the side of the bed, but again, my son out grew that by 4-5 months. At that point he came into bed with us. He is now 13 months old and we are all bed sharing quite happily.
However, sleep deprivation is a huge issue still, especially for myself. My son and I are both very light sleepers so we constantly wake each other up. I also suffer from many bouts of insomnia, none of which are related to the safety of son. I have had insomnia issues all my life. If my son was comfortable sleeping on his own, we may go that route, but as it stands he still occasionally reaches out for the comfort of me or my husband, so we gladly oblige by keeping him in bed with us. He also still nurses 3+ times a night so co-sleeping just makes sense to us. He is not a fussy baby, and never was, so I feel that the few things he aks for, we can accommodate.
I will say, however, that now that we are using sign language, he lets us know when he is tired by signing “sleep”. I have taken him to bed, laid down with him and had him fall asleep for naps just fine. We have also placed him in his crib for naps with success, though his naps only last 30 minutes or so.
I will also note that our family is very pro-bodily contact. My son naps when he wants (usually twice a day) but its almost always in my arms (He’s not nursing to sleep however. He signs “sleep” when he wants to nap, and I am happy to hold him while he does). He slept a lot as a baby in my, my husband’s, or his grandma’s arms, so he is very used to waking up with breathing, heart beats, and warm skin. He also naps happily in his car seat, carrier, stroller, etc, so being held is not really necessary, just something we do as a form of bonding and cuddling.
March 30, 2013
Oh, I forgot to say that our night time ritual is very simple in that I say good night downstairs, my son waves goodbye and my husband takes him up to bed. It takes 10-15 minutes max. My husband typically lays him in his crib and returns to me, but my son being the light sleeper that he is, often rolls around and right into the crib walls INSTANTLY waking up and jumping up to attention (where he then pokes at the video monitor until one of us comes to get him). We then either take him to bed with us (if we are ready for bed ourselves), or get him back to sleep and try again. Since we started laying him in our bed when he’s ready at night, he stays asleep MUCH longer because he has way more space to roll in our king size bed. He is a very active sleeper, so I don’t think the crib is ever going to be a decent option for him. It was never an option for my mother when I was a baby for the same reasons (I am the lightest sleeper in my family, roll around constantly, suffer from insomnia, hardly ever dream, and wake up fast and totally awake). I have tried everything from light medication to every pseudo-science theory imaginable (and some helped other aspects of my life, but not my sleep).
I was hoping my sleep issues would not be inherited by my son, but it looks like he is exactly like me. I have often debated signing up for a sleep study to find out if my (and now his) behavior is normal and if we are getting the best quality sleep we can. Since I am so used to poor quality sleep, having a baby really wasn’t that big of a behavioral shift, at least not on the sleep side of it.
March 30, 2013
You may find the La Leche League International handout “Safe Sleep for Breastfeeding Babies” interesting. I think sleep location and “training” is different depending on whether baby is breastfed vs. bottle.
My baby is 2 months old and he sleeps really well when he is swaddled either in his co-sleeper bassinet or next to me. My intention is for him to sleep in the co-sleeper, but I usually fall asleep while sideline nursing and he ends up sleeping next to me in bed part of the night. I’ve definitely noticed that our sleep cycles often synchronize. Like, when he wakes I am in a very light state of sleep and can wake easily. During the day, (I am still on maternity leave) I try to have him take at least one of his naps in his big crib so that he gets used to sleeping alone there. Eventually (not sure when?), he’ll sleep there… I can’t imagine not having him right next to me at night. It would be such a sleep interruption for both me and baby if either of us had to go from horizontal to vertical…
April 15, 2013
Yes, sleep is different between breastfed and formula-fed babies, and bedsharing behavior is too. It probably is safer for breastfeeding dyads, since both mom and baby are sleeping more lightly and waking more frequently. Although this is fairly speculative, I think it is good to be cautious. That doesn’t help formula-feeding moms whose babies really need to be close to sleep. A cosleeper bassinet is a good option, but otherwise, I think every family has to do their own risk/benefit analysis. As I said in the post, these decisions are complex. Safety definitely needs to be considered, but it isn’t the only factor.
I think it is very smart that your baby has the flexibility to sleep in his crib as well as next to you! Flexibility is always good, and it will allow you to make decisions more freely based on both your and his preferences as he gets older.
April 17, 2013
My husband has mainly worked Graveyard since our son has been born so my son and I would share the bed. I breastfed him (still do) and I just found that getting up all the time to nurse him made me more exhausted. I’ve always been a light sleeper and I feel like we were more in tune with each other when we slept together. Even when he was first born he knew when daddy left at night and he would get fussy. Having him sleep with me and (this is going to sound kind of gross) smelling daddy’s scent on the bed helped him sleep better and not be so anxious. Up until he was about six months old he would sleep on my chest for his naps. Sometimes I would take a nap with him or put him in the moby wrap so I could make lunch or do some light cleaning. After he turned about six – seven months he slept in his crib or on some blankets on the ground wherever I was for his naps. Once he was about 11 – 12 months old he wanted to sleep in his own bed so he slept less with me and more by himself. It was a process. For his first birthday we made his crib into a toddler bed. He knew how to get in and out without a problem in only a couple days of practice. So now at 16 months he sleeps in his own bed but he will get up around 6 and come in bed with me so I can nurse him in the morning. Then my husband comes home and they have their own time while I get another hour of sleep.
I should also say that the entire time that my son slept with me I kept all pillows off the bed with the exception of a little one for myself and I always made sure it was a ways away from him. Also we took all soft bedding off and used a light sheet for a blanket. I made sure to keep it a lengths away from him and once he was about four/five months he would kick all forms of blankets off anyway. I also made sure to keep him in the middle of the bed and never near the sides. When he was older and understood things more we would teach him safe sleeping on the bed. We would make a game out of it, like not getting close to the edge when he started crawling. We would tell him that is owie and my husband would pretend to fall off the bed and be hurt.
I hated it when people would tell me that by him sleeping with me that he would never learn to sleep by himself and would have problems with his independence. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth with us. Like I said he initiated sleeping in his own bed and asserted his independence without me having to push him. For us, I think that sleeping with me gave him the confidence in himself that he needed. He knows at his core that he can go and do his own thing but always come back to mom and knows that I will always be there. I think it made him a more well-adjusted and confident person. That is just us though and what worked for us.
April 30, 2013
Before our LO was born, we had bought an Arm’s Reach Co-sleeper and were very excited to use it. It seemed like the perfect answer to our desire to cosleep yet not have her in our bed, which we were worried would be just too tight. When we got home from the hospital, she ended up sleeping next to me in bed for the first 2 weeks, at which point I transitioned her to the cosleeper. She had reached 10 lbs by then, so I felt she was starting to be too big for what I felt was safe cosleeping, and I thought that at that weight she might be able to sleep better away from me. Also–I was having a hard time sleeping with her next to me.
By 3 months, we were having pretty regular night wakings (5-8?) that were not improving. I was returning to work and was desperate, so we bought a swing and that worked like a charm for about 1.5 months (only 2-3 night wakings). Then…we found ourselves in pacifier hell. She started waking up every 45 minutes b/c the binkie would fall out of her mouth and she wouldn’t let us give it back to her unless we picked her up and rocked her! We had to take the binkie away and there was a lot of crying, but we got back to the 5-7 wakings at night. By 5 months she would try to arch out the swing, so we had to ditch that and tried the cosleeper again. Just before 6 months, though, we had had enough. We were tired of sleeping with blasting white noise, of having tip top around our room at night and read by flashlight, so we made the decision to put her in the hallway right outside of our bedroom. We all started sleeping SO much better. She started only waking 2-3 times a night and the white noise was out of our room.
I really wanted to be a cosleeping mom. I guess I was one, but not for as long as I had originally wanted. I know that the research supports it for baby and for everyone getting more sleep. But at a certain point it just stopped working for us. When I would try to bring her in bed with me between 4-6 months, it seemed like we were constantly waking one another up, and she couldn’t sleep without my nipple in her mouth. I can count the number of times she’s fallen asleep at the breast…it excites her more than calms her when she’s really sleepy. She can, however, sleep soundly in bed with my husband, who doesn’t have the temptation of food to offer! I think that just like any evidence-based recommendation, you also have to take into consideration the individual.
May 21, 2013
Hi! Thanks so much for all your research and honest insight! Good luck with your book. I think it’s a great idea. I actually came across your blog while reading up on infant sleep and sleep training.
I have a 4 month old daughter and am so torn over how to proceed with sleep. My husband and I didn’t plan on having her sleep in our bed at all, and talked about her sleeping in a bassinet in our room for only two months. She is actually still in our room, in fact in our bed, most nights. She slept in bed with us early on and we felt it was fine because she was so used to being near me all the time. She would wake easily when we put her down. We needed our sleep too and the is something so sweet about cuddling near your babe to sleep (obviously, we took all the safety precautions). We did transition her completely to the bassinet where she slept beautifully for about 2 months before she out grew it. We thought we’d keep her in our room awhile longer in a pack n play but she started waking frequently in the night so she’s back in our bed for the time being. I love the closeness of having her there (they are only this little once and for a short time!), and she sleeps so well there, but we also want her to learn to soothe herself to sleep (mostly for naptimes, because that is a whole different issue). We’ll probably sleep train in the next couple months (if I can stand the crying!)
Thanks for your posts on sleep (especially the one about stress-that really helped us feel better about sleep training, though we might still take a more gradual approach). So many things change when you become a parent, and some of the plans just goes out the window!
June 3, 2013
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Welcome! I'm the author of The Science of Mom: A Research-Based Guide to Your Baby's First Year, published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2015. I write about science, health, parenting, and nutrition here and for other print and online outlets. Find more about me at my website: https://alicecallahanphd.com/
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Important information: · This is the last biweekly even share. Next week is the last week for odd biweekly and weekly produce and fruit share. · Please look for summer membership information in your inbox this coming week! · Remember to bring all share boxes to distribution; Thanks! Farm News from Jane It seems as […]
Summer Share Twenty-Three October 22nd 2018
Posted by Jane Oles on Oct 22, 2018 in CSA Update
SUMMER SHARE TWENTY-THREE OCTOBER 22ND 2018 Important information: There are two more weekly summer shares; one more each for bi-weekly shares. Please collect all stray boxes for return these last few weeks. Although there was an initial great response for winter shares enrollment we still have many available shares. The season begins the first week […]
Summer Share Twenty-Two October 15th 2018
Posted by Jane Oles on Oct 15, 2018 in CSA Update
Important information: There are three remaining summer and fruit shares after this week Don’t forget to sign up for winter shares; please email us or go to our website for a membership form @ www.promisedlandcsa@gmail.com Please check for any boxes lingering around and return them this week; Thanks! Farm News from Jane I have been […]
Summer Share Twenty One October 8th 2018
Posted by Jane Oles on Oct 9, 2018 in CSA Update
Important information; We are in the official countdown for summer shares; after this week there are four weeks left for weekly shares and two weeks left for biweekly shares. Please keep the produce and fruit share boxes coming… Farm News from Jane What a lovely time we have with the members whom attended the potluck […]
Summer Share Twenty October 1st 2018
Posted by Jane Oles on Oct 1, 2018 in CSA Update
Important information Thanks to those prompt members who’ve already enrolled in. Please note that there is a new offering this season; a monthly winter share. Send in your membership forms soon! Members who pick up at Park school or the farm may hand in their membership forms at distribution. The annual CSA potluck will be […]
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Easterseals Northeast Central Florida’s inaugural IMPACT Team – the Spring 2019 class – recently was recognized at Easterseals’ annual meeting in Daytona Beach.
IMPACT Team was formed as a result of strategic planning at Easterseals and is a method for enhancing employee engagement. The purpose of IMPACT Team is to create opportunities for employees to affect the future progress of Easterseals and to empower them to be leaders who bring their strengths and ideas into their leadership roles.
To President/CEO Bev Johnson, the group as a catalyst for making positive changes throughout the organization as well. She empowered team leaders Susan Moor, Brenna Giblock, Debbie Neller, Michelle Bucalos and Teresa White to design the program around Easterseals’ strategic planning goals that related to employee engagement and visibility.
Future IMPACT Teams will commence twice annually and will consist of several required components: five sessions, team projects and participation in an Easterseals fundraiser.
This year’s IMPACT Team had many goals for their involvement, including encouraging positivity and growth for employees, gaining greater insight into programs, serving families better, and using the new skills on and off the job. The team is comprised of members who have been endorsed by their supervisors and directors to participate, who also are excited about the opportunity for their employees. They are:
Deanna McGrath, Coordinator, School Therapy/ Autism Center of Excellence
Jaslyn Clemmons, Teacher, Early Childhood Center
Starr Legere, Assistant Teacher, Early Childhood Center/ Charter School
Congratulations to the Spring 2019 IMPACT Team participants! We are proud of this first “graduating class.”
Extra Mile Award Winners Honored at Annual Meeting
Easterseals' 2019 "Extra Mile Award" winners.
The leaders of Easterseals Northeast Central Florida readily recognize that its staff is extraordinarily involved in Easterseals overall success and adherence to its mission. These dedicated professionals do the meaningful, hands-on work at Easterseals and are the driving force behind Easterseals’ purpose. They are the link to clients as well, giving insight into the real impact Easterseals has in stories and in numbers.
Recently, Easterseals honored outstanding staff members at its annual meeting. In addition to recognizing longtime employees, Easterseals’ Chair-Elect Steve Sevigny honored select team members with “Extra Mile Awards.” The honorees were nominated by the Easterseals leadership team for being living examples of the values Easterseals represents. Below are this year's honorees:
Terri Borzner (Early Steps) – Terri was recognized for the many hours she has dedicated to Early Steps billing to bring all the records up to date.
John Borzner (Admin/Maintenance) – John was honored for handling the DeLand facility updates, all the room changes in Daytona CDC and keeping the building(s) functioning while staying completely calm and good-natured about it!
Debbie McLaughlin (Accounting) – Debbie was recognized for jumping in whenever she is needed and helping get Early Steps billing up to date too.
Deanna McGrath (School Therapy) – Deanna was honored for embracing the school therapy coordinator position and bringing it to new heights.
Susan Tyler (School Therapy) – Susan was recognized for jumping in whenever needed and for helping with all the staffing changes in Speech Therapy.
Kasey Grebosz (School Therapy) – Kasey was honored for managing an incredible caseload in school therapy and staying positive throughout!
Debbie Raiman (School Therapy) – Debbie was recognized for managing an incredible caseload in school therapy and staying positive throughout as well!
Debbie Neller, Shari MacFarlane, Davine Vincent (Autism Center of Excellence) – These three ladies – our 'power Autism Center of Excellence team' – were honored for working many evenings and Saturdays in support of ACE outreach and its clinic operations.
Ammy Schleifman (Daytona Early Steps) – Ammy was recognized for going above and beyond with interpreting services (covering three counties) while maintaining a large caseload of clients.
Crystal Smithers (DeLand Early Steps) – Crystal was honored for her connection and commitment to the families served by Easterseals Northeast Central Florida.
Diane Barber (Leesburg Early Steps) – Diane was honored for her outstanding work as Service Coordinator lead, through which she managed two locations. During the process, she maintained an above average caseload in a challenging service area.
Erica Garris (Daytona CDC/Project WARM) – Easterseals recognized Erica for bringing creativity and passion to the Child Development Center and for managing a large amount of staffing transitions at Project WARM.
Angela Crooks (Project WARM) – Easterseals honored Angela for assisting in every way possible to help with a variety of transitions at Project WARM.
To all these outstanding employees all our team members, we thank you for you continued dedication to serving Easterseals families. You are the reason we can take on disability together and change lives.
Star Legere has been a paraprofessional in Easterseals Northeast Central Florida’s classrooms for three years. In her position, she assists lead teachers and works with children on their individualized developmental goals, helping them reach – and surpass – them.
Star said she finds that many folks have a misconception about what it means to be a paraprofessional.
“One thing most people don’t understand about being a paraprofessional is that it’s not a babysitting job,” she said. “I’m there to help children grow to reach their fullest developmental potential and to care for their needs.”
Star is dedicated to children’s growth and understands how important her relationship with students’ families is.
“What I enjoy most about working with families through Easterseals is bonding with them,” said Star. “Connecting with the families helps me understand their children’s needs better.”
Star said she loves working in Easterseals’ team-focused environment; it has helped her become a better paraprofessional.
“There are other people (on my team) whom I can count on when I need help, or when I need to review ideas that most help the families we serve,” she said.
Star never stops pursuing learning opportunities; it’s one of the reasons she’s right at home on the IMPACT Team at Easterseals. IMPACT is a team of Easterseals leaders who are creating positive changes at the organization. The inaugural team was formed this spring as a result of strategic planning at Easterseals and is a method for enhancing employee engagement.
Personal growth and professional development remain important to Star.
“When I first began at Easterseals I had my CDA (Child Development Associate) credential,” she said, “and, through working with my encouraging coworkers, I now have my associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education.”
Star has immediate plans to continue her professional development too: She will be pursuing her director’s credential in late summer.
“When people think about Easterseals, I hope they think of the caring and loving people that help their children reach their developmental goals,” said Star. “It’s a happy environment.”
Indeed, with Star on the Easterseals team, it seems that her students’ potential – as well as her own – has no limits at all.
If you have a love of teaching or an interest in helping children and adults with disabilities reach their fullest potential, you may have a place at Easterseals. All current job opportunities may not be available online, so contact HR Generalist Fran DeCinto at careers@esnecfl.org for more information. In the meantime, complete our application for employment opportunities, available here. Additionally, Easterseals has partnered with GettingHired.com, an online resource that connects people with disabilities to employers in search of qualified jobseekers with disabilities. Visit www.GettingHired.com to open your door to opportunity!
Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida serves the region with facilities in Daytona Beach, DeLand, Bunnell, and Leesburg. To learn more about Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida, please visit www.eastersealsnecfl.org.
Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida serves the region with facilities in Daytona Beach, DeLand, Bunnell, and Leesburg. To learn more about Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida, please visit www.eastersealsnecfl.org.
Barbie Overton and a few of her eager learners at Easterseals Charter School, Daytona Beach.
Barbara (Barbie) Overton is a Pre-Kindergarten teacher at Easterseals Charter School in Daytona Beach. In her role, Barbie works to lay the foundation for creating a love of learning that will stay with her students throughout their lifetimes.
From day to day, her classroom activities focus on helping students build empathy and compassion, problem solve and enter kindergarten ready to learn. She focuses on designing activities in a creative learning environment that keep the youngsters’ interest, all the while teaching them how to be their best.
“Some of the outcomes I want to see in my students are being able to cooperate, share and care for others; being able to think for and express themselves confidently; and being able to appreciate diverse views,” explained Barbie, adding that being resilient in the face of adversity and having a lively curiosity about things are daily goals for her students, too.
Barbie enjoys many aspects of teaching, but one stands out.
“I love seeing the growth that my students make,” she said. “Not just the big growth made from the beginning to the end of the school year, but all of the smaller ones in-between. Kids have a lot of ‘aha’ moments and I love being a part of that.”
It’s no surprise that this enthusiastic teacher, like so many others, also values teaching children how to have fun and care for others, too.
“I enjoy seeing my students' faces light up and hearing their laughter when they are having fun doing the learning activities,” said Barbie. “And, I treasure it in my heart when I witness compassion and caring in my students for others, such as comforting someone who is sad or hurt, helping someone remember what to do, or working peacefully and happily together on a project.”
A common misconception about how preschoolers learn is that they are learning even when it looks like “just playing,” she said, adding that the more teachers a child has in their life the better they are and the further they will go. She encourages parents and caregivers to become a teacher for their children.
Added Barbie: “Make everyday moments teachable moments, especially ‘oopsies.’ We often learn best from our mistakes.”
If you have a love of teaching or an interest in helping children and adults with disabilities reach their fullest potential, you may have a place at Easterseals. All current job opportunities may not be available online, so contact HR Generalist Fran DeCinto at careers@esnecfl.org for more information. In the meantime, complete our application for employment opportunities, available here. Additionally, Easterseals has partnered with GettingHired.com, an online resource that connects people with disabilities to employers in search of qualified jobseekers with disabilities. Visit GettingHired.com to open your door to opportunity!
Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida serves the region with facilities in Daytona Beach, DeLand, Bunnell, and Leesburg. To learn more about Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida, please visit www.eastersealsnecfl.org.
Jas Clemmons Loves Teaching at Easterseals
Jasyln (Jas) Clemmons spends her weekdays caring for youngsters at Easterseals Charter School in Daytona Beach. Her classroom of spunky two-year-olds keep her on her toes, and she loves it.
Jas joined Easterseals as a floater/substitute in the Child Development Center in 2008. Her responsibilities include overseeing and implementing developmentally appropriate classroom activities, while ensuring a safe environment for the little ones. She’s focused on creating experiences at Easterseals that help children thrive.
Day to day, the activities in Jas’ classroom help the children reach key developmental milestones. Jas and her team focus on many skills such as potty training, gross motor development, language development and building emotional, social and communication skills.
Jas also focuses on maintaining regular communication with the children’s families as part of her role as a pre-school teacher. She understands that helping a child reach his or her potential is a group effort.
As an Easterseals team member, Jas also participates in several opportunities for trainings that help make her most effective in the classroom and as a professional outside of it. Jas loves expanding her knowledge with the trainings.
Jas also is a key member of Easterseals’ Joey’s Gift Respite program and always is willing to help wherever and wherever she’s needed.
All of these reflect Jas’ dedication to her classroom, her young students, their families and Easterseals, which is evidenced by her 10-year-plus commitment.
“The first five years of a child’s development are critical,” said Jas. “I enjoy seeing each and every child grow and meet their individual goals. Our role is very important.”
If you have a love of teaching or an interest in helping children and adults with disabilities reach their fullest potential, you may have a place at Easterseals. All current job opportunities may not be available online, so contact HR Generalist Fran DeCinto at careers@esnecfl.org for more information. In the meantime, complete our application for employment opportunities, available here. Additionally, Easterseals has partnered with GettingHired.com, an online resource that connects people with disabilities to employers in search of qualified jobseekers with disabilities. Visit GettingHired.com to open your door to opportunity!
Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida serves the region with facilities in Daytona Beach, DeLand, Bunnell, and Leesburg. To learn more about Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida, please visit www.eastersealsnecfl.org.
Welcome to Easterseals, Stephanie Ford
Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida welcomes Stephanie Ford to its Daytona Beach-based team. In her new role as Special Events Manager, Stephanie is responsible for developing and managing major internal and external annual fundraising events for Easterseals. Her key tasks include planning and analyzing cost-effective events; setting revenue goals; forming relationships with and soliciting event sponsors and donors; and coordinating and managing sponsors, contractors, vendors, employees and volunteers.
Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts from the University of Florida.
Before her position at Easterseals, Stephanie owned and operated Stephanie Rae Events, LLC, an event-planning organization that specializes in conducting corporate and professional retreats.
Her skills include event planning and facilitating, sponsor relations, community outreach, fundraising, public speaking and social-media marketing.
Stephanie is passionate about creating fun and positive experiences through events.
“I have been in the events field for many years and worn many different hats,” said Stephanie. “I love creating experiences for people that impact, enhance, or empower their lives.”
She’s an early riser who loves to start her day with a good book. And, when not in the office, Stephanie loves being active and makes the most of living in New Smyrna Beach with her husband, stepson and two fur babies.
“We love spending time at the beach, riding bikes, and hanging out with friends and family,” Stephanie said. “I play tennis when I can and am passionate about health and wellness.”
She added: “I'm pretty involved in my community and love supporting local business, especially if it's a food & wine event!”
Welcome, Stephanie, to the Easterseals team! Look for Stephanie at Walk With Me, Easterseals’ flagship fundraising event, on April 26 at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. Learn more about Walk With Me, donate and join a team at www.walkwithme.org/daytona.
Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida recently welcomed Speech/Language Pathologist Gabriella Walton, M.S., CCC-SLP, to its team in Daytona Beach. In her role, Gabriella is responsible for assessing, diagnosing and determining courses of treatment for clients with speech and language challenges or disorders.
Gabriella earned a Bachelor of Science degree in communication sciences and disorders from the University of Central Florida and a master's degree in speech language pathology from Nova Southeastern University.
In her role at Easterseals, Gabriella works with client families who attend Easterseals Charter Schools and the Autism Center of Excellence, and consults with outpatient clients.
"I love helping everyone find their voice." said Gabriella, who joined the team after the New Year. When not helping families at Easterseals, Walton enjoys playing tennis and traveling.
Welcome, Gabriella! We're glad you're here.
Why Davine loves Easterseals, and you should, too!
Yes, it seems like magic, but in fact there’s a team of teachers, administrators, assistants and a variety of hardworking folks who help Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida change lives in our community.
Easterseals serves more than 17,500 individuals and families with a range of disabilities to help them achieve their full potential. Our programs and services are focused on five key areas: those that help children and adults live, learn, work, play to their fullest potential, as well as advocate for programs that support the same. This is how we at Easterseals are taking on disability together. And, it’s our team of staff members and volunteers that brings it all to fruition.
Davine Vincent (pictured above, middle) is a case manager in Easterseals Autism Center of Excellence. She has enjoyed her role since fall 2016. Working with children on the Autism Spectrum has taught her as much about herself as it has the children and families with whom she works.
“I enjoy working with Easterseals because I get to be an advocate for these wonderful kids and their supporting families in more ways than one,” said Davine.
As a case manager in ACE, Davine says she’s able to build her knowledgebase as she assists families through the diagnosis process and link them to other relevant resources.
“Our team also works to educate community members and partners about ASD so that they in turn can better serve these children and their families,” added Davine. “This position has allowed me to grow and open my heart to the families who come to Easterseals for help, hope and answers.”
If you have a love of teaching or an interest in helping children and adults with disabilities reach their fullest potential, you may have a place at Easterseals. All current job opportunities may not be available online, so contact HR Generalist Fran DeCinto at careers@esnecfl.org for more information. In the meantime, complete our application for employment opportunities, available here. Additionally, Easterseals has partnered with GettingHired.com, an online resource that connects people with disabilities to employers in search of qualified jobseekers with disabilities. Visit GettingHired.com to open your door to opportunity!
Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida serves the region with facilities in Daytona Beach, DeLand, Bunnell,
and Leesburg. To learn more about Easterseals of Northeast Central Florida, please visit www.eastersealsnecfl.org.
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Creating a personal wellness routine involves a daily regimen of activities that make you feel good. This may include meditation, yoga, cardio, healthy food, and self-care. Whatever your routine, be sure to stick with it! Creating a daily wellness routine is an excellent way to keep your body and mind healthy. Assess your level of […]
October 10, 2022
Creating a personal wellness routine involves a daily regimen of activities that make you feel good. This may include meditation, yoga, cardio, healthy food, and self-care. Whatever your routine, be sure to stick with it! Creating a daily wellness routine is an excellent way to keep your body and mind healthy. Assess your level of […]
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Oath Keepers trial to start Tuesday, two Florida residents on trial
More than a year-and-a-half after the Capitol was attacked, the first major trial starts
More than 20 months since a mob attacked and ransacked the Capitol, the biggest trial to date is set to begin on Tuesday.
Posted at 4:24 PM, Sep 26, 2022
More than 20 months since a mob attacked and ransacked the Capitol, the biggest trial to date is set to begin on Tuesday.
Five members of the paramilitary group the Oath Keepers are charged with seditious conspiracy.
Prosecutors allege the group planned and coordinated the attack on the Capitol in the weeks leading up to the 6th.
“That’s why we’re seeing these seditious conspiracy charges being brought against these groups,” said Ben Popp, an investigator with the Anti-Defamation League who studies extremist groups.
“Just in general, in the extremist landscape we’re seeing a lot more collaboration amongst these groups than in the past.”
Kelly Meggs, the alleged leader of the Florida Chapter of the Oath Keepers, is charged with Seditious Conspiracy.
Two of the men facing trial this week are from Florida.
Kelly Meggs of Marion County is the alleged leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers and Kenneth Harrelson is an Army veteran from Brevard County.
Their three co-defendants include Oath Keepers found Stewart Rhodes, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell.
Two more alleged Florida Oath Keepers, David Moerschel from Punta Gorda and Joseph Hackett of Sarasota County, are facing similar charges and will go to trial at the end of November.
Prosecutors say the group used social media and encrypted messaging apps to communicate and plan the attack.
The FBI says on December 19th, 2020, Meggs sent someone a message on Facebook bragging that he formed an alliance with two other extremist groups.
“This week I organized an alliance between Oath Keepers, Florida 3%ers and Proud Boys. We have decided to work together and shut this (expletive) down,” Meggs wrote, according to case filings.
The FBI says Kelly Meggs sent messages on social media claiming he formed an alliance with two other extremist groups.
Florida leads the nation in arrests related to January 6th.
Of the nearly 900 people charged so far 10% of them, more than 90, are from the Sunshine State.
According to Popp, most of the extremist groups had one thing in common, they believed President Trump’s claims that the election was stolen.
“Just in general, the people that were present on January 6th that was largely motivated by the stolen election conspiracy theory,” Popp said.
The day after Christmas 2020, prosecutors say Meggs wrote in a Facebook message, “Trumps staying in, he’s gonna use the emergency broadcast system on cell phones to broadcast to the American people. Then he will claim the insurrection act.”
He later writes, “wait for the 6th when we are all in DC for insurrection.”
“This is something like a perfect storm,” said FGCU Professor Dr. Landon Frim, an expert on conspiracy theories.
“What these conspiracy theories do is set up a row of dominoes. A seditious type action. All you need is an authority figure who has all of the prestige and power of an office behind them, in this case, the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, to spark or embolden a crowd to act violently.”
Former President Trump denies that he encouraged the mob to attack the capitol.
The Justice Department says members of the Oath Keepers took part in weapons training for "unconventional warfare." The DOJ blocked out the faces of the other members. Faces shown from left: Kenneth Harrelson, Kelly Meggs, Connie Meggs.
The former national spokesperson for the Oath Keepers testified in front of the House Select Committee investigating January 6th that the Oath Keepers were drawn to Trump.
“They saw a path forward that would have legitimacy. They saw opportunity, I think, in my opinion, to become a paramilitary force,” said Jason Van Tatenhove.
Prosecutors also say the group didn’t hide their intentions.
In November, just weeks after the election was called for President Joe Biden, several members of the Oath Keepers took part in training for “unconventional warfare” according to court filings.
The training company, which was not named, posted a photo of the group on social media.
The Justice Department blocked out the faces of all but three people, Meggs, his wife Connie and Harrelson.
When the group came to D.C. investigators say the Oath Keepers came with an arsenal.
The Justice Department says the Oath Keepers stored weapons and ammo at a hotel in northern Virginia as part of a Quick Reaction Force.
Surveillance images from a hotel in northern Virginia show Meggs, Harrelson, Moerschel and Hackett bringing in guns and ammo for a so-called Quick Reaction Force that would be called upon if needed.
Hours later, the Oath Keepers were front and center as violence descended onto the capitol.
Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT is a joint research institute established in 1999 by Aalto University (previously, Helsinki University of Technology) and University of Helsinki. In these two universities, research on information and communications technologies (ICT) is the focus of the following four departments scattered in three different schools/faculties:
Computer Science (Aalto, School of Science),
Communications and Networking (Aalto, School of Electrical Engineering),
Signal Processing and Acoustics (Aalto, School of Electrical Engineering).
HIIT is a strategic initiative pooling together the ICT researchers of these two Finnish universities together, forming an internationally highly visible research hub, a flagship of Finnish ICT research. The mission of HIIT is to support this research community and to enhance the quality, visibility and impact of Finnish ICT research while facilitating intensive cooperation with other disciplines, the industry, public organizations and key international academic partners.
The key instruments HIIT used in 2021 for achieving its objectives were:
Recruitment of postdoctoral researchers. We regard recruitment of high-quality researchers as the key factor in fulfilling our mission. HIIT organizes twice a year a massive joint call for the whole ICT research community, to support the recruitment of high-quality candidates. In the most recent Winter 2021-2022 call, the call offered several open positions in 38 research projects in the two host universities, and the number of applicants was over 200 in total. In addition to supporting the marketing of these project-funded positions, HIIT also offered HIIT-funded positions to exceptional candidates (HIIT Postdoctoral Fellow positions for early career postdocs and HIIT Research Fellow positions for more senior candidates). In the HIIT-funded recruitments we prioritize the strategic research focus areas of HIIT, which in 2021 were Artificial Intelligence, Computational Health, Cybersecurity and Data Science (Foundations of Computing was added as a new focus area at the very end of 2021).
Doctoral education. Like in postdoctoral recruitment, HIIT facilitates twice a year a big joint call for recruitment of new doctoral students (funded by the supervisors/projects), and sponsors e.g. marketing of these calls. Unlike in the postdoctoral call, HIIT does not offer HIIT-funded long-term doctoral student positions in these calls, but as a new pilot in 2021, HIIT opened a continuous call for short-term funded positions for finalization of the introductory part of the doctoral dissertation (“final crunch” funding, see more on the funding section). HIIT also supports the Helsinki Doctoral Education Network in ICT (HICT) in organization of various cross-department and cross-university events for doctoral students, and in offering additional training opportunities for those willing to enhance, for example, their pitching and presentation skills.
Activity funding for local ICT researchers. HIIT is willing to support initiatives that boost the quality, visibility, impact or collaboration opportunities of ICT researchers. Examples of such activities include organization of workshops and other events, researcher visits, and short-term projects creating opportunities for high-impact collaboration within ICT, or between ICT and researchers from other disciplines, the industry or public organizations.
HIIT has also actively supported the creation of several new joint units (see the section on organization structure):
Finnish Center for AI (FCAI)
These units are closely affiliated with the mission of HIIT, but cannot exactly be considered as HIIT units as, e.g., HAIC coordinates also (undergraduate) education, which is not in the scope of HIIT as a research institute, and FCAI as a national AI flagship extends beyond the two host universities of HIIT.
Like all areas of the society, HIIT was affected severely by the Covid pandemic in 2021. The research work can in most cases be carried on remotely, supported by online meetings and collaboration tools, but what we witnessed was a significant drop in the number of visits made (either incoming or outgoing), and although we were able to run many events successfully either completely remotely, or as hybrid events (depending on the status of the Covid situation), the number of joint events has declined. The lack of physical face-to-face contacts clearly has had an effect on our working atmosphere and the team spirit in general as online or hybrid meetings can never fully replace the physical meetings. Looking forward to year 2022, we hope the situation to gradually get more normal, and it will be interesting to see how the long pandemic has permanently affected our ways of working.
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Nvidia got a little taste of hardware, and the company’s top brass have decided that they like having a lot of iron in their financial diet. And to that end, the company is becoming more involved in the way system components for GPU compute are manufactured and is itself providing more finished components to server OEMs and ODMs.
This is a big shift, but one that happens eventually – and in some cases gradually – to all providers of compute-centric platforms.
In the cases where the maker of the processor is also the primary or only seller of the systems that use that processor, the vendor always has complete control of the platform by default. There may be a reseller channel downstream from the vendor that actually sells a lot of the gear, but this is really a distribution play, not an engineering one. In other cases, as with X86 platforms from Intel and sometimes AMD, at first they were mainly interested in selling the processors, really glorified PC chips with some extra features that made them server worthy, and then in the case of Intel at least, the company expanded out to selling the chipsets that hooked CPUs to each other in shared memory systems and to external peripherals in the system and eventually expanded further to sell whole, complete motherboards with everything but main m memory. These days, with the most recent “Purley” platform that employs the “Skylake” Xeon SP processors and probably two generations of successors, Intel delivers the processors, the chipsets, the motherboards, the NAND flash and 3D XPoint ReRAM storage, and soon the 3D XPoint DIMM persistent memory expansion, the latter being code-named “Apache Pass” and being something that Intel intended to ship with the initial Purley platforms; Intel can also add on Omni-Path network adapters. While some server makers still manufacture their own motherboards, but there are very few independent chipsets because so much of the circuits for linking CPUs to each other and to other peripherals embedded on the processors or package; homegrown chipsets are really about extending beyond the base eight-way NUMA of the Xeon SPs.
Nvidia is in a similar place now with the HGX-2 platform and its indigenous instantiation of that architecture, the DGX-2 server that was announced at the recent GPU Technology Conference in March. As is immediately obvious from the detailed teardown that we did on the DGX-2 machine in the wake of the conference, this is a very densely packed, high performance, and thermally challenging piece of electronics. Central to this architecture is the NVSwitch memory fabric that has been embedded in the GPU compute nodes in the system, which allows up to sixteen of the latest “Volta” Tesla V100 accelerators to be coupled to each other in a point-to-point manner with 300 GB/sec of bandwidth between each GPU and another in the complex. This fabric, in essence, creates a giant 512 GB shared memory space for GPU code to run in with close to 2 petaflops of Tensor Core half-precision performance in a chassis that weighs in a 10 kilowatts.
There are a lot of racks in the enterprise that don’t weigh in at 10 kilowatts, and many of them certainly do not have the same kind of sophisticated, small tolerance midplane interconnects that are required by the two HGX-2 enclosures that comprise the DGX-2 GPU compute complex. That is one major reason why, with the HGX-2 platform, Nvidia is shifting from designing the motherboards and interconnect for its GPU accelerators and only building for its own internal consumption as well as for a few key customers and researchers while giving out the specifications and reference architectures to ODMs and OEMs to build their own systems as it did with the HGX-1 designs to only shipping finished HGX-2 system boards, fully populated with Volta GPU accelerators and enough NVSwitch circuits and interconnects to make a machine with eight or sixteen Voltas in a shared memory GPU complex. This is a subtle but important shift, and one that is going to boost the revenue stream of the datacenter division at Nvidia even more than it already has by virtual of the fact that it has been selling enough DGX iron to create “a few hundred million dollar business,” as Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer at Nvidia, recently told Wall Street. The datacenter business at Nvidia had a run rate of $2.8 billion as it exited its first quarter of fiscal 2018 in April, and it looks like the DGX server is driving about 15 percent of that business. With Nvidia now selling only finished boards and NVSwitch interconnects to those ODMs and OEMs who want to make something of their own that looks like DGX-2, instead of raw GPU and switch chips, Nvidia’s server revenues are going to climb even higher.
“This is a little bit different from the HGX-1 platform where we offered a design,” Paresh Kharya, who is in charge of product management and marketing for accelerated computing at Nvidia, tells The Next Platform. “With HGX-2, we are actually offering the integrated motherboards. It is really complex to design these systems because we are pushing the limits on a number of different vectors, from signaling to the number of GPUs in an image to power consumption, and so on. We are pushing the limits of what can be put into a datacenter, and in order to de-risk our partners and to make sure they are successful and to also accelerate the time to market, we are offering HGX-2 as an integrated baseboard.”
Nvidia has not seen any conflict of interest in being a manufacturer of GPU cards as well as a provider of GPU chips that others turn into GPU cards, and it has not been shy about being a server maker with the HGX-1 platform and the DGX-1 instantiation of that platform that it has been selling for two years now. This is complicated stuff, and it has to be done right, and as we have explained, Nvidia also gets more revenue – and we think gross margin – doing it this way, much as Intel does by selling a platform instead of a processor in its own Data Center Group. We think that Nvidia’s gross margins are considerably larger than Intel’s in this area, which is saying a lot about the demand for AI and HPC systems based on GPU acceleration.
With the HGX-1 platform based on Intel Xeon server nodes, the GPUs were connected to each other using NVLink ports in a hybrid cube mesh, with the pair of processors in the server node linking out to the GPU complex using a quad of PCI-Express switches, like this:
It would be nice if the Xeon processor had a slew of NVLink ports to directly attach to the GPU complex, but with the relatively small number of NVLink ports on the “Pascal” generation of GPUs, that would have limited the number of GPUs in a single shared buffer memory footprint, and even with the Volta accelerators shown above, it would have means sacrificing some GPU links for the CPU links. (This is why the “Summit” supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory tops out at six Volta V100s for each pair of Power9 processors.)
At least the way the story was told to us by Leendert van Doorn, distinguished engineer for Microsoft’s Azure public cloud, back in March 2017, the HGX-1 design was actually one created by Microsoft and open sourced through the Open Compute Project founded by Facebook. And interestingly it had a cascading PCI-Express switch mesh architecture that allowed up to four systems and up to 32 Pascal or Volta GPUs to be linked into a single image for running Microsoft’s own CNTK machine learning framework. It is not clear if Microsoft will be trying to lash four or more HGX-2 instances together with CNTK in a single CPU-GPU compute complex, but what is clear is that it is Nvidia that is creating the HGX-2 reference architecture, not Microsoft, and it remains to be seen if Nvidia will open source this design. By the way, , which it uses for machine learning training and which have malleable switch topologies, are a derivative of the HGX-1 platform, and the P3 GPU instances on Amazon Web Services are also based on the HGX-1 design.
With the 16 GB Volta Tesla V100 accelerators that were available last year, up to eight GPUs with a total of 1 petaflops of Tensor Core oomph and 128 GB of shared memory on the GPUs could be brought to bear in a single HGX-1 complex. The GPUs had one or two NVLink or PCI-Express ports that linked them to each other, and a maximum of four GPUs were fully linked by NVLink to each other. The NVLink interconnect complex had a bi-section bandwidth of 300 GB/sec and the multi-GPU deep learning paradigm was data parallel all reduce – sometimes called batch parallel. With this approach you take 64 or 128 images and train 64 or 128 copies of the neural network at the same time and merge the results together.
With the NVSwitch interconnect and the HGX-2 architecture, you can still do machine learning this way, but you can also just put different layers of the neural network on different GPUs in the same system, but you need much higher bandwidth links between the GPUs – and you need point to point links between all GPUs – to make it work well. This is called model parallelism, and the HGX-2 platform enables this approach, which throws iron at the problem to massively speed up training times.
With the HGX-2 platform, there are sixteen Volta V100s, each with up to 32 GB of frame buffer memory, linked together for a total of 512 GB of shared memory across the GPUs and up to 2 petaflops of performance coming out of the Tensor Core half-precision units. That is four times the memory and two times the flops. Each GPU links out to the NVSwitch complex with six 50 GB/sec NVLink 2.0 ports ganged up and it is always six ports at 300 GB/sec of bandwidth, and importantly all sixteen of the GPU accelerators are linked to each other directly and the bi-section bandwidth has gone up by a factor of 8X to 2.4 TB/sec. This is why the HGX-2 platform is showing off performance that is anywhere from 2X to 2.7X higher than a pair of HGX-1 platforms running a variety of HPC and AI workloads:
It takes a lot of networking, and not just through NVLink and NVSwitch, to accomplish such performance. Here is a much better block diagram of the NVSwitch topology embodied in the HGX-2 platform than was available back in March:
The two baseboards each have eight GPUs, with six NVSwitch ASICs at the back for the NVLink Bridge and six PCI-Express connectors at the front to link into the PCI-Express switching complex, like this:
Nvidia is not, as part of the HGX-2 platform, proscribing how the overall server platform looks, just the GPU compute and interconnect complex, which is, for all intents and purposes, and giant clustered GPU graphics card, after all. But Nvidia does have some recommendations for the way CPUs, storage, and network adapters are woven into the overall system to create an OEM or ODM equivalent of the DGX-2 system that Nvidia has been selling for a few months now. Here is the recommended architecture for cascading PCI-Express switches and network interface cards as well as NVM-Express storage that sits on an InfiniBand or Ethernet network as well:
The first thing to note is that the CPU complex and GPU complex (embodied in the two baseboard GPU units and the backplane linking them) are disaggregated from each other. This allows for the CPU and GPU parts of the system to be changed independently from each other. Moreover, each CPU has two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots that cable it directly to one of the two HGX-2 baseboards, and the CPU is always three hops away from any particular GPU on that baseboard and then one hop away further through the NVSwitch complex to any other GPU in the system. There are actually multiple routes from any CPU to any GPU, which reduced contention in the system. (We could figure out how many potential paths, but that could take a while.)
The interesting bit about the suggested HGX-2 system architecture that Nvidia is offering is that the network interface – be it 100 Gb/sec InfiniBand with inherent RDMA or 100 Gb/sec Ethernet with added-on RoCE – is on the baseboard, close to the GPUs, and not hanging off the CPUs. The RDMA capability allows for multi-node scaling of these HGX-2 systems, and provides big fat pipes and low latency to do so. You will also notice that the NVM-Express storage is sitting closer to the GPU complex than to the CPU complex.
In a very real sense, the Xeon CPUs in an HGX-2 system are serial coprocessors to the GPU complex. Funny, isn’t it? (Which reminds us of a joke that we have been telling since GPU computing started and particularly when Nvidia was working on “Project Denver” to add Arm cores to GPU accelerators: “A man walks into a doctor’s office with a chicken on his head and the chicken says, “Hey Doc, can you cut this thing off my ass?”)
Not every OEM or the ODMs working for the hyperscalers and cloud builders is going to build a machine that looked exactly like the DGX-2, of course. Kharya says that most machines that come out by the end of this year based on the HGX-2 GPU compute platform will have two CPUs across sixteen GPUs, but there will be instances where the balance might be two CPUs across eight GPUs (a single baseboard) if that ratio makes sense. While it is possible to gang up four or eight Xeon CPUs in a single NUMA node and then connect one or two GPU baseboards to that, this is not something that Nvidia is envisioning will happen. We would say that if there were a lot more NVLink ports on the GPUs and a bunch on the CPUs, too, then it could turn out that a very large memory footprint on the CPUs could be useful for the GPU complex, particularly if the CPU and GPU memory were coherent and running over high speed NVLink ports. Vendors will also differ from each other in the density of the server designs, and Kharya says that some of the early machines he has seen in the works have 7U enclosures and others have 10U enclosures.
That brings us to a whole slew of GPU accelerated reference designs that Nvidia has cooked up to make it easier to pick the right kind of platform for each particular workload. There are HGX platforms for machine learning training and inference (the T1 and T2 as you see in the chart below), which are distinct from each other, with the training machines using the Volta V100s and the inference machines using the Pascal P4. That is the HGX-I1 and HGX-12, with one or two of the P4s in a node. Take a look:
The SCX platforms are aimed at traditional HPC simulation and modeling workloads and for application stacks that do not also include machine learning, as many HPC systems do these days. The SC in SCX is short for supercomputing, of course, and there are four variations on the HPC theme. There are machines that just have two, four, or eight Volta V100 accelerators using PCI-Express to link them to the processors – that’s SCX-E1, SCX-E2, and SCX-E3 – as well as one that has four V100s using NVLink 2.0 links to each other and presumably leaving others to reach out to the CPU if it has ports on it like the Power9 does. In the table above, IVA is short for intelligent video analysis, VDI is for virtual desktop infrastructure, and RWA is remote workstation.
This is really just about helping people understand what kind of configurations are useful for what kind of work at the current moment. Over time, for instance, when HPC codes are rewritten to more fully take advantage of NVSwitch, we fully expect for HPC centers to consider nodes that look a lot more like the HGX-T2 than the SCX-E3 or SCX-E4. We would also expect higher density inference boxes as well as ones based on the Volta architecture down the road.
At the moment, machine learning inference is really done on a single GPU, and training can be pushed across sixteen GPUs in an HGX-2 pair without any fuss or muss, and maybe four pairs of the HGX-2 baseboards, or 64 GPUs, using the method that Microsoft has employed in the past with CNTK. For the evolving seismic analysis workloads in the oil and gas industry, they are pushing higher GPU to CPU ratios, like machine learning is, but for quantum chemistry and molecular dynamics, the optimal ratio is more like four GPUs for a pair of CPUs, and PCI-Express links are just fine, too.
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Nvidia is one organization that has been known for stretching the limits with regards to the locally available illustrations equipment stages. Their name is known for bleeding edge and the best gaming equipment known in the processing scene.
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If you’ve been accepted by a college through its Early Decision (ED) plan you may consider yourself fortunate, as you should. You’ve applied to a school that’s at or near the top of your target list because the likelihood of acceptance for ED applicants is higher than the overall rate for the college. You’ve been admitted before most of your fellow students have even submitted applications. You can rest easier than your classmates and enjoy the rest of your senior year without the stress of admissions hanging over your head!
And yet, some students who have been accepted through an ED plan want to renege on their agreement later because events have transpired that cause them to regret their commitment. At that point they want to know if their ED agreement is binding and if they can disregard it without consequences.
Consider the Early Decision agreement you’ve signed
The answer isn’t simple. You, your guidance counselor, and your parents signed an agreement that stipulates that you understand that you’re committing to attend the institution if admitted. So, yes, it’s binding. But an ED agreement isn’t a contract that, if breached, can subject you to civil liability.
Consider the agreement that you’re asked to sign. A majority of the colleges that offer ED options do so under the Statement of Principles of Good Practice of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), which guides the institutional treatment of students. Section II of the NACAC document, titled “The Responsible Practice of College Admission”, includes this definition:
“Restrictive early application plans — Early Decision (ED): Students commit to a first choice college and, if admitted, agree to enroll and withdraw their other college applications. This is the only application plan where students are required to accept a college’s offer of admission and submit a deposit prior to May 1.”
When you submit an ED application, what you’re agreeing to do is clear. While pursuing admission under an ED plan, students may apply to other institutions under an Early Action (EA) plan, but they may submit only one ED application. If an ED applicant is not admitted but is deferred to the Regular Decisions (RD) cycle, they’re immediately released from the ED agreement and are free to accept any other colleges’ offer of admission.
There are changes in a student’s circumstances that will induce a college to release him or her from their ED commitment. Before we review these circumstances, you should understand what may happen if you simply ignore an ED agreement after having been admitted.
What can happen if you ignore an Early Decision agreement
You may wonder why a college administration even cares if you break your ED agreement, given that many of them admit only a small percentage of applicants. They can readily fill your slot with another well-qualified applicant. Administrators care because they use ED as a tool to improve the quality of their freshmen classes and raise their yield rate. Yield rate is the percentage of applicants who are offered admission, accept it, and go on to attend the college. It is an important variable in a college’s planning, and colleges strive to keep it high. If applicants admitted under an ED plan can renege with impunity, the purpose of an ED plan is defeated and its value to the institution is nullified.
At the same time, colleges are reluctant to compel students to attend their school if they don’t want to be there. So the college whose ED acceptance you turn down isn’t going to come after you with bloodhounds and a posse. “In some ways, early decision is a gentleman’s agreement”, according to Dave Tobias, vice president of enrollment for Ursinus College in Pennsylvania.
Most importantly, when a student backs out of ED agreement without cause, it raises questions about the student’s ethics that could impact decisions elsewhere. Some guidance counselors and colleges take steps to discourage reneging on ED agreements. For example:
If an admissions office finds out that a student has applied to their institution and another via ED, they’ll contact the other school. The student risks being denied consideration by both schools.
A cooperative ED plan is operated by five Ivy League schools: Brown, Penn, Columbia, Cornell, and Dartmouth. If an ED applicant is admitted to one of them, they must honor their agreement or be ineligible for admission to any of the others. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton share a similar plan.
Many guidance counselors place a hold on sending transcripts, letters of recommendation, and other admissions materials on behalf of students who have applied via ED until the decision is known. This step is taken because a guidance counselor’s credibility with admissions officials is at stake.
A group of 30 liberal arts colleges share lists of students admitted to each of them via ED so that the others don’t unwittingly admit them. They also share the names of students who were admitted via ED but were released from their commitments.
Admissions officials sometimes discover from a guidance counselor that a student has submitted two or more ED applications. Counselors will warn students ahead of time of the impropriety of submitting multiple ED applications and, if the student persists, will contact the affected colleges, both of which will terminate consideration of the applicant.
Legitimate reasons for backing out of an Early Decision
As noted above, there are a number of legitimate reasons why a college will release an applicant from an ED commitment without any negative repercussions. Below are a few common examples:
Necessary financial aid from the college didn’t develop as originally planned,
A parent or other family member has died or fallen ill and enrollment at a college is no longer feasible or desirable,
A family business or a parent’s career has suffered a setback, and,
The student has suffered a serious health issue.
An ED agreement is a serious undertaking, often among the first formal commitments you’ll make in your lifetime. You should make a good faith effort to stick to it. Klaar College Consulting can help you understand the commitment you’re making. More importantly, i your decision will be part of a sound admissions strategy that we co-develop with you to help ensure the success of your college admissions campaign.
This entry was posted in Blog, Choosing a College, Early Decision, ED Agreement, Letters of recommendation on March 11, 2020 by cklaaradmin.
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This report [August 12, 2010] is the fifth report to Council concerning breaches of the Code of Conduct by Councillor [Rob] Ford. He has been reminded in the past that it is a breach of the Code of Conduct to use the City logo for private concerns, not related to the work of the City. Also, Councillor Ford received specific advice in February of 2010 and December of 2009 which outlined the dangers inherent in his fundraising activity. If he had followed this advice, he could have avoided a further complaint, this investigation and the need for Council to become involved.
Let’s all agree that Mayor Rob Ford is not corrupt. He is not lining his pockets, making deals on the side to the benefit of himself, his friends or family. He is not a crook and, unlike the person who infamously claimed that 40 years or ago, it’s true. No one is accusing the mayor of any sort of criminal enterprise.
Also, I’ll state right here that I don’t want to see the mayor run out of office for this. Almost entirely because it’ll supply the cloak of martyrdom he and his supporters have already wrapped themselves in. Left wing vigilantes, looking to overturn election results that they never accepted from the beginning, using some ‘technicality’ to get their way and screw with the suburbs again. Boo hoo hoo, get down off the cross because we could use the wood… as kindling to light the fire in which to burn the witch we have hunted down!
That said, this isn’t just another frivolous swipe at the mayor. Some sort of one-off oversight, blown all out of proportion, parlayed into a big ol’ game of gotcha. Reading through the Integrity Commissioner report from which the first paragraph is taken, it’s clear the mayor’s football fundraising was a systemic and blatant disregard for the rules laid down about such activities by his council colleagues. Sure, he didn’t seem to see what the problem was but was repeatedly informed that there was a problem and repeatedly chose to ignore the warnings.
Councillor Rob Ford used the City of Toronto logo, his status as a City Councillor, and City of Toronto resources to solicit funds for a private football foundation he created in his name. Donors to the Councillor’s foundation included lobbyists, clients of lobbyists and a corporation which does business with the City of Toronto.
Wave it off as inconsequential, bureaucratic nit-picking, all for a good cause, however you want to rationalize it. The fact of the matter is as councillor, Rob Ford defied written warnings to cease and desist the practice right up to at least 6 days before announcing his intention to run for mayor. “… asking citizens for money for a personal cause on Councillor letterhead, there is a risk that you could be seen to be using your influence as a Councillor to raise money for your private foundation.” Rob Ford either didn’t see or understand the conflict or simply didn’t agree with it and went merrily along his way.
Interestingly, during the course of the Integrity Commissioner’s investigation, then Councillor Ford justified using his office letterhead as appropriate since he’d paid for it with his own money.
But when it was suggested that he instead create some Ford Foundation letterhead to solicit donations, he wanted to know who was going to pay for that. Hmmm… let’s see. Pay for your office stationery out of your councillor office budget and your private stationery for donations to a private cause out of your own pocket?
“In return for these donations…Councillor Ford received the benefit of additional funding to his Foundation, which he used to enhance his reputation both as a Councillor via his website and as a candidate by including this information in his campaign materials.”
Yeah, so it’s a little difficult to swallow that all this was some simple misunderstanding by a well-meaning elected official to just selflessly do good for others. He insisted on using all the trappings of his office to shamelessly promote his philanthropic undertakings. Councillor Rob Ford’s Football Foundation not private citizen Rob Ford’s Football Foundation.
He knowingly flouted the rules. He ignored the council sanctions brought down on him for flouting the rules. He then participated and voted to overturn those sanctions. It is the last thing that has got him into his current troubles. It’s always the last thing that gets you into trouble.
Like I said, I won’t give his rabid supporters the satisfaction of hoping this is a firing offense. But please, stop defending the mayor as some sort of lightning rod for scurrilous attacks, a well-intentioned politician never putting his own career first, and only ever looking out for the little guy. Personal gain isn’t always about money directly into your pocket. For Rob Ford, it was never about the money but about the image. An image he burnished while skirting rules, thumbing his nose at colleagues and the Integrity Commissioner and, once elected mayor, actively participating in avoiding facing the consequences of his actions.
Nobody’s demanding perfection in our politicians but at some point of time there has to be accountability. That time came yesterday for Mayor Rob Ford.
— come cleanly submitted by Cityslikr
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This entry was posted in City Council, Municipal Politics and tagged City Hall, Ford Football Foundation, Integrity Commissioner Report, Janet Leiper, mayor, Politics, Rob Ford, Toronto by "Brother" of Cityslikr. Bookmark the permalink.
astrida on March 13, 2012 at 11:12 am said:
“He insisted on using all the trappings of his office to shamelessly promote his philanthropic undertakings.”
And vice versa – he grossly exaggerated his philanthropic undertakings ($100,000 to 8 schools, when the Toronto Community Foundation confirms that it was less than $40,000 to only 4 schools) to shamelessly promote himself as man of the people, just the guy you want fighting for the little guy as city mayor.
It’s a bizarre situation, and it’s clear that the martyrdom of Ford would only lend fuel to the fire of so-called-conservatives’ fervour, but someone’s got to make a point, given the increase of do-what-you-want-and-apologize-or-blame-someone-else-if-you-get-caught behaviour that’s being so impeccably modelled by Harper et al
It may well be that Ford doesn’t understand what is wrong with any of this, but his incapacity does not excuse any of it. Either way, he clearly does not belong in a position of responsibility.
glenn storey on March 13, 2012 at 11:18 am said:
i want him gone. sooner rather than later, and i don’t care what it takes. the fords are beyond laughable at this point.
Sonny on March 13, 2012 at 11:25 am said:
The millionaire mayor should have just paid the $3,150.00 As many Conservatives point out; the law is the law…
Sol on March 13, 2012 at 2:09 pm said:
No shit. 3 grand? That’s shoe money to the Fords.
middleagedinthenewmillenium on March 13, 2012 at 12:40 pm said:
The fact that he wouldn’t have just paid the money when he got caught speaks volumes. It’s , as I said on twitter, chump change for him. This is one more time that our esteemed mayor MUST WIN at all cost. I find it quite laughable.
A lawyer friend of mine tells me that this will put some judge in a very tough spot. The case is very clear and their are legal precidents for this. I too am not anxious to hear the peasants storming the castle with burning torches. But one has to ask. How long do we tolerate this deliberate flouting of the law. How does Robbie get to be above the law. The rest of us aren’t.
If he is not removed from office, quite possibly a given, then what is the correct consequence? He must be taught, like any small child, there are consequences for breaking the rules. Do we fine him double the original amount. It’s still chump change for a millionaire. If he is not removed from office, and that may not be possible, the law is very clear.
What is the appropriate punishment for a man who hasn’t got “I’m sorry, I did wrong” in his vocabulary? As long as he continues to behave like a spoiled teenager we have a problem. This action shows that more than just the Twitter people are fed up to the teeth.
99neon on March 13, 2012 at 1:37 pm said:
You say that we should all agree that he’s not corrupt, not making deals to benefit himself or his family. Oh really? You don’t consider Deco Labels printing his business cards (paid for by “the taxpayers”) as benefitting his family? You say you don’t want to see him run out of office for this. And why not? What would you prefer – something a little more felonious ala Tom Jakobec just so that he won’t be made a martyr by the Toronto Sun? Spare me. Would the Toronto Sun not howl for blood had it been one of the “pinkos” on council? Your generosity is sorely misplaced.
Here’s what we should all agree on – the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act applies to all municipal politicians, mayors included; a claim of ignorance of the Act is no excuse for its violation – most particularly for a mayor who was cognizant enough of the legislation to have recused himself from a earlier vote in which he was in a similar position of conflict; this legal action is NOT about the 3100 bucks, how he got it or what he used it for; if it had been any other Toronto municipal politician the consequences would be the same, a mayor is not immune.
And one last point. If I hear one more person screeching about Clayton Ruby being an ambulance chaser I think I’ll scream. Talk about shooting the messenger. Last time I checked it was perfectly legal to be a lawyer but it was not perfectly legal to violate provincial legislation.
middleagedinthenewmillenium on March 13, 2012 at 4:02 pm said:
What you said…….yay!
Sonny on March 14, 2012 at 9:58 am said:
The consequence was to pay back the money. The error was participating in the vote about the amount of money.
The thing is he is a politician from the 1% and the judge from the system will favour him because he was elected with 47% of votes cast…
middleagedinthenewmillenium on March 14, 2012 at 10:36 am said:
I think Cityslikr is being somewhat careful with his words. Give it some thought. A representative of the press cannot throw around accusations of corruption without proof. That’s called slander and/or libel and has a way of killing a career. I think you’ll agree that it would be a tragedy to lose the wise words of Cityslikr.
I also think you’ll agree that our mayor is something of a two faced slime dog. That’s just my opinion and doesn’t libel anyone.
Sonny on March 14, 2012 at 3:15 pm said:
Some guy drove drunk to the airport with a couple of kids to bring them to Florida at Christmas. Since he is pro cop; he was given a break maybe some brown guy wouldn’t?!
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Due to harsh laws based on Reefer Madness-like myths, the personal use of steroids for aesthetic purposes can land lifters in prison or get them fined for more money than they probably have. Ironically, steroid usage in sports, which these laws were created to curb, has not decreased.
Steroids and other PEDs have been in widespread use in bodybuilding and Olympic lifting since the late 50s. Their usage in baseball, the Ben Johnson debacle, Lyle Alzado's questionable death, the Lance Armstrong farce, and the sad case of Taylor Hooton brought steroids to the forefront. Politicians and those with agendas took full advantage.
Although it has many medical uses and is now commonly prescribed to aging males, the illegal use of testosterone puts you into the same criminal category as a heroin addict. And science has never backed up the hysterical claims made by anti-steroid zealots.
"I think it's absolutely disgraceful that our government should be in the position of converting people who are not harming others into criminals, of destroying their lives, putting them in jail." - Milton Friedman
The following account is something I lived through and was a small part of. It is my view of the fascinating history of how steroids emerged as an ergogenic aid in sports and subsequently became an ominous facet of the modern age - becoming criminal while at the same time assaulting the very core of America by representing a proposed danger to our youth and, worse still, sullying the most hollowed of all things American - baseball.
This odd journey, especially the inception, involved numerous colorful characters from all over the globe who together eventually created a culture. Many of you reading this have adopted this culture without perhaps knowing the full extent of what it means to be a steroid-using bodybuilder and how it got that way.
I find it unfortunate that the younger guys embracing our culture today have to adapt to a whole different set of circumstances regarding steroids than my contemporaries did. Today you have to understand that the general public - the people you deal with, work with, live next to - believes that "steroids" cause a plague of maladies, from liver, brain and kidney cancer, to heart attacks and strokes, to psychotic episodes that end in madness, mayhem, murder and death. Given the current state of the public discourse, if your next door neighbor found out you were a juicehead, he'd probably wish you were a heroin addict instead.
Back when I adopted our culture it was perfectly acceptable to drive down to Mexico and buy all the real pharmaceutical gear I wanted, at incredibly low prices, and drive it back to LA with no problema. And no one cared if a bunch of guys down at the gym took steroids. We didn't bother anyone. We were totally under the radar and really not doing anything that wrong, certainly nothing even remotely felonious.
Well, it's not like that today. Not only are steroids listed by the feds in the same class as narcotics - with prison time for possessing, importing or selling them - the media has also driven the "Reefer Madness" hysteria to such a degree that there are families in Kansas who believe Gold's Gym is the incubator for the Zombie Apocalypse. What hatched such two-headed insanity? I'm going to skim over the last 30 years and describe what I believe are the milestones that lead to the concomitant criminalization and vilification of the very sex hormones our bodies produce.
The demonization of steroids in America has been perpetuated by three equally reprehensible yet powerful groups: vocal alarmists with agendas who incite hysteria based on fiction, the media who reports it, and the vote-hungry law-makers in Washington who believe they can do something about it.
In the 80-90 years that steroids have been around, they've gone from virtually innocuous, unknown medical compounds to a public menace nearly eclipsing heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and club drugs, with federal penalties for distribution and possession that can put you away for a fairly extended part of your life. How did the media wrap itself around this issue and funnel politicians, athletes and bereaved parents into promoting one of the biggest scams in US pop culture?
I've been around the block a few times, seen a bit of the world with all of the bark off, but I can't for the life of me think of another situation in which a single topic has gotten so misconstrued as that of performance enhancing drugs. With the mega amount of intellect in the demonization camp regarding PEDs, any person of reason would have to ponder... why? Unfortunately, when it comes to this group of drugs, most, if not all, common intellect goes right out of the window.
It was about that very same time 24 years ago that noted economist Milton Friedman uttered the words quoted above, and President George H. W. Bush signed house bill HR 4658 IH "Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990" into law, adding anabolic steroids to Schedule III of the DEA's list of controlled substances: the same legal class as amphetamines, methamphetamines, opiates, and morphine. Subsequently, in 2004, the law was amended to add prohormones and other "steroid like" compounds to the category, thus criminalizing anything that even remotely resembles testosterone or its effect. Later, the US Sentencing Commission reconvened to raise steroid penalties.
Today, in America, it is possible to be sentenced to 30 years in prison, and fined up to $5,000,000 for the possession and distribution (or importation) of testosterone, the very same hormone that human males and, to a lesser degree, human females, have been carrying around in our bodies since the early dawn of man. Let that sink in for a minute. Did I just say thirty years and 5 million bucks for testosterone? Yes, I did. We're talking about America here, not North Korea, right? How could such an insane thing happen? Well, let's work backwards.
First let me give you the sentencing guidelines as they stand today to give you the full magnitude of just how far we've come since the dawn of testosterone in the lab - the very same hormone that half of the American male voting public used to produce when they had testicles.
In the wake of the BALCO case, high ranking government agents were incensed over the four month slap on the wrist Victor Conte received after the government spent four years and over 50 million dollars chasing and prosecuting him. On March 27th, 2006, the US Sentencing Commission amended the sentencing guidelines for anabolic steroid cases by changing the way steroid quantities are factored to effectively increase sentences. The Commission's amendment made injectable and oral steroids comparable to other Schedule III drugs in a 1:1 ratio. That means that now, instead of the 50 pills that used to equal one unit, one "unit" of oral steroids is now one pill. One "unit" of injectable steroids goes from a 10 cc bottle down to half a cc.
Naturally, the government's 1:1 ratio is wrought with stupidity, not the least of which being the absence of any language pertaining to the potency of a particular drug. In the eyes of the law, a steroid is a steroid. That means a 5 mg Anavar tab is as equally felonious as a 50 mg tab of Anadrol, or 1 cc of equipoise being equal to a Sustanon 250 preload.
The guideline change also pays no attention to the diametric differences between steroids and other Schedule III drugs. All Schedule III drugs are narcotics that elicit an immediate, mind-altering effect when used for recreation, while steroids actually elicit a beneficial physical effect and no mind-altering effect. Unfortunately, no cogent argument can usurp the law of the land, which under title 21 U.S.C. states that possession of just one tablet of any steroid is now a federal crime punishable by up to one year in jail for a first offense, and up to two years in prison for anyone with a prior drug conviction.
And, if you think that's bad, you really don't want to get caught "distributing" steroids. The following increases apply to possession with intent to distribute, importation and internet sales.
For convictions of a "controlled substance in Schedule III, such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 10 years and if death or serious bodily injury results from the use of such substance shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 15 years, a fine not to exceed the greater of that authorized in accordance with the provisions of title 18, United States Code, or $500,000 if the defendant is an individual or $2,500,000 if the defendant is other than an individual, or both."
"If any person commits such a violation after a prior conviction for a felony drug offense has become final, such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 20 years and if death or serious bodily injury results from the use of such substance shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 30 years, a fine not to exceed the greater of twice that authorized in accordance with the provisions of title 18, United States Code, or $1,000,000 if the defendant is an individual or $5,000,000 if the defendant is other than an individual, or both."
What could this mean to you? Let's imagine you have a buddy down at the gym who picked up a few bottles of test for you and a few of his other buddies while he was down in Mexico. On his way back to the US he was detained by US Customs and searched, uncovering 30 or 40 bottles of various steroids. Certainly nothing out of the ordinary - for bodybuilders.
He was brought before a federal magistrate and charged with importation and intent to distribute a Schedule III drug. The judge looked at the unit amount of juice and figured he better not kick back to the state the prosecution of such a high-level steroid kingpin and assigned the case to federal court. And he probably won't grant bail because your buddy is considered a flight risk because he's an accused importer with alleged ties to a foreign country. Since the feds tend to feed upstream, they're not too likely to offer your buddy a deal to follow him to your house and wear a wire. But, the possibility does exist, especially if the investigation is being handled by inexperienced agents who, based on the unit amount and country involved, think they're investigating a savage steroid cartel.
If your buddy doesn't have a good lawyer he'll be convicted of steroid importation and possession with intent to distribute, and if it's his second offense, he could be looking at 20 years in prison. If someone gets hurt using the gear he imported then add another 10 years. And then there's the seven-figure fine...
While such sentences rarely ever see the top of the guidelines, the potential still exists, under the law, for a 30 year sentence for what would amount to a few bottles of testosterone you picked up for a few of your buddies along with your own. More down to reality, for a first offence: up to two years just for having it in your possession and up to five if you're importing and distributing anything even remotely considered rich.
The government has made sure there's no such thing anymore as a slap on the wrist for steroid crimes. The shameful truth of today is, if you're a national level bodybuilder and had all the gear you were going to need all year to compete hidden in a small trash bag under your bathroom sink, and your door got kicked in (after you accepted a package from a controlled delivery), the unit amount of all the gear in your house makes you a kingpin dealer and - if you don't have a good lawyer - you're going to pay a hefty fine, lose your house, your car, your job, any licenses you might have, the local media is going to portray you as something just shy of a child molester, you're going to prison for a long time and when you get out you'll have nothing coming; your felony record will haunt you long after you're off paper. Interesting risk that poses to a great many competitors these days.
Any reasonable person who knows anything about these drugs knows this is a tough pill to swallow, especially when you consider how steroids compare to other legal over the counter drugs, not to mention cigarettes and alcohol. To any reasonable person, the government's position on steroids is nothing short of lunacy.
Sports, Congress, and "Protecting the Children"
How was public opinion swayed so far away from the truth? The media drove America into a virtual attack frenzy, concomitantly criminalizing and vilifying a non-narcotic, non-mind altering drug - a hormone naturally occurring in our bodies that can help us be stronger, more muscular, leaner, perform better and add quality to an aging male's life.
It basically boils down to this simple formula: alarmists with an agenda get the attention of the media that misstates facts, exaggerates claims, sensationalizes accounts and assigns blame without cause just to make the story sexy. This vomit lands on the over-coiffed crepe hair of vote-hungry politicians who will stand on their soggy vomit-clogged heads in front of the media and congress to lead another blind crusade against the biggest scam to ever invade politics: "save our children."
As far as steroids go, the most simplified version of what happened is this:
Steroids and other PEDs had been in fairly widespread use in bodybuilding and Olympic lifting during the late 50s and early 60s, especially internationally. While the iron sports kept a pretty low profile, the performance benefits of the drugs started seeping into other, more popular sports such as cycling and track and field. Their use proliferated, particularly in Olympic lifting, cycling, and track as well as other professional sports, particularly football - baseball came way later (at least that's what most people think).
While the NFL and MLB were still decades away from a published drug policy, an uproar was starting to build among top level amateur athletes amid failed drug tests and the marked increase in disqualifications in cycling and Olympic lifting, but nothing made quite enough noise to raise many eyebrows. Then in 1988 at the summer Olympics in Seoul, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson plucked just 9.76 seconds out of the thin air that spanned the entire Olympic games and made them the most talked about sequence of numbers in recorded history next to 666.
It's not so much that Johnson tested positive for Winstrol after the race and ostensibly cheated his way to the world record. It had more to do with the Canadian beating the American favorite, Carl Lewis, by cheating - by using steroids! - in what's considered the most popular of all summer Olympic sports. Among the Walmart crowd, the only way Canada could beat America was to cheat.
But remember, science does not prove negatives. While Johnson's positive test proved he was taking Winny, Lewis's negative test results for banned drugs does not prove he wasn't taking them. It just means the test didn't detect any. Be that as it may, controversy breeds contempt just as well as it breeds headlines, and now steroids had a face: a revered champion of the most hallowed of Olympic sports. Johnson was surely a role model for millions of kids. The proposed message that sends to our youth, combined with growing alarmist reports that high school football players were using steroids, and the politicians had the hors d'oeuvre they needed to get dinner started.
Between Johnson's disqualification in 1988 and into 1990, Congressional hearings were held to determine whether the Controlled Substances Act should be amended to include anabolic steroids along with more serious drugs like Valium, opiates, and amphetamines. Congress was able to call witnesses whose stories would help support criminalization - from the masculinisation of a female Olympic athlete, to a pro football player suggesting (without any medical evidence) that his heart problems were linked to his past steroid use, to the conditioning coach for the Philadelphia 76er's who insisted "steroids must be considered a controlled substance, no different than cocaine."
However, it was an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, a guy named Kenneth Kashin, who spoke, verbatim, the words the politicians wanted to hear. The good doctor testified that "steroid use can cause an addiction with similarities to alcohol, opiate, and cocaine addiction." He talked about "dangerous criminal-like behavior while intoxicated on anabolic steroids" and individuals who have "lost control of their behavior," or "became violent." Yes, this puppet show really went on.
When all was said and done, despite the opposition of the DEA, AMA, the Department of Health and Human Services and the recommendations of the most knowledgeable experts, Congress changed the classification of anabolic steroids to a Schedule III controlled substances under Title 21 of the United States Code, which regulates food and drugs.
This is an incredibly significant milestone in the demonization history of steroids, especially where bodybuilding is concerned. It marks a turning point where a series of very interesting questions were being unanimously answered by American athletes, particularly bodybuilders, not to mention federation officials, judges, promoters, magazine publishers, supplement company executives, basically the entire iron industry. The dawn of the 90's ushered in the era of advanced pharmacology in bodybuilding just in time for the government to make most of it a federal felony.
The unanimous decision everyone ultimately made was to ignore the law. To this day, since the law was passed 24 years ago, the entire bodybuilding industry - among the competitors of all the various disciplines to the cottage industry that feeds off their bodies - there isn't the slightest hint there's a federal law that prohibits steroid use, trafficking, importing, buying it over the internet, possessing it, etc. Any top national bodybuilder and most IFBB pros could walk around with a flashing neon sign over their heads that says "steroid user," "drug dealer," "smuggler," or "internet buyer." It's a wonder they don't get caught, all of them, like yesterday, me included.
But such arrests are not as common as you'd think. Given the multitude of obvious, illegal drug-using bodybuilders out there, at least ten a week, and/or their dealers, should be getting popped all over the country. But they aren't. High profile bodybuilders, and most other athletes for that matter, seem almost immune to the law of the land. So, who is getting caught?
What motivated Congress to ignore the advice of the experts and bulldoze this legislation through? Page after page of congressional testimony focused on just two points. First, the unfair advantage the steroid user has over those who don't use them; and second, Congress was able to leverage the nefariousness of cheating with the unsavory message that steroid use in top-level sports sends to our youth. If nothing else it would take the spotlight off of the pro athletes getting arrested for domestic violence charges, coke busts, sex offences and dog fighting. It's none of that, kids, it's steroids that sully the image of sports for you. Remember, cheating is bad. Especially if baseball is involved.
However, after two decades on the books it wasn't the cheating athletes who were getting caught - they just kept on cheating to the degree that college, and probably high school, football players figured out that it's just a matter of time before steroids come their way. It's a given.
For its intent, the law was a flop. What happened was that thousands of otherwise law-abiding Americans - not athletes, but mature adult males - have been arrested, arraigned, prosecuted, convicted, forfeited property, lost their jobs and their licenses, and sentenced to prison for the personal use of anabolic steroids. Virtually none of them have been top pro bodybuilders, Olympic athletes, NFL players and certainly not baseball players. They're not cheating in sports; they're not even playing sports. But they're the ones being dragged through the system by a law that was never meant for them.
Hundreds of pages of congressional transcript focused on promoting the even playing field in sports. Not a single word was ever paid to the probability that a healthy adult male, running a light cycle of test and deca to enhance the effects of his training, would be arrested and prosecuted. He's no one's role model and he's not cheating any other athletes. He's not bothering anybody. Yet I know for sure that the nation's top steroid law firms' files would support the claim that it is he, not the cheating athlete, being snared.
In light of the number of big-named athletes not appearing in the press on steroid charges, there were, nevertheless, widespread reports of steroid use among athletes using them to cheat. There was not yet any real danger associated with them. Of course there were reports of side effects and overdrawn reports of rage, but nothing to really irk the public in terms of the dangers steroids represent, especially to our precious youth.
Eventually, by direction of the media, the public discourse shifted to become less about cheating role models and more about health. Surely, if Junior is injecting a drug in the same class as heroin, he's going to become a strung-out juicehead and end up hanging himself in his bedroom or die another gruesome death from a degenerative disease such as cancer, or completely go crazy and shoot up his high school.
It was pretty much accepted that athletes are prone to cheating and probably using steroids to do so, but at what cost? Simply passing a law to target the athlete wasn't enough (never mind the fact that it wasn't even working). America needed a stronger message to send our darling children. Cheating isn't just immoral, cheating had to be dangerous because steroids are bad drugs. But, how bad?
Steroids: They'll Kill You Until You're Dead!
A year after the legislation was passed, the most feared man in the NFL, Lyle Alzado, was diagnosed with brain cancer he said was brought on by steroid use. A year after he was diagnosed, he died from it: a frail, weak, quivering shadow of the man he used to be. Now, according to the media, steroids had openly claimed their first victim, a high ranking NFL star who died from steroids. The only problem? It wasn't true.
Of course the truth didn't matter. The health dangers of steroids now officially had a face, and it wasn't pretty. But it was selling like hotcakes on the multi-media machine. Kids looked up to Lyle, then he took steroids and he lied and then he died because he lied and took steroids. Oh, the travesty to our precious youth! Imagine the money the therapists will be making down the road when this trauma surfaces, manifesting mild schizophrenia and issues with trust and intimacy.
This set the stage for what was about to come. Steroid hysteria was in full swing. Any aberrant violent behavior, murder or suicide involving any athlete and Geraldo Rivera would immediately "smell steroids" with that enormous schnozz of his. News reports would abound about how - without any proof - steroids caused or contributed to such shocking behavior while completely ignoring much more relevant factors such as being on mismanaged psychotropic drugs, narcotic pain killers, alcohol or a combination thereof with or without underlying psychosis.
It got to a point in the mid-90s where virtually any unusual aberrant behavior reported in the press had some mention of "steroids." Defense attorneys even invented a "steroid defense" that relied on a convincing argument that "the steroids made their client do it." It worked a few times, but then the judges got wise.
The ensuing years brought us another pivotal point in the demonization history of steroids: the infamous baseball strike. More to the point, the subsequent resurrection of the game that had all but died during the strike.
The players going back to work wasn't enough to refill the stadiums. Nope, the strike-weary fans still weren't very happy. What baseball needed was some excitement. It needed a homerun race and the Bash Brothers and Roger Maris getting bumped out of the way. They needed McGwire and Sosa and Barry Bonds cracking them out of the park in a seemingly endless volley, racking up homeruns like nobody's business. The fans came screaming back.
MLB had its best year in history: a ten-digit payday at the very height of the steroid scandal, while the players who made it happen - who were told to do "whatever it takes" to make it happen - were getting thrown under the bus. The game was juiced and even Jose Canseco said so. In 2004, during his state of the Union Address, President Bush (former managing partner of the team for which Canseco played and earned the nickname "The Godfather of Steroids") demanded a crackdown on the drugs "because they are dangerous and send a bad message to our youth."
Weeks later, then Attorney General John Ashcroft read the indictment of Victor Conte and three others involved in the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (later to become infamous as "BALCO") on national TV - the scandal that later metastasized and drew Barry Bonds into the fold. All the while Congress convened and reconvened and held hearing after hearing on steroids in baseball to the preposterous degree that it spent more time talking about steroids than it did the economy, the war in Iraq or why the levies broke during hurricane Katrina, combined.
During one of those hearings, testimony was given by a guy named Don Hooton who blamed steroids for his son Taylor's suicide, as well as baseball itself, i.e. Bud Selig, for sending this lethal message to our youth. Hooton's convincing testimony chastising the idols of the great American pastime caught the attention of international news media and within minutes cemented Taylor Hooton's face among Alzado's and Johnson's when he gave teen steroid death a name that became a household word.
A handsome, white, 17 year-old high school baseball player from Texas named Taylor, cut down in the prime of his youth by the evil Schedule III drug that pro ball players use to cheat at America's great pastime... You might as well dress up as Hitler and set fire to the flag on your front lawn on Veteran's Day.
To us, Don Hooton's campaign is a laughing stock replete with sophomoric scare tactics and loads of erroneous suppositions, misinformation and outright lies. To the millions of bodybuilding forum members, Don Hooton is a tool. While that's a sad thing considering he buried his son, the truth is that for over a decade neither he, nor his Taylor Hooton Foundation, have proffered a singe truth when it comes to anabolic steroids. In no other single instance in the history of the steroid debate has the alarmist with the agenda made out as well for himself as Don Hooton, and mislead more people - including congress - doing it.
The ruckus Hooton has made over his son's suicide made Taylor's death a trending topic online for many years and certainly marks another milestone in the demonization of steroids. However, the Hooton case has also festered in the scientific community for over a decade now, calling into play some of the most respected and informed experts in the field. Among them, the widely accepted consensus is that steroids didn't kill Taylor Hooton.
The scene in Bigger Stronger Faster with Dr. Norm Foss pretty much epitomizes the opinion of unbiased experts. If there's a chemical to blame for inciting the ideation to hang himself, Taylor's death is, from a clinical standpoint, far more likely to have been motivated by the prescription anti-depressant drug he was taking: Lexapro, a popular selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). The data is just not there to put the blame on anything else.
And therein lies the rub. The Taylor Hooton suicide has been dissected numerous times over the last decade by numerous clinicians, scientists and healthcare professionals amassing quite a bit of peer reviewed and published data. Here's a brief synopsis of the published material by Dr. Jack Darkes:
"Taylor Hooton reportedly colored his hair and looked twice when he passed a mirror and was always concerned about his looks. In combination with a reported desire to be bigger suggests potential body dissatisfaction which is associated with both AAS use and suicide as a form of 'socially-prescribed perfectionism.' He had low self-esteem, a family history of depression (mother), a suicide attempt (sister) and was taking anti-depressant mediation (Lexapro). His AAS use was allegedly motivated by wanting to excel at baseball, although some sources have suggested it had more to do with personal appearance and status."
To date, there is no published data in the medical literature that suggests steroid use, or cessation of steroid use, by itself, incites suicidal ideation. However, the journals are rife to demonstrate suicidal ideation in adolescent patients treated with SSRIs. So, with so much statistical data against him, why has Hooton been blaming steroids and not SSRIs? Why is he picking on steroids, scientifically the least likely of culprits? Why is he campaigning so hard to demonize them?
Because, with such a vocal steroid attack in the wake of your son's suicide you not only get to testify before Congress during the baseball hearings, but also twice more. You get to start a non-profit foundation in your son's name and guilt guys such as Bud Selig into donating a million dollars on behalf of MLB. Then you name yourself president and decide to pay yourself up to 32% of the millions you take in to run the foundation. You get to go all over the country sounding like an expert and getting your picture in the paper and being named Texas Sports Personality of the Year by the Dallas Morning News. You don't get that going after SSRIs. Steroids made Don Hooton a celebrity. Steroids made Hooton a lot of money. Suing the makers of Lexapro would have gotten him nothing.
Either way, he's not getting his son back. Alzado's son isn't getting his dad back and history isn't taking back Johnson's nine-seven-six. So, rather than rile suburban soccer parents with sensationalistic lies that have the sky falling on our children, why not just tell the truth?
Forget the reality of their widespread use in professional sports, good science has demonstrated a real time and place for steroids among healthy adult males, especially as they age. The absolute garbage being proffered by guys such as Don Hooton is only eclipsed by the money they're making doing it. Proof, I'll reckon, is the fact that since Taylor Hooton's suicide over a decade ago, the scientific community has still not assigned "anabolic steroids" as the cause of one single teen suicide. Yet Hooton is still out there raking in millions preaching that it could still happen because - despite mountains of evidence to the contrary - Don says he knows that his son died from them. I'm sure Hooton is claiming this statistic as his victory. The only thing more revolting than Hooton's mission is the abject moron who supports him. Unfortunately, there are more than a few.
Shortly after the plea deal was reached with Victor Conte and the name "BALCO" became as much a household word as "Kleenex", the US Sentencing Commission reconvened to raise sentences for steroid cases. The 4 months Conte spent at Club Fed following a 55 million dollar investigation by the federal government was just not enough. The result of those Sentencing Commission hearings were those penalties I described at the beginning of this article.
While the circle seems complete, the story continued on. The federal agent who headed the BALCO investigation, Jeff Novitzky, became sort of a cult anti-hero, carrying the torch onward in his self-appointed fight against steroids. While there was never a formal order ever given to go after BALCO, Novitzky did, and to this day continues to do his best to lock up as many athletes as he can. Novitzky's tactics usually push the limits of legality and ethics, cheating just as much as the athletes he's chasing. The only difference is that he really doesn't ever truly win.
The BALCO case didn't yield much in the form of prison time for any of those snared in his investigation - at least not for steroids anyway - although several promising athletic careers were smashed and Olympic medals were taken back. Gold medal sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery actually did jail time, but for perjury and writing bad checks, not juice. Nevertheless, when the dust settled, Novitzky still had his claws in homerun king Barry Bonds, at that moment the most famous athlete on earth.
Novitzky's entire impetus for going after BALCO was to get Barry Bonds. Now he had him where he wanted him. Novitzky knew Bonds had taken steroids. He knew that Bonds's trainer, Gregg Anderson, gave/administered them to Bonds. All he had to do was prove it by getting Anderson to testify against Bonds, his childhood friend. Novitzky, the master of getting athletes to roll on each other, couldn't get Anderson to talk no matter how many months he spent locked away on contempt charges for refusing to testify. Ultimately, Anderson got out of jail. Finally, after an appeals court upheld his sentence in 2013, Bonds started serving his whopping two months of house arrest... for obstruction of justice.
Ten full years and tens of millions spent since the BALCO raid that started it all and Novitzky still doesn't have a drug conviction of an athlete. So, what does he do in light of what could only be construed as a black eye for the government? Novitzky spends millions more going after America's favorite son, Lance Armstrong. Seven Tour victories? He must have been on something.
First, Novitzky went after disgraced Tour de France winner Floyd Landis and promised him immunity if he rolled on former teammate, Armstrong. Naturally, Landis agreed and then suddenly the most tested athlete in the world - who never failed a drug test - was being brought down by an "administrative positive." Landis, and an assortment of others, ratted out Lance. Luckily for Lance, the government is easing off on steroid prosecutions and opted not to prosecute him. Novitzky got to the altar a little late.
The Obama administration has openly said that enough time has been spent on steroids; those resources can be used for better things. Lance did have to step down from his philanthropic foundation and give back all his Tour victories as well as the silver medal he won in the Olympics. I'm sure we all sleep better at night now.
Novitzky's star seems to be fading. There's no one really left after Lance. Although he could start going after rappers. LL Cool J looks pretty jacked.
So Where Does This Leave Us?
A closer analysis of current events might look like we've come full circle. While the laws and penalties for steroids are quite unfavorable right now, you have to work a little harder at getting caught. My old friend Dr. Gary Wadler, a former leader of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said, "I don't think this administration has the same vigor as the previous administrations on the [PED] issue. That was clear from the beginning when Barack Obama was running for election [in 2008]."
So, where does that leave us? Well, you can still get 30 years for testosterone, if you get caught. That's a big if. It does however seem to be a bit smaller of an if as it was a few years ago. The hysteria seems to have ebbed. The alarmists have lost much credibility from parent groups calling creatine a steroid and Don Hooton proclaiming that veteran actor Tom Hanks opened a show on Broadway "high on steroids" for having had a cortisone shot in his injured hand. Don sounds a bit desperate.
Steroids are perhaps a bit less vilified today and have in fact been inducted into the modern American lexicon. "On steroids" is a phrase openly accepted even in advertising to depict the deluxe version of just about anything from pick-up trucks to non-stick cookware. Baseball is boring again. And any time any athlete ever does anything noteworthy it will automatically be assumed that he's "on steroids."
Chances are he is and no government willing to enforce laws against it is ever going to stop him. Part of the reason for that is the high degree of chemical engineering going on today that was extremely rare just a few years ago. Designer labs are certainly the new frontier. And the feds know it.
There's a big difference between hunting down high-profile elite athletes and cracking down on the new forms of steroids designed to sneak around the law. While the government might not be chasing big named athletes around with the wild geese, lawmakers are still reaping mileage out of the steroid issue. At the time of this writing, Reps. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) have introduced legislation in the House designed to crack down on anabolic steroids masquerading as dietary supplements.
These "designer steroids" come in the wake of what was leaned from the BALCO case. The products are made by reverse engineering illegal steroids and slightly changing their chemical composition. Such reengineering avoids placement on the DEA's list of controlled substances, creating a nice fat loophole for athletes to pee into. Urine tests can only detect known substances. If you're taking something unknown, then you can't fail a drug test.
The House bill is the next step toward full passage of a law that will further empower the DEA with new tools to identify and quickly respond when new designer anabolic steroids are introduced and falsely marketed as dietary supplements. How much of a bearing will this have on us? Very little. The point is just to show that while the steroid issue may have lost its luster in the mainstream, there are lawmakers who still think the platform can buy them some votes.
Just remember, the public stigma against steroids may have relaxed a little and the government may have decided they've had enough congressional hearings on steroids, but that doesn't mean that getting popped for them isn't still a reality, nor that the effect that bust will have on you and your family will be anything less than profound, and it will get worse when your local paper runs the story.
Apparently, this is what's known as "evolution."
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A national bestseller, the fast-paced and gripping account of the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918 from acclaimed science journalist Gina Kolata, now featuring a new epilogue about avian flu.
When we think of plagues, we think of AIDS, Ebola, anthrax spores, and, of course, the Black Death. But in 1918 the Great Flu Epidemic killed an estimated forty million people virtually overnight. If such a plague returned today, taking a comparable percentage of the US population with it, 1.5 million Americans would die.
In Flu, Gina Kolata, an acclaimed reporter for The New York Times, unravels the mystery of this lethal virus with the high drama of a great adventure story. From Alaska to Norway, from the streets of Hong Kong to the corridors of the White House, Kolata tracks the race to recover the live pathogen and probes the fear that has impelled government policy.
A gripping work of science writing, Flu addresses the prospects for a great epidemic’s recurrence and considers what can be done to prevent it.
This is a detective story. Here was a mass murderer that was around 80 years ago and who's never been brought to justice. And what we're trying to do is find the murderer.
When the plague came, on those chilly days of autumn, some said it was a terrible new weapon of war. The plague germs were inserted into aspirin made by the German drug company Bayer. Take an aspirin for a headache and the germs will creep through your body. Then your fate is sealed.
No, the plague came in on a camouflaged German ship that had crept into Boston Harbor under cover of darkness and released the germs that seeded the city. Boston, after all, was where the plague started. There was an eyewitness, an old woman who said she saw a greasy-looking cloud that floated over the harbor and wafted over the docks.
No, it was started by Germans who slipped into Boston Harbor on U-boats and then sneaked ashore, carrying vials of the plague germs with them. They let the germs loose in theaters and among crowds gathered for those interminable Liberty Bond rallies. Lieutenant Colonel Philip S. Doane, head of the Health Sanitation Section of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, said so, and he certainly was in a position to know. It was on page one of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Soon the plague was everywhere. And no one was safe.
The sickness preyed on the young and healthy. One day you are fine, strong, and invulnerable. You might be busy at work in your office. Or maybe you are knitting a scarf for the brave troops fighting the war to end all wars. Or maybe you are a soldier reporting for basic training, your first time away from home and family.
You might notice a dull headache. Your eyes might start to burn. You start to shiver and you will take to your bed, curling up in a ball. But no amount of blankets can keep you warm. You fall into a restless sleep, dreaming the distorted nightmares of delirium as your fever climbs. And when you drift out of sleep, into a sort of semi-consciousness, your muscles will ache and your head will throb and you will somehow know that, step by step, as your body feebly cries out "no," you are moving steadily toward death.
It may take a few days, it may take a few hours, but there is nothing that can stop the disease's progress. Doctors and nurses have learned to spot the signs. Your face turns a dark brownish purple. You start to cough up blood. Your feet turn black. Finally, as the end nears, you frantically gasp for breath. A blood-tinged saliva bubbles out of your mouth. You die -- by drowning, actually -- as your lungs fill with a reddish fluid.
And when a doctor does an autopsy, he will observe your lungs lying heavy and sodden in your chest, engorged with a thin bloody liquid, useless, like slabs of liver.
They called the plague of 1918 influenza, but it was like no influenza ever seen before. It was more like a biblical prophecy come true, something from Revelations that predicted that first the world was to be struck by war, then famine, and then, with the breaking of the fourth seal of the scroll foretelling the future, the appearance of a horse, "deathly pale, and its rider was called Plague, and Hades followed at its heels."
The plague took off in September of that year, and when it was over, half a million Americans would lie dead. The illness spread to the most remote parts of the globe. Some Eskimo villages were decimated, nearly eliminated from the face of the earth. Twenty percent of Western Samoans perished. And no matter where it struck, the virus went after an unusual group -- young adults who generally are spared the ravages of infectious diseases. The death curves were W-shaped, with peaks for the babies and toddlers under age 5, the elderly who were aged 70 to 74, and people aged 20 to 40.
Children were orphaned, families destroyed. Some who lived through it said it was so horrible that they would not even talk about it. Others tried to put it behind them as another wartime nightmare, somehow conflating it with the horrors of trench warfare and mustard gas. It came when the world was weary of war. It swept the globe in months, ending when the war did. It went away as mysteriously as it appeared. And when it was over, humanity had been struck by a disease that killed more people in a few months' time than any other illness in the history of the world.
When we think of plagues we think of strange and terrible illnesses. AIDS. Ebola. Anthrax spores. And, of course, the Black Death. We worry about horrifying symptoms -- pustules, or fountains of blood gushing from every orifice. Or young men, who had had the bodies of gods, reduced to skeletal figures, hobbling down the street on withered limbs, leaning on canes, shivering with cold. Today we worry about germ warfare -- a new virus made of a combination of smallpox and anthrax or smallpox and Ebola. Or we worry that a terrifying new disease is brewing somewhere, in a hot zone, and that it is poised, prepared, with the disruption of ancient forests, to break out and kill us all.
But influenza never makes the list of deadly plagues. It seems so innocuous. It comes around every winter and everyone gets it sooner or later. There is no good treatment once a person becomes ill, but no matter. Nearly everyone gets over it, few are the worse for the experience. It is just an inconvenient illness that inflicts, at most, a week or so of misery. Influenza is not supposed to be deadly, at least for young adults, who have little reason to fear death or disease.
Even its name, "influenza," hints at its usual pattern of coming around each winter. "Influenza" is an Italian word that, one hypothesis has it, was coined by the disease's Italian victims in the middle of the eighteenth century. Influenza di freddo means "influence of the cold."
Flu also, however, seems unavoidable. It is spread through the air and there is little that can be done to prevent being infected. "I know how not to get AIDS," says Alfred W. Crosby, a historian of the 1918 flu. "I don't know how not to get the flu."
And yet perhaps because the flu is so familiar, its terrors in 1918 were all the more dreadful. It is like a macabre science fiction tale in which the mundane becomes the monstrous.
When the illness was first observed, doctors were reluctant even to call it the flu. It seemed to be a new disease, they said. Some called it bronchopneumonia, others called it epidemic respiratory infection. Doctors suggested it might be cholera or typhus, or perhaps it was dengue fever or botulism. Still others said it was simply an unidentified pandemic disease. Those who used the term "influenza" insisted on enclosing it in quotation marks.
One way to tell the story of the 1918 flu is through facts and figures, a collection of data whose impact is numbing and whose magnitude is almost inconceivable.
How many became ill? More than 25 percent of the U.S. population.
What about servicemen, the very young and healthy who were the virus's favorite targets? The Navy said that 40 percent of its members got the flu in 1918. The Army estimated that about 36 percent of its members were stricken.
How many died worldwide? Estimates range from 20 million to more than 100 million, but the true number can never be known. Many places that were bludgeoned by the flu did not keep mortality statistics, and even in countries such as the United States, efforts at tabulating flu deaths were complicated by the fact that there was no definitive test in those days to show that a person actually had the flu. But still, the low end of the mortality estimates is stunning. In comparison, AIDS had killed 11.7 million people through 1997. World War I was responsible for 9.2 million combat deaths and around 15 million total deaths. World War II for 15.9 combat deaths. Historian Crosby remarks that whatever the exact number felled by the 1918 flu, one thing is indisputable: the virus "killed more humans than any other disease in a period of similar duration in the history of the world."
How lethal was it? It was twenty-five times more deadly than ordinary influenzas. This flu killed 2.5 percent of its victims. Normally, just one-tenth of 1 percent of people who get the flu die. And since a fifth of the world's population got the flu that year, including 28 percent of Americans, the number of deaths was stunning. So many died, in fact, that the average life span in the United States fell by twelve years in 1918. If such a plague came today, killing a similar fraction of the U.S. population, 1.5 million Americans would die, which is more than the number felled in a single year by heart disease, cancers, strokes, chronic pulmonary disease, AIDS, and Alzheimer's disease combined.
But the raw numbers cannot convey the scenes of horror and misery that swept the world in 1918, which became part of everyday life in every nation, in the largest cities and remotest hamlets.
Some tell of their personal epiphanies. Historian Crosby, a friendly bear of a man with snow-white hair and a short bushy beard, was at Washington State University one day, gazing at a wall of world almanacs. On a whim, he picked up an almanac from 1917 and looked up the U.S. life expectancy. It was, he recalls, about fifty-one years. He then turned to the almanac from 1919. The life expectancy was about the same. Then he looked at the 1918 almanac. The life expectancy was thirty-nine years, he says. "What the hell happened? The life expectancy had dropped to what it had been fifty years before." Then he realized what the explanation must be. It was the influenza epidemic, the flu his own father had lived through but had not spoken about to Crosby. "When you talk to people who lived through it, they think it was just their block or just their neighborhood," Crosby noted. The flu's enormous, almost unthinkable impact somehow had escaped attention. Crosby applied for a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the 1918 flu and soon became the world's expert on that almost forgotten period of history.
No one knows for sure where the 1918 flu came from or how it turned into such a killer strain. All that is known is that it began as an ordinary flu but then it changed. It infected people in the spring of 1918, sickening its victims for about three days with chills and fever, but rarely killing them. Then it disappeared, returning in the fall with the power of a juggernaut.
In retrospect, medical experts talk of the two waves of the 1918 flu. The first was banal, and easily forgotten. No one mentioned plagues or germ warfare when the influenza epidemic first arrived. But when it came back, in the second wave, it had become something monstrous, bearing little resemblance to what is ordinarily thought of as the flu.
The earliest traces of the first wave of the 1918 flu are lost in the sands of time, a warning that only afterward seemed dire. The disease seemed trivial at the time, coming as it did in the midst of the disruptions and terrors of war. But for one of the first towns to be hit by the flu, the disease was not easily dismissed -- not because it was so deadly but because it was so infectious.
It was February and the tourist season was in full swing in San Sebastián. The sunny town on the northern coast of Spain seemed a world apart from the dismal, dreary fighting just over the border in France. San Sebastián in the winter of 1918 was a place where you might forget the trenches and the wet, cold, muddy battles. You could escape the talk of mustard gas, that deadly green haze, that horrible new German weapon of war. You could find respite in a country that was still unaligned, where the days were warm and the nights soft and fragrant. You might forget that the rest of Europe was bogged down in an exhausting war to end all wars.
Then the flu came to town. It was nothing alarming -- just three days or so of fever, aches, and pains. But it certainly was contagious. It seemed that nearly everyone who was exposed to the disease became ill about two days later. And the disease seemed to strike young, healthy adults, often sparing the old people and the children, who usually are the first to be felled by influenza.
What to do? If the world knew about the flu in San Sebastián, the tourist season would be finished. Who would want to go on vacation only to be laid up with the flu? Maybe the illness could be hushed up, the town's officials reasoned. Yet the word spread -- San Sebastián was a place to be avoided.
At nearly the same time, some soldiers were becoming ill, although there was as yet no clear pattern of the disease's spread. Influenza arrived in March in the 15th U.S. Cavalry traveling to Europe.
Two months later, it seemed that everyone was getting sick. In Spain, eight million people were ill, including King Alfonso XIII. One-third of Madrid was sick with the flu, forcing some government offices to close. Even the trams stopped running. And this time, Spain was not alone -- the first wave of the flu had spread widely.
The troops called it "three-day fever," according to some who suffered from it. One, Sergeant John C. Acker of the 107th Ammunition Train, 32nd Division, American Expeditionary Force, writing from France that April, said: "They started calling it the 'three-day fever' here, but couldn't camouflage it with a name when it runs its course in a week or more. It hits suddenly and one's temperature nearly chases the mercury thru the top of the M.D.'s thermometer, face gets red, every bone in the body aches and the head splits wide open. This continues for three or four days and then disappears after considerable perspiration, but the 'hangover' clings for a week or two."
But in the rest of the world, the illness came to be called the Spanish flu, to Spain's consternation. After all, the other countries of Europe, as well as the United States and countries in Asia, were hit too in that spring of 1918. Maybe the name stuck because Spain, still unaligned, did not censor its news reports, unlike other European countries. And so Spain's flu was no secret, unlike the flu elsewhere.
Nonetheless, the scope of the epidemic remains unclear. There were no requirements in those days to report cases of influenza -- that became a practice in the United States only after, and as a consequence of, the second wave of the 1918 flu. And there was no reason in those days of war to keep track of what seemed like a minor illness. Reports on the flu's reaches were sporadic, reflecting mostly the practices of organizations such as prisons, the military, and some industries, which simply recorded absentees. There was no systematic attempt to track an epidemic.
There are records noting that at the Ford Motor Company more than 1,000 workers called in sick with the flu in March. In San Quentin prison, 500 of 1,900 prisoners became ill in April and May. On March 4, the flu came to Camp Funston (now Fort Riley) in Kansas, a training camp for 20,000 recruits. That month and the next, it also arrived at more than a dozen other Army camps, but no eyebrows were raised. After all, colds and flu were to be expected in training camps where thousands of men were brought together, mingling and passing viruses among themselves.
In April 1918, the epidemic appeared in France, laying waste to British, American, and French troops stationed there, as well as the civilian population. The next month, it was in England, where King George V got the flu. The epidemic crested in England in June; at the same time, it cropped up in China and Japan. In Asia, it also was called the "three-day fever" or, sometimes, "wrestler's fever."
Not surprisingly, the epidemic affected the war effort. Soldiers trying to fight in World War I were laid up by the flu in such numbers that some commanders complained that the disease was hindering their ability to fight.
King George's Grand Fleet could not even put to sea for three weeks in May, with 10,313 men sick. The British Army's 29th Division had planned to attack La Becque on June 30, but had to put off the operation because so many of its men were sick with the flu.
German General Erich von Ludendorff, the leader of the country's acclaimed offense, complained that the flu, or the Flanders fever, as the Germans called it, was thwarting his battle plans. It was not enough that the fighting men were hungry and cold and wet, trying to slog their way through fields of mud that could swallow a tank. Now there was this flu which, Ludendorff said, was weakening his men and lowering their morale. The flu, he added, contributed to the failure of his July offensive, a battle plan that nearly won the war for Germany.
He also groused about his staff's complaints about the flu. "It was a grievous business having to listen every morning to the Chiefs of Staff's recital of the number of influenza cases, and their complaints about the weakness of their troops."
Yet although much of the world fell ill that spring, there remained large areas that were untouched. Most of Africa and almost all of South America and Canada had no flu epidemic. And as summer arrived, even the countries that were hardest hit had a reprieve. The flu seemed to vanish without a trace.
But a few months later the flu was back with a vengeance.
It roared into the world, beginning in places where its impact was, at first, not widely known. The second wave of the 1918 pandemic still was highly contagious. But this time it was a killer. Its path was evident in retrospect, when demographers traced patterns of unusually high death rates among young adults. By August, notes Gerald Pyle, a medical geographer at the University of North Carolina, the disease "had grimly cut its swath among populations of the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Japan, China, a large part of the Caribbean, and parts of Central and South America."
Although about 20 percent of its victims had a mild disease and recovered without incident, the rest had one of two terrifying illnesses. Some almost immediately became deathly ill, unable to get enough oxygen because their lungs had filled with fluid. They died in days, or even hours, delirious with a high fever, gasping for breath, lapsing at last into unconsciousness. In others, the illness began as an ordinary flu, with chills, fever, and muscle aches, but no untoward symptoms. By the fourth or fifth day of the illness, however, bacteria would swarm into their injured lungs and they would develop pneumonia that would either kill them or lead to a long period of convalescence.
The second wave of the flu arrived in the United States in Boston, appearing among a group of sailors who docked at the Commonwealth Pier in August. The sailors were simply in transit, part of the vast movement of troops in a war that transformed daily life.
By then, the war effort had taken over the country. No man wanted to be left behind -- the worst thing you could call a man was a slacker. And so a quarter of Americans had signed up to fight, with those men who remained behind embarrassed, apologizing for medical conditions that kept them from the front. The women spent their days visiting hospitals, bringing bright baskets of flowers and sweets, and wrapping bandages for the men abroad.
And then some of those sailors in Boston got sick.
On August 28, eight men got the flu. The next day, 58 were sick. By day four, the sick toll reached 81. A week later, it was 119, and that same day the first civilian was admitted to Boston City Hospital sick with the flu.
Deaths soon followed. On September 8, three people died from the flu in Boston: a Navy man, a merchant marine, and a civilian.
That same day, the flu appeared in Fort Devens, Massachusetts, thirty miles west of Boston.
Overnight, Fort Devens became a scene out of hell. One doctor, assigned to work in the camp that September, wrote despairingly to a friend about an epidemic that was out of control. The doctor's letter is dated September 29, 1918, signed with his first name, "Roy." Nothing more is known about who he was or what became of him. His letter was discovered more than sixty years later, in a trunk in Detroit, and was published in the British Medical Journal in December 1979, having been sent in by a Scottish doctor, N. R. Grist of the University of Glasgow, who saw it as a cautionary tale.
Roy wrote: "Camp Devens is near Boston, and has about 50,000 men, or did before this epidemic broke loose." The flu epidemic hit the camp four weeks earlier, he added, "and has developed so rapidly that the camp is demoralized and all ordinary work is held up till it has passed. All assemblages of soldiers are taboo."
The disease starts out looking like an ordinary sort of influenza, Roy explained. But when the soldiers are brought to the hospital at the Army base, they "rapidly develop the most viscous type of Pneumonia that has ever been seen. Two hours after admission they have the Mahogany spots over the cheek bones and a few hours later you can begin to see the Cyanosis extending from the ears and spreading all over the face, until it is hard to distinguish the colored man from the white. It is only a matter of a few hours then until death comes and it is simply a struggle for air until they suffocate. It is horrible. One can stand to see one, two, or twenty men die, but to see these poor devils dropping like flies gets on your nerves. We have been averaging about 100 deaths a day, and still keeping it up."
It became a problem just to dispose of the dead. "It takes Special trains to carry away the dead," Roy remarked. "For several days there were not coffins and the bodies piled up something fierce and we used to go down to the morgue (which is just back of my ward) and look at the boys laid out in long rows. It beats any sight they ever had in France after a battle. An extra long barracks has been vacated for the use of the Morgue, and it would make any man sit up and take notice to walk down the long lines of soldiers all dressed and laid out in double rows. We have no relief here, you get up in the morning at 5:30 and work steady until about 9:30 P.M., sleep, then go at it again."
Even medical experts were shocked by what they saw at Camp Devens. Just six days before Roy wrote his letter, on September 23, the U.S. Surgeon General had sent one of the nation's leading doctors to the camp to figure out what was going on. The doctor, William Henry Welch, was a pathologist, a scientist, and a physician whose honors were almost unprecedented. He had been president of the most prestigious science and medical societies, including the American Medical Association, the National Academy of Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Some said that he was as highly regarded in his time as Benjamin Franklin had been earlier.
But Welch was as unprepared as Roy for the 1918 flu. He had, in fact, thought that American troops were astonishingly healthy. In September 1918, Welch, along with Colonel Victor C. Vaughan, who also had been president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Rufus Cole, president of the Rockefeller Institute, and Simeon Walbach of Harvard Medical School, had just completed a tour of inspections of Army camps in the South. They were flush with the success of the public health effort that seemed to have made disease in the military almost a thing of the past. Welch, in fact, had concluded that the camps were in such good condition, the troops in such good health, that he could retire. He was seventy-one years old, a portly, genial bachelor, and felt he had completed his service to his country. Then he was called upon to investigate the carnage that was occurring at Fort Devens.
The four doctors were summoned to Washington to speak to the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. William C. Gorgas, the man who had eliminated yellow fever from Cuba. Gorgas called the men into his office, barely glancing up from the papers on his desk when the distinguished team came in. Then he said, "You will proceed immediately to Devens. The Spanish influenza has struck that camp."
The doctors obeyed, of course, traveling to Union Station near the Capitol building in Washington and boarding the next train to Fort Devens. They arrived the following morning on a dreary day, when a frigid rain was falling and dying soldiers, sodden and chilled, were filing into the hospital, carrying their blankets, burning with fever, shivering with cold, and coughing up bloody mucus.
What the doctors saw horrified them. The camp, built for 35,000 men, was overcrowded with 45,000. And the influenza epidemic was running rampant. In just twenty-four hours preceding Welch's visit, 66 men had died. The day that Welch and his retinue came, 63 died. The hospital, built to hold 2,000, was overflowing with 8,000 men.
Vaughan wrote about the experience. He was a man who had seen epidemics before. He had seen typhoid fever and seen firsthand how that illness felled men in the Spanish-American War. But never had he seen anything like the influenza epidemic in Fort Devens, Massachusetts.
Vaughan said there was no point in discussing the history of the influenza epidemic, which "visited the remotest corners, taking toll of the most robust, sparing neither soldier nor civilian, and flaunting its red flag in the face of science." But the scene at Devens was one he could never forget.
pardWhen the group of medical officials arrived, they saw what Vaughan said was inscribed in his brain. These memories are "ghastly ones which I would tear down and destroy were I able to do so, but this is beyond my power," Vaughan wrote. "They are part of my being and will perish only when I die or lose my memory."
When he remembered Fort Devens, this is what he saw: "...hundreds of stalwart young men in the uniform of their country coming into the wards of the hospital in groups of ten or more. They are placed on the cots until every bed is full yet others crowd in. Their faces soon wear a bluish cast; a distressing cough brings up the blood stained sputum. In the morning the dead bodies are stacked about the morgue like cord wood. This picture was painted on my memory cells at the division hospital, Camp Devens, in the fall of 1918, when the deadly influenza virus demonstrated the inferiority of human inventions in the destruction of human life."
It was shocking. Here was Vaughan, in the midst of the first war to use modern weapons, a war that was felling young men with machine guns and gas warfare, and yet it was all nothing compared to this illness.
The others, too, were traumatized. Cole was stunned by the hospital scene. As the men stumbled into the sick ward, "there were not enough nurses and the poor boys were putting themselves to bed on cots, which overflowed out of the wards on the porches," Cole said.
And then there was the autopsy room. It was hard to even get in, with stiff bodies piling up, blocking the doctors' way. "Owing to the rush and the great number of bodies coming into the morgue, they were placed on the floor without any order or system, and we had to step amongst them to get into the room where an autopsy was going on," Cole said.
But once they got there, even Welch, the imperturbable, the one the others looked to for courage and strength, was shaken. Somehow that was the worst of all.
Standing over the autopsy table, Welch opened the chest of the corpse of a young man, exposing his lungs. It was a terrible sight. "When the chest was opened and the blue swollen lungs were removed and opened, and Dr. Welch saw the wet, foamy surfaces with little real consolidation, he turned," Cole said. "This must be some new kind of infection," Welch said. "Or plague."
Welch "was quite excited and obviously very nervous," Cole said. "It was not surprising that the rest of us were disturbed, but it shocked me to find that the situation, momentarily at least, was too much even for Dr. Welch."
Cole, too, was shaken. It was, he said, "the only time I ever saw Dr. Welch really worried and disturbed."
By that time, the flu had spread beyond Fort Devens, beyond Boston, beyond the military. The entire state of Massachusetts was staggering from the virus.
Three days after Welch and his retinue visited Camp Devens, the state's health officials frantically wired for help, asking the U.S. Public Health Service to send doctors and nurses. The state's acting governor, Calvin Coolidge, sent a telegram to President Woodrow Wilson, the mayor of Toronto, and the governors of Vermont, Maine, and Rhode Island, saying "our doctors and nurses are being thoroughly mobilized and worked to the limit." Many sick people, he added, "receive no attention whatsoever." As many as 50,000 in Massachusetts had the flu. That day, September 26, 1918, 123 Bostonians died of the flu and 33 succumbed to pneumonia.
But it was impossible to divert doctors and nurses to Massachusetts since, by then, the flu was everywhere and everyone needed help. The disease was moving quickly throughout military bases and towns and cities across the nation. Hundreds of towns, cities, and military installations were hit.
The result was devastation on a scale that is hard to imagine. Each incident, each military installation that was struck, each town or city, each remote village, had its own monstrous tale of death, helplessness, and social collapse.
The situation was so dire that the same day that Massachusetts pleaded for help, the Provost Marshal General of the U.S. Army made a shocking announcement. A draft call of 142,000 men was canceled. This despite the fact that soldiers were desperately needed in Europe. But he had little choice. The flu had spread far and wide. Twelve thousand Americans had died of the flu in September, and virtually every Army camp to which the recruits would report was under quarantine.
While Roy was administering to the dying in Fort Devens, while Welch was visiting the camp, looking on almost in disbelief at what the flu had wrought, the disease crept into Philadelphia.
Perhaps Philadelphia was ravaged early in the epidemic's course because the flu spread so easily from the city's Naval Yard. The flu first struck those Navy seamen on September 11, 1918, not long after it had arrived in Fort Devens. Or perhaps it was because the city was near two large Army camps, Fort Dix in New Jersey and Fort Meade in Maryland, and both of them were hit by the flu a few days later. Or perhaps the flu got its start in Philadelphia because the city had a huge Liberty Loan Drive parade, which drew a crowd of 200,000 on September 20. Or maybe it was all of these combined that gave the virus its foothold. But whatever the reason, Philadelphia was among the hardest hit of all American cities. And it was almost completely unprepared.
Few public officials anticipated the disaster and almost no members of the public did. The outbreak, in fact, was preceded by soothing words from medical authorities with a sort of band-played-on bravado. The Journal of the American Medical Association opined that medical authorities should not be alarmed by the flu's nickname, "the Spanish flu." That name, the journal wrote, "should not cause any greater importance to be attached to it, nor arouse any greater fear than would influenza without the new name." Moreover, the journal said, the flu "has already practically disappeared from the Allied troops."
Yet as the flu spread, the city did take a few precautions. On September 18, its health officials began a public campaign against coughing, spitting, and sneezing. Three days later, the city made influenza a reportable disease, which meant that records had to be kept of numbers of cases. On that same day, September 21, however, scientists reported good news -- it seemed that the battle against influenza was won. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that researchers had found the cause of the flu -- a bacterium called Pfeiffer's bacillus. As a consequence, the paper wrote, the finding has "armed the medical profession with absolute knowledge on which to base its campaign against this disease."
But by October 1, the city was under siege. In one day, 635 cases of the flu were reported to public health officials. That, however, was an underestimate. Doctors had become so overwhelmed caring for the sick that most cases went unreported and the true numbers will never be known. On October 3, the city closed all schools, churches, theaters, pool halls, and other places of amusement in a frantic attempt to slow the spread of the disease.
In the week that ended on October 5, as many as 2,600 were reported to have died in Philadelphia of the flu or its complications. The next week, the flu death reports reached more than 4,500. Hundreds of thousands were ill. Sick people arrived at teeming hospitals in limousines, horse carts, and pushcarts.
Within a month after the flu arrived in Philadelphia, nearly 11,000 people died from the disease. On one fateful day, October 10, 1918, 759 Philadelphia flu victims died.
"Visiting nurses often walked into scenes resembling those of the plague years of the fourteenth century," wrote historian Alfred W. Crosby. "They drew crowds of supplicants -- or people shunned them for fear of the white gauze masks that they often wore. They could go out in the morning with a list of fifteen patients to see and end up seeing fifty. One nurse found a husband dead in the same room where his wife lay with newly born twins. It had been twenty-four hours since the death and the birth and the wife had had no food but an apple which happened to be within reach."
Undertakers were overwhelmed, observed Crosby. "On one occasion, the Society for Organizing Charity called 25 undertakers before finding one able and willing to bury a member of a poor family. In some cases, the dead were left in their homes for days. Private undertaking houses were overwhelmed and some were taking advantage of the situation by hiking prices as much as 600 percent. Complaints were made that cemetery officials were charging fifteen dollar burial fees and then making the bereaved dig graves for the dead themselves."
At the city morgue, bodies were piled three and four deep "in the corridors and in almost every room," Crosby said. They were "covered only with dirty and often bloodstained sheets. Most were unembalmed and without ice. Some were mortifying and emitting a nauseating stench. The doors of the building were left open, probably for circulation of air, and the Grand Guignol chaos was on view to anyone who cared to look in, including young children."
Philadelphia's nightmare was a prelude to an epidemic that roared throughout the world, bringing with it accumulating tales of horror. No place was safe, few families were spared. By the first week of October, the flu had spread to every part of the globe except for a few remote islands and Australia.
In Ottawa, Canada, the local newspaper reported that "street cars rattled down Bank Street with windows open and plenty of room inside. Schools, vaudeville theaters, movie palaces are dark; pool halls and bowling alleys, deserted."
In Cape Town, South Africa, there was such a shortage of coffins that bodies were buried in mass graves, wrapped in blankets.
Katherine Anne Porter, who had been a newspaper reporter in Denver, nearly died of the flu herself. Her fiancé was killed by the illness. She wrote a novella about her experience, Pale Horse, Pale Rider, a story told in almost dreamlike language and describing a nightmare: "All the theaters and nearly all of the shops and restaurants are closed, and the streets have been full of funerals all day and ambulances all night."
In Reading, England, a nurse wrote: "It happened so suddenly. In the morning we received an order to open up a new unit of flu and by night we'd moved into a converted convent. Almost before the desks were out the stretchers were in -- 60-80 to a classroom. We could hardly squeeze between the cots and oh, they were so sick! They came from a nearby airforce base...some had been lying unattended for days. They all had pneumonia. We knew those whose feet were black wouldn't live."
Buffalo Bill Cody lost his daughter-in-law and grandson. Writer Mary McCarthy was orphaned and sent to live with her uncle.
pardIn France, John McCrae, a Canadian doctor assigned to the Medical Corps, had written the most famous poem about World War I, "In Flanders Fields." It is a paean to soldiers who died in battle: "In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row." McCrae himself died in the war, but not in battle. He was felled by pneumonia in 1918 -- which leading virologists say almost certainly was caused by influenza.
A doctor at the University of Missouri, D. G. Stine, wrote that from September 26 until December 6, 1918, 1,020 students got the flu. "I saw one patient die within 18 hours of this disease and 12 hours after being put to bed. I have seen a number of others menaced with death during the first 48 hours of the disease. The statement that influenza is uncomplicated is, I believe, erroneous," he wrote.
At Camp Sherman in Ohio, 13,161 men -- about 40 percent of those at the camp -- got the flu between September 27 and October 13, 1918. Of them, 1,101 died.
Army doctors tried every measure to stem the epidemic. They inoculated troops with vaccines made from body secretions taken from flu patients or from bacteria that they thought caused the disease. They made the men spray their throats each day and gargle with antiseptics or alcohol. They hung sheets between beds, and at one camp they even hung sheets in the centers of tables at mess halls. At Walter Reed Hospital, soldiers chewed tobacco each day, believing that it would ward off the flu.
Public health departments gave out gauze masks for people to wear in public. A New York doctor and collector of historical photographs, Dr. Stanley B. Burns, has a photograph in his archive of a minor league baseball game being played during the epidemic. It is a surreal image: The pitcher, the batter, every player, and every member of the crowd are wearing gauze masks.
In Tucson, Arizona, the board of health issued a ruling that "no person shall appear in any street, park, or place where any business is transacted, or in any other public place within the city of Tucson, without wearing a mask consisting of at least four thicknesses of butter cloth or at least seven thicknesses of ordinary gauze, covering both the nose and the mouth."
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, where schools were closed and movie theaters darkened, the local newspaper noted: "the ghost of fear walked everywhere, causing many a family circle to reunite because of the different members having nothing else to do but stay home."
Doctors gave out elixirs and vaccinated people against the flu, but to no avail. Crosby wondered about those flu vaccines. What was in them when no one knew what was causing the flu? He interviewed a doctor who had helped produce flu vaccines in 1918. The doctor, Crosby said, told him that the vaccines were just a soup made of blood and mucus of flu patients that had been filtered to get rid of large cells and debris. When they injected it into people's arms their arms became horribly sore. "So they thought it really worked."
Anecdotes spread. There was the story of four women who played bridge together one night. The next day, three were dead from the flu. There were tales of people who set off for work and died of influenza hours later.
Throughout the nation, families were ravaged. James D. H. Reefer of Kansas City wrote that when he was four and his brother was six, his thirty-year-old father and his twenty-seven-year-old mother got the flu and died within a few days of each other, unable to breathe as the flu destroyed the air sacs of their lungs. "Older members of the family later told me they 'simply drowned,'" Mr. Reefer said.
dMinnie Lee Tratham McMullan was just two years old in 1918, living in Streator, Illinois. Her mother, her eleven-year-old brother, and her newborn baby sister died of the flu in that summer. An older brother got the flu and recovered, and so did Minnie, although at one time she was so ill that her family thought she was dead. "They rolled me out on the patio and put a sheet over me," she says. "Then they said they found out I was alive."
With his wife dead, Minnie's father was at a loss to care for Minnie, her older sister, and her two older brothers. The four children, aged two, four, seven, and ten, moved to the home of one relative and then the next.
Years later, Minnie McMullan went to the cemetery in Streator and spoke to the caretaker, who told her that the dead were lined up along the road during that terrible time. "There were so many dying that they didn't have people to dig graves to put them in," she says.
But McMullan, the last member of her family who was alive in 1918, has no memory of the epidemic. All she knows is what her relatives told her, and they did not like to speak of the deaths and dying. "I'm glad I don't remember," she says.
At the same time, volunteers, largely women, bravely stepped forward to minister to the sick. In El Paso, Texas, where poor Mexicans were dying at alarming rates, a twenty-eight-room school, the Aoy School, was converted into a hospital for influenza patients, mostly Mexicans. The local newspaper described the scene on October 19: "Fifty-one Mexican men, women, and babies lay gasping in the improvised wards of Aoy School last night." They were "brought from the squalor of homes in the Mexican quarter of town, many of them in the last stages of pneumonia, all of them suffering from the lack of proper medical attention and comforts, the patients were transferred from the depths of poverty to the comparative comfort and care of a hospital equal in almost any respect to any in the city."
People from all over the city volunteered at the Aoy School, providing food and clothing, driving the sick to the hospital in their own cars. Women helped out as cooks, clerks, drivers, and nurse's aides. One wrote: "I am so glad I can help. I have not had a nurse's aide course, nor, in fact, any training. I probably have no qualifications for nursing except for my desire to relieve some of the suffering."
Perhaps none but a gifted novelist can tell what death from the 1918 flu looked like, how the stricken person appeared in those last hours of life when the horrors of the illness are fully unfurled. One of the few who attempted this was Thomas Wolfe. He was a student at the University of North Carolina in 1918 when he got a telegram from home, summoning him to return immediately. His brother, Benjamin Harrison Wolfe, was ill with the flu. He tells the thinly fictionalized story in Chapter 35 of his novel, Look Homeward, Angel.
Wolfe came home to a deathwatch. His brother was lying in a sickroom upstairs while his family waited for what they feared was inevitable. Wolfe went upstairs to the "gray, shaded light" of the room where Ben lay. And he saw, "in that moment of searing recognition," that his beloved twenty-six-year-old brother was dying.
"Ben's long thin body lay three-quarters covered by the bedding; its gaunt outline was bitterly twisted below the covers, in an attitude of struggle and torture. It seemed not to belong to him, it was somehow distorted and detached as if it belonged to a beheaded criminal. And the sallow yellow of his face had turned gray; out of this granite tint of death, lit by two red flags of fever, the stiff black furze of a three-day beard was growing. The beard was somehow horrible; it recalled the corrupt vitality of hair, which can grow from a rotting corpse. And Ben's thin lips were lifted, in a constant grimace of torture and strangulation, above his white somehow dead-looking teeth, as inch by inch he gasped, a thread of air into his lungs.
"And the sound of this gasping -- loud, hoarse, rapid, unbelievable, filling the room, and orchestrating every moment in it -- gave to the scene its final note of horror."
The next day, Ben grew delirious. "By four o'clock it was apparent that death was near," Wolfe wrote. "Ben had brief periods of consciousness, unconsciousness, and delirium -- but most of the time he was delirious. His breathing was easier, he hummed snatches of popular songs, some old and forgotten, called up now from the lost and secret adyts of his childhood; but always he returned, in his quiet humming, to a popular song of war-time -- cheap, sentimental, but now tragically moving: 'Just a Baby's Prayer at Twilight.'"
And then Ben sank into unconsciousness. "His eyes were almost closed; their gray flicker was dulled, coated with the sheen of insensibility and death. He lay quietly upon his back, very straight, without sign of pain, and with a curious upturned thrust of his sharp thin face. His mouth was firmly shut."
Wolfe stayed with Ben that night, fervently praying even though he had thought he did not believe in God or prayer. "'Whoever You Are, be good to Ben to-night. Show him the way...Whoever You Are, be good to Ben to-night. Show him the way...' He lost count of the minutes, the hours: he heard only the feeble rattle of dying breath, and his wild synchronic prayer."
Wolfe fell asleep, then woke suddenly, calling his family in with a certain knowledge that the end was nigh. Ben quieted, lay still. "The body appeared to grow rigid before them." Then, in a last gasp, "Ben drew upon the air in a long and powerful respiration; his gray eyes opened. Filled with a terrible vision of all life in the one moment, he seemed to rise forward bodily from his pillows without support -- a flame, a light, a glory." And so, Wolfe wrote, Ben "passed instantly, scornful and unafraid, as he had lived, into the shades of death."
Nothing could be done for Thomas Wolfe's brother, Ben. No one knew how to treat the flu. There was no medicine to quell the raging fevers, no way to get oxygen into sodden lungs. There was no way to prolong life and no way to soothe the dying. Treatment was what doctors called palliative -- give the patient food, fresh air, if possible, and TLC. Those optimistic tales, told when the flu struck Philadelphia, that a bacterium that caused the flu had been isolated, turned out to be untrue. Yes, the bacterium was found. But no, it did not seem to lead to a treatment or a vaccine. The cause of the disease remained a mystery. In 1918, the widely proclaimed discovery of Pfeiffer's bacillus turned out to be a false trail. The influenza virus was beyond anyone's grasp.
It was not just that the epidemic struck during wartime, when the nation was distracted by the horrors of battle. It was also that the epidemic came before scientists had any idea of how to isolate an influenza virus and discern its secrets. It was a time when the germ theory of disease was known, and when scientists had discovered that there was such a thing as a virus. But no one had ever seen a virus -- electron microscopes had not been invented and viruses are far too small to be seen with ordinary microscopes. And no one understood what viruses were, since DNA and RNA, the genetic material of viruses and the clues to their destructiveness, had not yet been discovered.
Even today, with the exquisite advances of molecular biology and the pharmaceutical industry, viral diseases -- and influenza in particular -- are largely untreatable. It's not that molecular biologists are ignorant about the inner workings of influenza viruses. They have known for decades that the simple influenza virus has only eight genes, each made of the material RNA, and that the viruses die in hours if left alone with no cells to infect. They know what the flu viruses look like -- under an electron microscope, they are little balls or egg-shaped particles, although sometimes they form long filaments. They know how they are put together -- flu virus particles are wrapped in a slippery fatty membrane, held in place by a protein scaffolding underneath. They know how the viruses burrow into a cell and burst out again by using hundreds of sharp protein shards that poke out of the virus's membrane. They even know why human influenza viruses infect only cells of the lungs -- those are the only human cells with an enzyme that the virus needs to split one of its proteins during the manufacturing of new virus particles.
But what they do not know is how to make a medicine that is the equivalent of a penicillin for the flu. The best way to combat an influenza pandemic is with vaccines -- if manufacturers have enough advance notice of a new flu strain to make enough vaccine to go around. Manufacturers could, if they understood what made the 1918 flu so deadly, stockpile vaccines sufficient to protect the population if that flu or one like it ever came again. That, however, would require knowing what the 1918 flu looked like. Yet the last victims of the flu died in 1918, taking the virus with them.
Under ordinary circumstances, that would be the end of the story. The flu lived in the soft tissues of the lungs, and the lungs decay almost immediately after death. The virus, in fact, should be gone long before a corpse's lungs decay.
But nothing about the 1918 flu was ordinary. And perhaps the most extraordinary story yet comes nearly a century later, when three people among the millions who died of the flu are turning out to contain, within their miraculously preserved lung tissue, a sort of Rosetta stone for the killer flu virus. Unknown to anyone when these three people suddenly died, they alone would hold the clues to protect the world in the twenty-first century.
The first of the three to become ill with influenza was an Army private, Roscoe Vaughan, just twenty-one years old in September 1918. Like every soldier, he must have been frightened and full of bravado. He must have expected to be in battles and have hoped he could be strong and true. As he arrived at Camp Jackson, seven miles east of Columbia, South Carolina, he joined a contingent of more than 43,000 young men being trained in artillery before they went overseas. They practiced maneuvers on the dunes, struggling over the loose, drifting sand, squinting in the bright glare of the South Carolina sun. Roscoe Vaughan was among them, fit and healthy. He surely thought that the adventure of his life was about to begin. In a way, it was.
Private Vaughan was unlucky enough to have come to a camp staggering under a sudden onslaught of influenza. The soldiers were easy prey for the flu, and the hospital, built high on a sandy hill, was flooded with sick young men. In August, 4,807 men were admitted as patients. In September, 9,598. One young doctor there, James Howard Park, Jr., said he literally watched men drop dead as they walked across the paths at the camp. One day he himself tagged thirty corpses.
Private Vaughan's medical records show that he became ill during the third week of September, feeling achy and feverish. It did not take long for the virus to do its work. On September 19, he reported to sick call, stricken with the flu. At 6:30 in the morning of September 26, he died, gasping for breath.
At 2 P.M., an Army doctor, Captain K. P. Hegeforth, arrived to do an autopsy. Private Vaughan, he wrote, was a "fairly well developed, well nourished man measuring five feet ten inches." He was chubby, with a "moderately thick layer of subcutaneous fat." But he was fit, with "muscles in good condition."
Private Vaughan had about 300 cc, or 1 1?4 cups, of clear fluid in his chest cavity. Over the entire surface of his left lung were small seepages of blood, ranging in size from a pinhead to a dime or larger. The air sacs were clogged with fluid.
Captain Hegeforth cut off a slice of one of Private Vaughan's sodden lungs for examination, impregnating the slice of lung with formaldehyde to preserve it, embedding it in a chunk of candle wax about the size of a thumbnail. Then he sent it to Washington, where it was stored in a small brown box on a shelf of a vast government warehouse.
While Private Vaughan was dying in South Carolina, Private James Downs, a thirty-year-old soldier at Camp Upton in New York, was also feeling ill. He had arrived at the camp, about sixty-five miles east of New York City, to prepare to go overseas to fight. It was a setting not very different from the one Private Vaughan found himself in -- an embarkation camp on a flat, sandy stretch of land, this time between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean, dotted with pine trees and low sandy bushes. But the camp, built a year earlier, was jammed with 33,000 soldiers who struggled to drive over the nearly impassable roads.
In September 1918, the hospital was suddenly flooded with sick men -- one out of every ten men in the camp was admitted to the hospital. Private Downs was among them. His records show he entered the base hospital on September 23. His face was flushed, he was delirious, and his temperature was 104 degrees.
The next day, he remained delirious, with the same high temperature, but his skin was turning dark from lack of oxygen. At 4:30 a.m. on September 26, three days after he was admitted to the hospital, Private Downs died of influenza, just two hours before Private Vaughan succumbed.
That same day, a Captain McBurney did an autopsy on Private Downs. He wrote that Downs was six feet tall, weighing 140 pounds. He had "no external signs of disease or injury."
The injury, of course, was internal -- in Private Downs's lungs. They were filled with fluid, and a "bloody froth" exuded from them, Captain McBurney wrote. The doctor cut a small slice of James Downs's lung, soaked it in formaldehyde, encased it in wax, and sent it to the same Washington warehouse that stored the scrap of Private Vaughan's lung.
And there the lung specimens from Private Vaughan and Private Downs remained, for nearly eighty years, secreted among pathology tissue from millions of people who died of diseases both common and rare, in the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology's archives. The archives had begun in the Civil War, created by an executive order by President Abraham Lincoln. Since then, military doctors had been sending in thousands of pathology specimens a year, with as many as 50,000 a year sent in more recently. The number of tissue samples stored in the warehouse had swelled to about 3 to 4 million.
Several times in the past century, the warehouse specimens were moved as the ever-growing collection required more and more storage space. But the tiny paraffin cubes encasing lung cells from the autopsies of Roscoe Vaughan and James Downs remained in their boxes, of no interest to anyone until, at the end of the twentieth century, they were rediscovered by molecular biologists who thought it just might be possible to resurrect the flu virus from those ancient slices of lung.
Two months after Private Vaughan's death, influenza came to Teller Lutheran mission (now called Brevig), on the flat frozen tundra of the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. It was an isolated village of eighty people, ninety miles by dog sled from Nome, the nearest town, perched on the edge of a gray and chilly sea. Among the residents was an obese woman who, like the rest, lived in a soot-filled igloo with a window made of seal gut.
On the last Saturday in November, two visitors from Nome attended a crowded, standing-room-only service in the tiny chapel run by the missionaries. The visitors reported that there was much sickness in the city, but no one was unduly alarmed. The Eskimos treated the visitors to their traditional hospitality -- a feast for the entire village of reindeer meat, hotcakes, blueberries in seal oil, and tea.
Two days later, on Monday, the first villagers fell ill with the flu. On Tuesday, the first person died, a woman named Mrs. Neelak. The minister set off for Teller, a village fourteen miles from the mission, seeking help. He returned, only to report that people in Teller were being decimated by the same illness.
One after another, the Eskimos died -- seventy-two in all. One igloo had twenty-five dead bodies, frozen in the Arctic cold. Starving dogs had broken into another igloo and ripped apart a collection of corpses, leaving a gory mess of bones. Another igloo looked at first like the site of utter devastation. The seal-gut window had broken and snow had drifted in. The fire was out, the bone-chilling cold had penetrated the small space. And as rescuers peeked inside, they saw only a pile of corpses. Then, suddenly, three terrified children appeared from under deerskins and started shrieking. They had survived somehow on oatmeal, surrounded by the bodies of their family.
In the end, a three-week flu epidemic had left only five adults in the village; forty-six children were orphaned. Clara Fosso, the missionary's wife and one of the few adults who did not get the flu, wrote a letter to the Eskimos years later, still mourning the tragedy: "There was a spiritual revival among the Eskimos at the Mission on the last Sunday in November 1918, before the influenza disaster fell upon us. The whole settlement of Eskimos had crowded into the new school room for worship. We felt the spirit of the Lord among us, as the communicants stood at the altar and later met in prayer; many confessed to their faith. We were deeply moved. This was the last time we were gathered together. By the following Sunday most members had gone to a more beautiful service with their Savior. You, who are the sons and daughters of these children of God, may remember that many of them died testifying to their Lord and singing the hymn that we had shared on that last Sunday, 'I Can Hear My Savior Calling.'"
Still in shock from the tragedy, the few able-bodied men that could be found in the nearby villages were left to bury the dead, an ordeal in the harsh Alaskan winter. The villages were so far north that the ground was permanently frozen. In order to dig into the rock-hard ground at Teller mission, miners pumped hot steam into the frozen earth, thawing it enough to dig a trench. They buried the flu victims in a common grave, marking the site with two large crosses, one at each end of the trench.
Among the dead was the obese woman, whose frozen body lay six feet underground in the mass grave. And there it remained for seventy years.
Copyright © 1999 by Gina Kolata
About The Author
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Gina Kolata is a science reporter for The New York Times and the author of Clone: The Road to Dolly and Sex in America. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
Publisher: Atria Books (January 9, 2001)
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Raves and Reviews
Dr. Jerome Groopman Boston Sunday Globe Moves at a rapid pace, with vivid prose and graphic scenes...A masterly recounting of medical history.
John R. Alden The Philadelphia Inquirer Kolata reports this story with all the fervor of Coleridge's ancient mariner, gripping her readers in the book's first paragraph and not letting go until her tale is told.
Beryl Lieff Benderly The Washington Post Kolata commands the intelligent curiosity, well-honed reporting techniques, and smooth prose style of a top science reporter.
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Delving into delving: An Interview with delving/Elder’s Nick DiSalvo – Heavy Blog Is Heavy | Heavy Blog is Heavy
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Delving into delving: An Interview with delving/Elder’s Nick DiSalvo
Those keyed into modern progressive rock, heavy psych, or doom metal should instantly recognize Nick Disalvo’s name from Elder. On their five LPs released across the past decade and
Those keyed into modern progressive rock, heavy psych, or doom metal should instantly recognize Nick Disalvo’s name from Elder. On their five LPs released across the past decade and change, the Berlin- née New England-based band has attracted increasingly wide acclaim for their polyglot approach to rock music. Through a unique fusion of the heft and crunch of stoner metal with the heady atmospheres of space rock and meandering song structures of classic prog, the quartet have risen as the champions of rock music’s more intellectually present side, with Mr. DiSalvo leading their ranks.
Created over the past year of stasis, Nick DiSalvo released Hirschbrunnen, his first album as delving on June 11th. The project is a much more free-form and exploratory enterprise for his own tastes than Elder, and explicitly so. From the bandcamp description: “”Thanks” to this pandemic, I’ve had plenty of time to pick up some of the songs I’ve written over the past years and finally make an album that I’ve been telling myself forever I’d do…. experimenting all on my own, forgetting bands, fans and expectations and making whatever music I want to.” Although longtime fans of his work with Elder will certainly recognize much of the melodic language DiSalvo uses on Hirschbrunnen, it’s also very obvious just how much of a wider net he has to cast here than in collaborating with bandmates. Without spoiling anything, it becomes very obvious just how much reverence the man has for classic synthesizers and how wide his palette is outside the traditional spectrum of rock.
So, excited for this release, we reached out to discuss delving with the man himself, both as its own project and in relation to Elder. Read on to get some insight and context from Nick DiSalvo himself regarding the creation and release of Hirschbrunnen!
Hirschbrunnen by delving
You’ve positioned delving as sort of a “casting off” of Elder, for lack of a better term – the project is about “forgetting bands, fans and expectations and making whatever music [you] want to.” This is a cathartic headspace to be in at the moment, I imagine. How has working on such an internally-driven project like this shaped the past year for you?
For one thing, it gave me structure and to a certain degree my sanity. I’m honestly not used to sitting around at home for so long – probably nobody is – and having a concrete goal such as making a record was great for just helping me get up in the mornings some weeks. I also wanted to be able to look back on this time and not just feel that I wasted a year of my life, but actually spent it productively and made something out of the time off the road.
Listening to Hirschbrunnen, it becomes pretty clear that although you’re not exactly doing a total 180 from Elder and Gold & Silver, there are plenty of choices here – both in the instrumentation used and the progressions of each song – that will take long-term fans by surprise. What specific musical touchstones and influences did you have going into Hirschbrunnen that you felt more aligned with here than you would writing for Elder?
I’d honestly say that it was a lack of those touchstones that defined the writing process for Hirschbrunnen more than having different ones. Elder has always proudly proclaimed being some process of evolution, but if I’m being totally honest we are also still operating within some framework of heavy rock music. Even though we play with plenty of different moods and to some degree genres, there is a definite expectation that we will retain a certain amount of heaviness and that “epic” feeling.
With delving, the entire goal was to not have a goal. I don’t really play piano, but I really wanted a lot of that timbre in this record, for example. And using sequencers and electronic elements that we would have a hard time doing with Elder was just another exercise in “song building” here. I think that Hirschbrunnen is like the music I want to listen to in my free time. I love to compose and play heavy music, but I hardly ever listen to it anymore. Weird contrast I suppose.
The Gold & Silver Sessions by Elder
On a similar note, how did writing and recording Hirschbrunnen evolve your relationship with your gear? Was there any specific equipment you developed a newfound appreciation for in this process or any gear you were especially excited to explore from a less rigid perspective?
Sure. I wrote a lot of these songs from synthesizers and piano melodies as opposed to working from a guitar. I’m a Moog fanboy, and my Subsequent 37 is all over that record along with a few of their semi-modular units. I also used a DSI OB-6 for some pads and spacy sounds. And I’d be remiss to mention my favorite pedal of all time, the Meris Polymoon. In general, working with sequencers and evolving patterns from synthesizers and electronic instruments has been a rewarding and fun experience. I think they’re really endlessly open instruments when paired tastefully with guitars and drums.
As a songwriter who pulls a lot from heavy psych, kosmische Musik/krautrock, and prog rock traditions, you’re no stranger to lengthy instrumental sections in your music, and there’s instrumental Elder material like the Gold and Silver Sessions and tracks like “Sonntag” and “III.” But delving is something of a different beast, by virtue of being a project that is 100% you – no chemistry in jamming or collaboration to depend on here. How did that difference manifest itself in the writing process for Hirschbrunnen?
With few exceptions in Elder’s catalog, those songs are also more or less my compositions as filtered through my bandmates’ playing styles, so I actually don’t see a huge distinction between the two. Jamming can be fun and lead to unexpected gems, but I also often find it stressful and frustrating without a proper direction. I actually found it quite nice to have an opportunity to write a whole album and not have to run it by anyone first for their feedback or change anything. Conversely, I think my Elder colleagues might feel relief that I got that out of my system so that we can get back to working more collaboratively on the next record, ha ha.
The last few albums you’ve put out have been pretty sweeping, conceptually, with Omens reaching something of a high-water mark in that regard. Hirschbrunnen reins the scale in pretty dramatically, and intentionally so, but is inspired by some similarly existential themes. Did you find that narrowing your focus so much enabled you to reevaluate how you approach these philosophical aspects? What lessons, intellectually and musically, did you walk away from the much more introspective focus of Hirschbrunnen with?
Over the past years I’ve gotten a bit obsessive with these big theme records and by the time we were recording Omens, that had reached a fever pitch. We just had another abnormally hot summer here in Europe, and after 3 years of watching Trump and the rise of fascism at home and in the world it really felt like the apocalypse was coming – and fast.
When Covid hit, that didn’t really do much to quell the feeling of disaster on a global scale, but some parts of the whole experience of being locked down for a long time did have some strangely, um, positive effect? It was strange to just clean the slate, erase everything on the calendar and realize you’re not going anywhere for the next year or two, and I think my focus just tended to turn inward naturally. The problems facing the world haven’t disappeared, but it felt like putting blinders on for a bit, shrinking the world down to a more manageable size somehow. And specifically trying hard to see the light in a dark time and make something positive of it was a good exercise for me mentally. I’d like to step away from the big, heavy shit for a while and just look at the clouds, you know? Sometimes life feels too short to always have the weight of the world on your mind.
Omens by Elder
You and [other Elder guitarist] Michael Risberg have collaborated quite a lot – obviously in Elder, but also on Azurite & Malachite – and now he’s present on a handful of tracks on this record. You’ve mentioned before in interviews that you two have different but complementary approaches to writing guitar music. With delving being 100% your baby, so to speak, did the chemistry in your approaches play out differently than in your previous work together?
Mike really blooms in my opinion [when] he’s in a situation that requires some improvisation. Whereas I’m a very structured musician and composer, he seems to perhaps think less and feel more when playing. I invited him to the studio when the record was done to fill out a few extra spaces and it worked great, and in some ways I think this music might even be more in his wheelhouse than Elder, since it’s a bit more open and airy. He’s also great to throw at a part when you don’t quite know what it needs but something is missing. And anyhow it was just nice to have a little extra input after all, some extra spice in the mix that didn’t just sound like me.
Obviously nobody wants to see a repeat of the conditions that have been the background and general impetus for the writing of Hirschbrunnen, but do you have any plans to continue with delving now that it’s been proven to be a worthwhile creative endeavor for you in its own right?
Yeah, absolutely. This was just breaking ground on something I’ve wanted to do for some years now, and I certainly won’t stop writing and making music that is outside the Elder universe. This will be my outlet for all of that in the future, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it went some weird places.
Do you foresee delving’s existence affecting Elder’s sound at all? Does having a project that is completely, totally your own in this way make you feel more comfortable with “meeting expectations” when it comes to the band’s direction?
You know, I hadn’t really thought of it that way but I think it might. It’s the musical playground whereas Elder is the place for work. That’s not to say we intend on playing to anyone’s expectations, but it’s nice to scratch certain itches that might turn off a lot of Elder fans, especially when dipping more heavily into the electronic side of things. For the most part, I think the two bands will have no problem existing in their own spheres.
Are there any physical release plans for Hirschbrunnen? Any plans to play material from the album live?
The album will be out on 2LP and CD on June 11th via Stickman Records and a tour is currently in the works for Europe in November/December 2021. We’ll see if that happens, though.
Do you have any recommendations to share with whomever is reading this? Any books, movies, albums that have been particularly crucial for you in the present or past?
If anyone reading uses Spotify, I made a playlist for our friends at Robotor Records with the music I’ve been listening to the past months. You can find it here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5mQbeCnR21VYiQE3cLn7YR?si=88af4333e1674754
Honestly, I’ve been so focused on music the past year that I have really neglected books and movies. When I find myself on the couch at the end of the day I usually want to watch Futurama rather than tax my brain. I listened to a shit ton of podcasts too, my favorites of which are Last Podcast On The Left (humor/occult/murder themes) and QAnon Anonymous (dissecting conspiracy thought in the American mainstream).
Finally, in traditional Heavy Blog style, it’s important to ask: how do you take your eggs? When last we spoke, your answer was “over medium with Frank’s Red Hot.” Are you still riding that wave or have you changed it up since then?
Still riding it. Forever. Except you can’t really find Frank’s in Germany, so it’s been more Sriracha.
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A preliminary field survey conducted by the Soyabean Processors Association of India (SOPA) of three major soyabean growing states reveals that planting has been completed on 108.105 lakh hectare, almost similar to the planting done last season at 108.396 lakh hectare.
“SOPA conducted a field survey covering 41 districts of three major soyabean growing states i.e. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. The survey teams visited soyabean fields and took feedback from farmers, input suppliers, traders and agri-business clinics. Farmers have planted some 54.76 lakh hectare in Madhya Pradesh, a little more than last year which was at 54.1 lakh hectare,” said DN Pathak executive director, SOPA.
He said the overall condition of the soyabean crop in most of the districts is good. The sowing was late (between July 10 and July 15) in Khandwa, Harda, Betul and Hoshangabad districts due to delay in monsoon. Some area has shifted from soyabean to maize or urad in Khandwa, Harda, Khargon and Hoshangabad,” he said. In Malwa region, there is good vegetation, the crop is at blooming to full flowering stage and the crop health is good, he added.
The survey covered 21 districts in Madhya Pradesh and some 14 district in Maharashtra where the crop has been planted on 35.92 lakh hectare as compared to 36.39 lakh hectare last year. In Maharashtra as well, the overall condition of the soyabean crop is normal, Pathak said, adding that sowing was late (around July 15 to July 28) in some areas in Hingoli, Prabhani, Beed, Latur and Nanded districts, due to delay in monsoon.
In Vidarbha region, vegetative growth and crop condition is good and in Marathwada, because of late sowing in some areas, the crop is still at a very early stage and looks normal, he said. Farmers have adopted good weed and insect control measures and no pests or diseases were observed, he pointed out.
Soyabean planting has been completed on 10.44 lakh hectare, up from 9.212 lakh hectare in Rajasthan this kharif season. In Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat, planting has been completed on 1.6 lakh hectare, 2.6 lakh hectare, 0.6 lakh hectare and 0.9 lakh hectare. In Rajasthan as well, the overall condition of the soyabean crop is normal, Pathak said. Sowing was late (around July 10) in some areas in Bundi, Kota and Baran districts due to delay in monsoon.
Soyabean is one of the few crops for which prices were higher than the support price this season. Soyabean prices in Indore, a key wholesale market, have risen by about 18% since the start of the arrival season in October to `3,800-3,880 per quintal, largely due to local demand. The prices are also higher than the minimum support price of `3,399 per quintal. The country had reported a bumper 114.8 lakh tonne soyabean crop in 2018-19 (July-June), much higher than 83.7 lakh tonne in 2017-18, according to SOPA estimates.
Source: Financial Express
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Your eyes have not been bedazzled by witchcraft; that is a picture of the cast of Hocus Pocus (and now the new Hocus Pocus 2) standing in a Walgreens pharmacy. This pharmacy becomes the location of a key scene in Hocus Pocus 2, and it is shot in the style of an extremely lengthy commercial. First, the witches gaze at the brick-laden exterior of the Walgreens, where its red neon sign shines through the darkness of a dreary New England evening. Then the witches go inside at the behest of some of the other characters, where they proceed to try out the drug store’s admittedly impressive selection of beauty serums and lotions. Just for a laugh, they even try eating one or two of them. Lo and behold, they actually taste pretty good.
Kids: Don’t try this at home. In fact, maybe don’t try watching Hocus Pocus 2 at home either, even though the movie is going straight to streaming on Disney+. Fans of the original Hocus Pocus beware: This movie seems to have put more thought into the pharmacy product placement than coming up with a reason the wicked Sanderson sisters would return to Salem — or why it took them 29 years (since the events of the first movie) to do it.
Speaking of Salem, the initial scenes are set there during the days of the witch trials. A flashback reveals how Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary Sanderson (Kathy Najimy) formed their powerful coven with the help of an older and more experienced sorceress (Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham). Back in 2022, there’s a new generation of teenagers gearing up for Halloween surrounded by local legends about the Sanderson sisters. They include Becca (Whitney Peak) and Izzy (Belissa Escobedo), who recently had a falling out with their former bestie Cassie (Lilia Buckingham) over their disparate social status in school.
Cassie is also the daughter of Salem’s Mayor Traske (Tony Hale), who, as is often the case in stories like this, is not only a direct descendant of the puritanical preacher who made life miserable for the Sanderson sisters in the 1600s, but also looks exactly like his great-great-great-grandfather. I wonder if the Sandersons will go after him when they inevitably show up in the present on another quest for power, immortality and a stage where they can occasionally sing a lightly choreographed musical number.
For a lot of viewers, the original Hocus Pocus is a nostalgic favorite that they watched over and over and home video and cable all through the ’90s and 2000s. I never saw it until years later, so I don’t have any kind of strong affection for the material, but its appeal has to be at least partly rooted in the fact that it’s fairly dark and edgy by the standards of a Disney comedy for kids. In the first Hocus Pocus, the Sanderson sisters sucked the life out of an adorable little girl, and they could only be revived in the present by a virgin. For a movie of this kind, it does feel a little transgressive — or at least taboo enough that a 10 year old might think they’re getting away with something by watching it.
But all of those rough edges have been sanded off of this sequel. The Sandersons threaten to swallow the occasional soul, but it’s mostly left as a vague and implied threat; they’re much better for campy laughs than any legitimate sense of danger. The best you can say for the movie is that Midler, Parker, and Najimy don’t treat this like an easy payday. They came ready to play, whether that means singing and dancing, riding on a Swiffer (they couldn’t find a broom, you see), or eating face cream at Walgreens. What little magic Hocus Pocus 2 contains is entirely because of them.
When Disney announced they were making Hocus Pocus 2, I wasn’t surprised; no franchise is ever truly over these days. But I didn’t expect Disney to realease the sequel straight to Disney+ instead of putting it in theaters. It wasn’t until I actually saw the movie that that particular decision made sense to me. From the look of it, Hocus Pocus 2 was done on the cheap; very cheap. It’s got a tiny cast and a handful of sets, and all of them have the same flat, bland, direct-to-streaming-movie look. (Except for that scene in the Walgreens — that place looks incredible.) Hocus Pocus 2 doesn’t necessarily demand Kubrickian levels of visual splendor, but it’s still a film, and film is a visual medium. If there was anything even remotely interesting to look at on the screen, that would be nice.
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If you need to lose fat, looking for the right pounds loss program is totally essential to your success. There usually are a seemingly limitless number of fat loss programs available today so how is it possible to decide which usually one is best for you? This is the question I see some sort of lot from both men and women looking for the particular right program to follow. It’s some sort of confusing situation in order to be in I will imagine; wanting to lose fat but not knowing which program best serves your current needs. So precisely what can you do?
Well, the purpose of this write-up is to talk about various aspects and concepts surrounding fat loss programs confident that it can help you manage to select the suitable program for an individual. First things very first!
1 . Identify what you REALLY want
Precisely what do you definitely want through your physical body? My on the internet fitness coaching clientele hear this coming from me on a regular basis. At first it may seem like a pretty silly question, nevertheless it’s not. We’ve learned that the particular vast majority regarding people seeking pounds loss really not necessarily really that curious in losing bodyweight by any means. It’s a fact! Within my considerable specialist experience, the the greater part of people in search of professional fitness coaching aren’t looking in order to lose weight around they’d simply prefer to feel good regarding themselves and steer clear of the pain linked to the social pressures to be overweight. Weight reduction isn’t their true desire, it simply provides them with typically the things they are usually really wanting. Within fact, Let me go away as far in order to say that most people really would like to eat what ever they want to eat, do no matter what they want in order to do and friendly their life mainly because they deem suitable. I’m not aiming fingers here, gowns what Let me perform too. However , becoming human means many of us have social pressures and expectations. At this time in history all of us are told that will a lean, toned physique is alluring, attractive and appealing. I believe that will this ‘s the reason nearly all people seek weight loss programs, not because involving a true need to be lean, but the intense wish to be desired, to be alluring, being considered interesting and also to feel fine about their entire body when surrounded simply by people who’s viewpoints they consider significant.
It’s perfectly okay to get weight reduction for any reason at all; due to the fact you wish to sense attractive, feel assured in your entire body or to attract prospective love interests. What ever your reason for seeking weight loss, it is rather important that will you identify the REAL reason for this pursuit. When you’ve accurately discovered this reason/reasons, encouraging yourself toward of which goal/goals is a much more enjoyable process. As soon as this happens, typically the weight loss method is not a lot about the excess weight up to it’s almost all about you! In addition to that is accurately how it should be.
This concept is probably the most significant of all. I use seen people devote thousands of dollars on loose weight programs only to abandon of which effort just days into the software. They over-committed themselves and were not necessarily able to keep going. Every weight loss program contains a number of things in keeping. Each of these things will be different from plan to program, nevertheless the basic components remain:
Frequency instructions how often you should workout
Intensity – how much work and intensity an individual must placed into your own program
Time instructions how much moment you need to exercise each and every workout
Type — the type of exercise(s) you will be performing during a software
This actually has got a common title. We inside the physical fitness industry call this the F. I. T. T basic principle. Beyond these principles which are normally associated with the exercise pieces of your current program people likewise be nutritional needs to any good quality weightloss program that match perfectly into the particular same acronym:
Frequency – describes precisely how often you will eat each day time
Time – the length of time you must eat by doing this
Type instructions the kind of food and nutrition methodology staying used
These are will be present within any well-developed weight loss program. Your own success is based mostly on what you might be realistically willing and even able to dedicate to pertaining to each of these elements. Let’s face it, purchasing a weight damage program does not really guarantee success, you must the actual plan to achieve benefits. For instance, when your program demands a very rigid diet with seven days of intense work out each week but you aren’t a disciplined dieter in addition to have never exercised before, this theoretical program probably isn’t very the one that will is going to serve your requirements best. Maybe you have to have a program which has a more developmental approach and allows an individual more food in addition to exercise options.
3. Beware of programs that claim to be able to be for everyone
I’m not saying that there not necessarily programs that could benefit anyone and even everyone, but I will be saying that you are prone to end up being successful when an individual sign-up for some sort of program that is certainly aimed at people exactly like you. Programs that try to cater to everybody are usually designed to be able to produce sales additional than results. These programs tend to be very requiring, have very inflexible diet expectations and even often lead in order to injury for those not able to manage the demands the program requires. Do your own homework in order to find a program that is usually designed along inside mind.
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admin on November 7, 2022
Education is a procedure through which individuals develop abilities as well as understanding. It can additionally promote character qualities, including rational idea, generosity, as well as honesty. There are lots of objectives to education, but a few usual ones are listed below: Knowing the globe as well as just how it works, enhancing our skills, and also sending knowledge and also info to future generations. Depending upon the context, the objectives of education and learning can differ significantly. Yet regardless of its goals, it is a deliberate task.
Education allows individuals to develop essential reasoning and also communication skills, which help them make great choices. It also allows individuals to satisfy basic work credentials, which can lead to far better job leads. Education likewise advertises sex equal rights by equipping ladies and also girls. Researches have actually shown that approving ladies an extra year of schooling can reduce the rate of teen maternity and provide ladies a lot more control over their youngsters. In today’s society, education and learning is a vital part of achieving sex equality as well as improving social wellness.
Education likewise assists us develop a feeling of open-mindedness and regard for others. An individual who is broad-minded is one that is eager to find out, comprehend, and also enhance. Individuals who are unbiased do not thoughtlessly comply with others and think of the advantages and disadvantages of a choice before proceeding. Whether you’re a medical professional or a clerk, education and learning can help you discover and value others while doing so.
Education originated as an all-natural action to the demands of early societies. In pre-literate cultures, grownups would certainly educate the young in skill-based discovering. This technique of handing down knowledge is a vital factor in the advancement of culture. In pre-literate societies, understanding was passed by mouth or with replica, and also later, it developed right into composed signs and also letters.
Education enhances the quality of life for a child by supplying abilities to compete in the office. It additionally develops crucial thinking skills and also prepares them for the life they will certainly lead. Providing education for youngsters is essential for their principles. Nonetheless, numerous establishing nations still battle with education, an absence of which can cause hardship and exploitation.
Regardless of the many advantages of college, it is not the solution to every instructional predicament. Actually, several of the most extensive troubles that arise in our existing education and learning system are the result of our failure to identify this principle. Inevitably, education has to do with greater than just handing down certificates of accomplishment. It’s a process of discovering ourselves as well as our area in society. And it can transform the method we interact with others. With this in mind, it’s critical that we strive to promote a society that promotes level playing fields for every person.
Educators aim to produce atmospheres as well as partnerships that permit exploration and understanding. Education and learning is a means to emancipate experience. In this way, it can enrich one’s worldview. The level of education and the nature of experience depends on the situation. In many cases, education and also learning are so limited that they come to be mere entertainment and control.
Eventually, education and learning needs to aid trainees plan for life’s obstacles. Trainees ought to have the ability to assume critically, to team up with others, and to address problems. They should likewise have the capacity to connect properly. These skills are important for success in the work environment as well as in culture. The curriculum needs to advertise these core proficiencies. And while the AGO framework gives a structure for preparing curriculum, it is not adequate in itself.
Historically, education was affected by religious beliefs and also science. When the nation of Israel took on the Torah, it constructed an educational system based upon religious principles. In India, the Hindu Gurukul system cultivated scholars with household schools to spread out the teaching of faith, scriptures, literary works, and warfare. The old Greeks additionally acknowledged the worth of education and started the development of institutions.
There are 3 kinds of education and learning: formal, casual, and also non-formal. Formal education happens in college and also is guided by educators. It is generally mandatory for kids up to a certain age. Furthermore, casual education and learning can be carried out in your home, at libraries, on the net, or through devices. It can also include learning from senior citizens in one’s community.
Education and learning is a vibrant process. Educators develop atmospheres as well as relationships that encourage expedition and also exploration. This process goes to the heart of education and learning, as instructors aim to emancipate the experience as well as broaden the mind. As a result, the degree of subject a pupil encounters will differ. As an example, a pupil could learn about accounting. An educator may additionally show them about geometry. Along with learning math, education can assist an individual learn more about history as well as the social structures bordering it.
Education and learning has come to be a fundamental human right, and also is a vital vehicle driver of growth. It can minimize hardship, boost gender equal rights, and develop tranquility as well as stability. It also promotes long-term economic growth as well as cultivates social communication. Although education is a right, several youngsters lack accessibility to it. One Globe Financial institution research study estimates that over half of youngsters in establishing nations do not reach primary school-level reading proficiency.
Secondary education is the 2nd stage of education and learning, which happens in the adolescent years. It includes researches at senior high schools. Additional education and learning typically prepares students for college, professional education and learning, or direct access right into a career. The boundary in between main and also second education depends on the nation, however is typically around the seventh or tenth year of education.
Illiteracy is a significant contributor to inequality. Lack of educational accomplishment is connected with higher threat of hardship, criminal activity, as well as condition. Kids with much less education are more probable to be involved in kid labor and early marriage. Moreover, children with less education and learning typically battle to locate a task. They are additionally much less most likely to be able to affect politics. Get more information
Technology is an increasingly essential consider education. Computers as well as cellphones are coming to be widespread in established nations, and the spreading of technology permits brand-new discovering methods. Distance education and also online discovering are instances of technology-based education and learning. With access to the internet and educational product, children can pick what they want to learn. This innovation offers new learning devices as well as brand-new methods to engage students.
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The weekend before last, Asbury Church officially celebrated the completion of the confirmation process of Annie and Jake. For those of you who were at Asbury expecting a normal service, you were treated to one that was completely designed, from top to bottom, by the two of them. For me, it was a bitter sweet process. The sweetness came in the acknowledgement that I loved being involved in the entire process of confirmation. Together the three of us spent a year talking about God, faith, and what it means to live as a Christian in a world that either doesn’t find value in doing so, or has a warped definition of what that looks like.
This year’s confirmation was a “learn as you” go process for all of us. Due to the small size of the class and the closeness that the three of us already shared, we had the opportunity to redefine the process of confirmation for Asbury Church. Having done that, we have come to see just how different a process confirmation is from church to church, denomination to denomination, or even from pastor to pastor.
If you were born Roman Catholic, for example, your confirmation would have been a day marked with a giant shin-dig. For the Roman Catholic, it is almost as if it is, in some locations, a church based coming of age or a coming out party. Although any confirmation is a joyous celebration, parties and gala celebrations are not always the standard within the Methodist Church. It certainly was not the view that I saw develop, and Annie and Jake slowly embrace, over the past year.
Together we arrived at a place, where confirmation was seen as less of a destination to be celebrated, and more as a moment mark with reverence towards the challenge to come. I was impressed, encouraged, motivated, and enlightened by their example. In the end, they built an entire Confirmation program around the concept that confirmation is the moment where the journey begins.
Although each family is different in regards to confirmation, and however one chooses to celebrate and mark the day is okay, it is important to stress that somehow amidst the individual ways we chose to celebrate the day, we need to find a way to recognize what Annie and Jake encouraged us all to see. Confirmation is a solemn moment that marks the start of an incredible journey. It’s the start of a journey that lasts one’s entire life.
In light of the Bah Mitzvah’s and Confirmations of our neighbors, I was actually asked why we downplayed the celebratory aspect of ours. After thinking about it, I can honestly say we did anything but. Two weeks ago, it was our intention that the significance of the Sunday be found not in the celebration that followed, but in the everyday role that a commitment to faith brings.
I must admit it was a privilege to be part of the process that evolved from the longing, questions, commitments, and struggles of two great kids. It was a privilege to watch this sacred, everyday moment take root in their planning. It was a privilege to not get lost in balloons and presents.
But…And there is always a But…I did say it was a bitter sweet Sunday.
It came when I put on my Dad hat. The bitterness came in the fact that all of a sudden another realization hit that Annie, and then Sophie by extension, are growing at a dizzying pace. Almost every single day, I lose my breath at how quickly time is passing by me. I have acknowledged for some time that before I know it, the girls will be all grown up and gone. I know all of this, and I am careful and cautious to miss as little as possible.
Yet, as soon as I am able to reach out and attempt hold on for just a moment longer…it seems that time finds another gear and they start moving even faster and I find it hard to keep hold. Time found another gear for me last Sunday. It was with the small piece of bitterness that comes with a desire to slow time down, that I saw confirmation pass on Sunday.
I look at Jake and Annie, and I see two kids on the cusp.
In no time they will be dealing with things that we never knew or faced at their age. They will begin a battle of epic proportions against the pressures of a world hell bent on destruction. Over the course of the next four or five years, they will have to learn to say no to drugs, brush off peer pressure, and learn how true love and relationships are measured (or strengthened for that matter). They will claim their identity from either that seed of divinity at their core, or via the pressures and pushes of the world around them.
I think about what’s ahead of them, and all our children, and I shudder to think at the greatness of responsibility that the rest of us share. I hope and pray that Church becomes their sanctuary and their safe place….whether they are thirteen, sixteen, or twenty five. I hope that the children of Asbury Church truly know at their core, that there are people here that will march straight to the gates of hell, if it means keeping them safe. I pray that they understand that there is a hope, a peace, a joy, and a love that forms the soul of this place; and it’s there for them to take. I believe once they realize this, the Church becomes that safe place.
At the same time, I am again reminded of the awesome responsibility we share in helping define God to our children. Two weeks ago, as we prepared for the service, I took a moment and reflected on their statements of faith which were included in the bulletin, and I found myself wondering how much of this came from me.
They had statements of faith that seemed almost to pour from my own heart. Then, I started to think about what would be different in my child if they had a different pastor for the last five years. How would things be different if they sat next to a different person in their pew? Would things be different if they looked up to different men or women? When they closed their eyes, would they see a different God, then they do today?
We can’t kid ourselves; the God of this place is not only seen through our sermons, or in the reading of scripture. God is seen when someone looks at how we laugh with each other, how we work together, or how we argue in council meetings. Everything we do in these walls, and in the name of this place, adds a piece to the image of God that our children carry. We cannot lessen or reduce that responsibility.
Looking back at the conversations of the past year, I can say we are doing something right. We might struggle with finding the funds, times, people or the organization to repair windows, re-shingle roofs, or re-landscape lawns, but there is something that is creating an environment where our people are discovering what faith is, and how it can be practiced in our day to day. It’s seen in each of us, and I saw it in Jake and Annie. Ultimately, that’s what the church should be all about. The paint can peel, and the weeds can grow, but if we are doing right in this regard, we are doing okay.
We cannot forget that we are succeeding. Embrace the old saying; if you want to know the health of a church ask a child.
Considering both Jake and Annie’s statements of faith, I have been thinking about the time in my own life, when I first started to really consider God. Finding God certainly was a part of my childhood or my early life education. I wasn’t part of a church going family as a boy. (This is probably the reason that most of my family is eternally surprised by this part of my life).
I was without the foundation of a regular church family, Sunday school, or a faith to turn to. It didn’t seem to be an important part of the family. Today, I can’t remember what we did on Sundays back then, but I know that church was not a part of it. Funny thing is, I can guarantee you that my girls will remember where and who we spending with (They might complain to their counselors as countless PK’s do, but they’ll remember! J )
Even for us and our heathen family, there was an occasional outing or two to some local church. I’m not sure why we went or what prompted the excursions, but every now and then, Mom or Dad would holler and the expectation would be that we would be downstairs in our Sunday bests. This happened at best once a year. To further muddy the faith waters, the trips were always something else.
Living in the South, you had more than a handful of denominations to check out. In these periodic trips we visited the Bible thumping, dancing in the aisle, Pentecostal churches as well as the sleepy, don’t move when your butt fall asleep mainline churches. I remember a couple where everyone around us was jiggling and waving their hands, and the entire Masters’ clan sunk deeper and deeper into their pews. Church and faith, and by extension God, was some peculiar type of experience that was just not part of who we were.
That changed when I was close to Annie’s age. We had just moved to New Hampshire from Orlando, and each of us was trying to find our spot in the world. For me, a natural choice was to find the Boy Scout Troop, and continue with Scouts where I left off in Florida. Mind you, everything is different down south. We did our Boy Scouting in the comfort of air conditioning. In New England, you have to leave the comfort of someone’s living room and venture out into this thing called; Nature.
Although today I find myself being drawn to the great outdoors, I will never be seen as an the proverbial outdoorsy type. The outdoors were always a punishment in my house. After fighting with my sisters over some cartoon for a few minutes, we would always hear from the other room; “You guys better stop, or you’re going to go outside!”. It would work. Who would want to go outside when Spider Man or some monster movie was on television?
I like the whole idea of nature and outdoors, as long as I can look at it from a chair on a patio or through a bay window. I like the whole idea of nature, but it’s the trees, leaves, ponds, animals, and fresh air that I don’t like. I do jest, but I feel compelled to state that I believe this comes more from growing up in Florida, than any ingrained hatred for the outdoors. Perhaps my sisters and I were the victims of growing up in a place that was 115 degrees and the woods were places of water moccasins and alligators. Maybe it has more to do with the reality that the couch was safe, and cool.
When we moved to NH, everything changed. Now everything was outside, even Boy Scouts (imagine that). It wasn’t long after I joined the local Boy Scout troop that we were on a midnight hike, up Mount Keasarge. (Or at least that is the mountain I recall it being – could have been a hill too)
For those like me, who are challenged by these things, there was nothing scarier than a night in the dark. Hiking at midnight up a mountain was even scarier. I was sure that I would meet my fate that night on the mountain.
For those of you who have not done it, night hiking is a bizarre thing.
First someone drives you to a middle of a field, in the middle of nowhere, and dumps all your stuff. For the first thirty minutes you sit there in the pitch black doing nothing. That time is spent getting your retinas adjusted to the lack of light. Finally, after what seems like an eternity to you can start to see shadows and outlines. Although that reduces the risk of falling off the mountain substantially, it also creates a whole slew of sights that you spend the next few hours convincing yourself are not the boogey man.
Without fail, one of your partner yahoos in crime will believe, in their adolescent wisdom, that it would be funny to flash their flashlight in your eyes. These are not the little penlight things that you find at big box stores, but instead they would be those giant – let’s signal the Hubble telescope – flashlights. Instantly the light would be on you and it would be almost painful. Without the benefit of sight, you now find yourself stumbling through the forest, whacking yourself on pine branches and tumbling over roots. A less than fun journey, has been made even less enjoyable.
After recovering your sight and stumbling through the forest for what seemed like hours you finally and joyfully arrive at your prescribed destination.
It was in that arrival moment, on the side of Mt. Keasarge that I can my recall my first realization or recognition of God. Although the purpose of that hike is vague in my mind, I believe we had come to that mountain to not only hike but to dive into the world of astronomy. As I pushed aside the veil that was a think mast of branches full of hemlock and needles, what I saw took my breath away. I had never in my life seen a sky full of stars, and probably have yet to again. It was sublime. It was all encompassing. It took my breath away.
In that moment in that patch of open field, on the peak of the mountain, I stood spellbound. At that instant I was both speechless and reverent, soaking in the sobering and dizzying reality of just how little I was. Looking up at the marvelous canvas of the heavens, I realized both how big God was, and how small, insignificant, and inconsequential I was. In that incredibly beautiful moment, I had found my definition of God. Sadly, it took many years for that image to fade.
So many of us are like that little boy. We wander aimlessly, blind to the world around us, when without warning we stumble into the presence of not only the vastness of God, but the knee shaking reality of power of the God. Those moments might be found on the side of a mountain, or they might reside in our regular living, day to day times.
Maybe it’s the time when we are scared, alone, hurting, or trying to balance the demands of a universe that is shooting by us at a million miles per second that we catch a glimpse of God. In those moments, it might be the voice that says I am here next to you. Then again, it might be the one that reminds us how worthless, how powerless, or how small we are. What we chose to listen too makes all the difference.
Instead of seeing God for what God is, we instead look down. We see weakness, unimportance, and smallness and we accept it as our lot. It becomes our foundation. God becomes something out there, not be understood, or known, and certainly not a God that enters into a relationship with us.
As people of faith, and as Jesus’ followers, we are called to be another voice. We are called to encourage a different perspective or different frame of reference. We are called to show those who are on the journey, that our God is not distant, or one way “out there”, or one who will leave us here all alone.
We are to stand up and ask the world, Do you know the real Jesus?
Do you know the Jesus that can hold you up when the world is shaking?
Do you know the Jesus that will stand beside you when the world leaves you?
Do you know the Jesus that can make you smile through the tears?
Do you know the Jesus that can help you find your laugh when you thought it was gone for good?
Do you know the Jesus that doesn’t care that you might have screwed up in the past?
Do you know the Jesus that finds you priceless if the world thinks you are worthless?
Do you know the Jesus that finds you infinitely worthwhile, even if the world keeps calling you trash?
Do you know the Jesus that sees you as perfect even if the world does nothing but criticizes?
Do you know the Jesus that doesn’t care about what you wear, what you drive, what size house you live in, this size of your paycheck or your biceps, what street corner you sleep on, or who you choose to love?
Do you know about the God whose Love is beyond definition, or describing?
In the end, I think that too many of us don’t. Too many have rejected the world’s Jesus. It breaks my heart that they don’t know mine. They have rejected the God of the big mouths, not the broken hearted or the ragamuffins.
We are called to go forth and make disciples for the transformation of the world, and that’s got to be our priority. We show that not by holding up the judgmental, angry, close minded God of so many of our neighbors, but rather by showing the God that I just mentioned above.
At Asbury, we are moving forward and we are doing something right. I know that this is the God we show to the countless who have walked into this church or met this family over the past 240 years. This God is also the one we celebrated with two kids two weeks ago.
In the end, I have to remind you, that outside the doors of our churches and outside our comfort zones, there are millions more waiting to see, meet, and embrace that God. They are waiting for us to tell them, to invite them, and to let them in. For God’s sake, what are WE waiting for?
by pastorscott2007 on August 11, 2011 • Permalink
Tagged a personal Jesus, confirmation, Faith Journey, Growing up, Jesus as Friend, theology
Posted by pastorscott2007 on August 11, 2011
https://jesseleeproject.com/2011/08/11/do-you-know-my-jesus/
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Over the last few years, AgForce has developed a very detailed ‘Business Cycle Approach’ policy as a new way of managing climatic cycles.
This approach includes:
Empowering producers
Mutual obligation from both producers and government
A collaborative, science-based approach
A mindset of continuous improvement
A period of transition for industry
Full details of this approach can be found on our website at agforceqld.org.au/drought.
While influential, our ‘Business Cycle’ model has not been fully taken up by either Federal or State Government in their drought policy development. All three levels of Government in Australia are currently working on fresh approaches to drought and climatic cycles, which gives AgForce a great opportunity to engage and influence outcomes and settings.
A coordinated approach from Federal Government
The Federal Government is coordinating an ‘all levels of Government’ approach to managing future drought through the development of a long-term strategy. To that end, they are creating the Federal Future Drought Fund, to be established by 2020, with an initial investment of $3.9 billion, increasing to $5 billion over time. This will release funds every year to prepare for and manage drought.
What is the State Government doing?
The State Government completed a Queensland Drought Program Review, conducted by an Independent Panel comprised of Ms Ruth Wade and Mr Charles Burke, who presented their report to the Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries in early 2019.
The Panel made 20 recommendations related to each of the drought assistance programs, of which 13 received outright support.
The panel found that the current drought declaration process needs updating to an impartial system trusted by local communities. The Panel further recommended the removal of freight subsidies, additional support for programs such as the Drought and Climate Adaptation Program, the development of programs which could help businesses adapt, and, where appropriate, in-drought assistance to reflect the severity of an event.
AgForce voiced member concerns about the phase-out of freight subsidies but is cautiously open to the State Government commitment to working with industry on the reforms.
In addition to this, in response to the Panel recommendations, the State Government is preparing a Drought Management Framework 2019-2024, which outlines how they will help producers prepare for manage and recover from drought.
What else is being done?
At the end of 2018, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed and signed a new National Drought Agreement (NDA) to help farming businesses, farming families and farming communities manage and prepare for future challenges and risks in a variable and changing climate.
The NDA builds on drought policy reform, including moving away from Exceptional Circumstances arrangements that require individuals to qualify for drought support, and prioritises objectives and outcomes that enhance long-term preparedness, sustainability, resilience and risk management for farming businesses and farming communities in Australia.
Each of the developments outlined above, presents AgForce with a good opportunity to influence and work closely alongside Governments at all levels.
With this in mind, AgForce is currently putting together a committee of members to ensure we engage strongly in this process to support our industry through future climatic cycles.
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Note:These pages make extensive use of the latest XHTML and CSS Standards. They ought to look great in any standards-compliant modern browser. Unfortunately, they will probably look horrible in older browsers, like Netscape 4.x and IE 4.x. Moreover, many posts use MathML, which is, currently only supported in Mozilla. My best suggestion (and you will thank me when surfing an ever-increasing number of sites on the web which have been crafted to use the new standards) is to upgrade to the latest version of your browser. If that's not possible, consider moving to the Standards-compliant and open-source Mozilla browser.
June 4, 2008
Posted by David Corfield
Mathematics exams for 16 year olds are getting easier, it is claimed. It’s fairly easy to check for yourself. Take a look at the Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry papers from 1959 and compare with a contemporary specimen GCSE paper.
Even though the contemporary paper is one for ‘higher’ level students, this is taken by a larger proportion of 16 year olds than the old ‘O’ level. But this surely cannot be enough to justify the limited ambitions of the contemporary syllabus.
My son, who last week finished his one hour 45 minute paper with an hour to spare, was fascinated by the 1959 paper which makes you have to think. He was also surprised to find that the contemporary international version of the GCSE is more demanding than the home version.
Posted at June 4, 2008 10:51 AM UTC
Some Related Entries
MA in Reasoning — Nov 23, 2007
Some years ago I was a member of the Education Committee of the London Mathematical Society. We wrote to the Minister of Education (it is irrelevant which one it was) about the lowering of standards. We received a reply, if I remember correctly, from some official saying that there was nothing to worry about since Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) had just looked at all the examinations and had come to the conclusion that there was no dumbing down. The letter included a reference to a report by the HMIs which we had not heard of.
Someone obtained a copy of the report. It said that the A-level (i.e. advanced level) examinations had not decreased in standard over a 20 year period (or some time scale like that.) I do not agree with their overall results as I have a certain knowledge of the exams in other subjects, BUT they did say that there was one exception: maths. The problems they identified were twofold. One was that proof had disappeared completely and the other was that in no question was there more than one intermediate step in the reasoning. So the examinations omitted two of the essential aspects of mathematical thought!
In otherwords the examinations had become recipe based. The same thing is identifiable in other subjects (In French, pupils are encouraged to learn but the `je’ form of verbs i.e. the first person singular because that is all that can realistically be examined!)
How to fight this is very difficult to know. It is not worldwide but from earlier discussions in the café aspects of it are current in the USA.
Posted by: Tim Porter on June 4, 2008 2:08 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Tim Porter wrote:
How to fight this is very difficult to know.
I think to understand these complex issues we’d need to compare what’s going on between countries, and also within different classes and social groups within countries, and also over long periods of time.
I’ve never read a serious study of math education that compared different practices worldwide over the whole world ever since the Industrial Revolution, and the effects of these different practices. Maybe such studies exist — but what I mainly see is a lot of people putting forth strong opinions and arguments based on their parochial experience. So, I’m not surprised that the math wars are dominated by fads and heated controversy.
Okay, there’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which assesses the math and science skills of 9-year-olds and 15-year-olds in 60 countries. A sample graph:
Unfortunately this exercise has only taken place three times so far: in 1999, 2003, and 2007 — and the 2007 results aren’t out yet. It would be nice to collect data over a much longer time span. But anyway, here’s an easy-to-read analysis of the results, focused on ‘what’s wrong with the United States’:
Alan S. Brown and Linda LaVine, What are science and math test scores really telling U.S.?
A few quotes:
Maybe you’ve read the headlines: “Math and science tests find fourth and eighth graders in U.S. still lag many peers,” proclaimed the New York Times. “No gain by U.S. students on international exam,” reported the San Francisco Chronicle. “Economic time bomb: U.S. teens are among worst at math,” warned the Wall Street Journal. And just in case you didn’t sense the alarm, “World crushes U.S. kids in math, science,” summarized the Boston Herald.
Of course, every commentator has a seemingly obvious solution. Spend less time motivating students and more time enforcing standards, proclaimed the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Give parents school vouchers, and open charter schools, demanded a Newark Star-Ledger columnist. Throw away the calculators, and get back to basics, insisted a coalition of conservative Californians.
There you go: instead of carefully analyzing the situation, everyone spouts off their own opinions!
But here are some interesting things you see when you look at the data a bit harder:
[Patrick Gonzales, who heads the TIMSS analysis effort at the U.S. Department of Education, says:] “When you break students into standard sociological groups — parents with college education, minorities — the gap between the top and bottom is greater within the United States than between U.S. and top-performing Dutch students. “There are significant differences between boys and girls in math and science in fourth grade,” Gonzales acknowledges. “But they pale in comparison with the differences between white and black or poor and wealthy.”
The difference between fourth-grade boys’ and girls’ TIMSS math scores is only one-tenth the difference between the U.S. and Singapore. [Singapore does best of all on this test.] The difference between eighth graders in poor and wealthy U.S. school districts, however, is 1.5 times greater than the difference between Singapore and the U.S. at both grade levels. When the same children are compared in science, the differences within the United States are four to five times greater than the differences between the U.S. and Singapore.
The gaps are even noticeable in the number of eighth-grade students who scored at the TIMSS intermediate level in math. The gross numbers show 93 percent of Singapore students and 64 percent of U.S. students reached these levels; U.S. males scored 65 percent, and females 64 percent. While 75 percent of white students rated intermediate status, only 35 percent of blacks and 45 percent of Hispanics did so. Wealthier school districts scored 86 percent, while poor districts rated 32 percent.
“Shave off the middle-class suburbs and we’re in the range of competitiveness,” says Roger Bybee, a well- known educator who heads BSCS, a nonprofit science-curriculum development organization in Colorado Springs, CO. But he also points to an issue as serious as the gap between rich and poor. “TIMSS is a curriculum-based test, and our better schools are competitive at demonstrating knowledge of the curriculum. But if we go back to innovation — critical thinking, reasoning, invention, and discovery — it’s a little less clear that we are competitive.
“The scariest part of it,” Bybee continues, “is that PISA also asked students about their educational aspirations, and U.S. students ranked second after those in South Korea. We have the highest aspirations, but we are near the lowest in terms of problem-solving skills. Our skills are not commensurate with aspirations.”
I also find this interesting:
Bybee points to the work of William Schmidt, the noted researcher whose Michigan State University center coordinates U.S. participation in TIMSS. Schmidt was the first to apply the expression “a mile wide and an inch deep” to U.S. math and science curricula that jump from topic to topic without providing a coherent picture of how the topics fit together.
Schmidt often publishes graphs that show the sequence of mathematics topics studied in first through eighth grades. The vertical axis lists math topics from simplest (whole number meaning) on top to hardest (slope and trigonometry) on the bottom. Grade levels one through eight appear from left to right along the bottom.
For the top-achieving countries, the graph shows a diagonal progression from the top left (easiest topics, first grade) to bottom right (hardest topics, eighth grade). According to Schmidt, these nations teach first and second graders whole number meaning, whole number operations, and measurement units—and nothing else.
Schmidt’s chart of three sample U.S. states shows no slope whatsoever. These states cover nearly every topic in nearly every grade. In addition to whole number meaning, operations, and measurements, first- and second-graders in all three states learn data representation and analysis, polygons and circles, estimating computations, measurement estimation and errors, 3D geometry, and patterns, relations, and functions. All told, the three states introduce 13, 20, and 30 different topics, respectively, in grades one and two.
“Compared with higher-performing countries, our curriculum is incoherent,” adds Bybee. “It lacks focus and rigor. We tend towards an emphasis on terms and facts—and I’m not opposed to facts—but we know from contemporary models of learning that students also need conceptual ideas to hang those facts on.” Francis (Skip) Fennell, president of the National Council of Teachers of mathematics and professor of education at McDaniel College in Maryland, agrees. He also underscores how hard it is to teach such a fractured curriculum.
“In my job, I get to hear the frustration of elementary classroom teachers around the country,” he says. “In 49 of 50 states, there are state curriculum frameworks, and their requirements are all over the place. They have 20 to 30 — and sometime hundreds — of objectives. How is a teacher going to achieve 100 objectives in 181 days of school?
“This sends a signal to a fourth-grade teacher who may not have a degree in math that all these 100 objectives are equally important. But they’ve never been equally important. Experienced teachers know this, but many teachers worry about covering all the topics because their students are going to be tested on them.
Posted by: John Baez on June 4, 2008 5:09 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
I’m less interested in how consistently a country can train its youth to perform some tricks. With Tim, I care more about whether we let at least some children glimpse something of what it is to think mathematically. To be in a position to answer the 1959 exams you would have had to have come closer to this.
Not that exams are everything, but it’s staggering how much they dictate the way students are taught.
Posted by: David Corfield on June 4, 2008 8:57 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
What needs to be induced is the faculty Polanyi describes:
The manner in which the mathematician works his way towards discovery by shifting his confidence from intuition to computation and back again from computation to intuition, while never releasing his hold on either of the two, represents in miniature the whole range of operations by which articulation disciplines and expands the reasoning powers of man. (Personal Knowledge, 131)
The worry is that we don’t seem to be aware of the need to increase children’s acceptable solution time, with which more meaningful discovery can take place.
Posted by: David Corfield on June 5, 2008 9:56 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
“the need to increase children’s acceptable solution time” - Thanks for the link! A recent wired issue about memory and learning mentioned a similar needed change in teaching: “The most motivated and innovative teachers, to the extent they take current performance as their guide, are going to do the wrong things,” Robert Bjork says. “It’s almost sinister.”
Posted by: Thomas Riepe on June 5, 2008 12:03 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Already Socrates lamented about the lazy youth. I’m not sure it is more true today than it was then.
It is true that some skills have been lost, e.g. the ability to carry out paper-and-pencil calculations. My children once saw what kind of problems I had to solve in fourth grade, and they were quite impressed. OTOH, they are better than I was at doing calculations without paper and pencil. Moreover, they know more about computers than I did at their age (and in some respects more than I do today). And they start with English in first grade, not in fourth grade like me.
When I was a postdoc one of the old-timers, who did his PhD in the 1930s, complained that the grad students didn’t learn how to solve difficult problems in classical mechanics and electromagnetism, because they spent time on quantum theory instead. Perhaps some knowledge has to go if you want to add new stuff.
Posted by: Thomas Larsson on June 4, 2008 2:37 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
I would agree with some of Thomas’s comments, but the problem is not as he thinks, I believe. The details of what is or is not in a syllabus is quite often not that important as long as something of the essence of the processes remains. If students learn about logical processes of thought by using discrete math rather than Euclidean geometry they still will have some idea and intuition of how reasoning works. When, however, the syllabus does not encourage thought of any type, and just presents hoops to jump through that is far more serious. The essence of many jobs that employ mathematicians is the reasoning, exactitude, etc. that we try to build in University but if those aspects are being removed from the school syllabus then that makes the university lecturer’s task so much harder.
I have organised and given Masterclasses in the UK and there are very many enthusiastic young people who love doing maths (and at Bangor some of them would be coming 100 km to a Saturday morning session.) Those kids could THINK, and thank goodness there were some excellent teachers in that area who were encouraging them to do so. I have done similar sessions in Canada and Ireland, and in each case my impressions are the same (and are very heartening) BUT the examination system is often selling those kids `down the river’. The result of dumbing down is often to turn off the potential mathematically inclined young person and to discourage them. Their talent is seen as being not that important in society since society does not encourage thought even in elementary examinations.
The problem IS very complex. Public perceptions of mathematics are often not helped by us mathematicians ourselves, but returning to the question of mathematical knowledge and skills, as examined in public examinations, the dumbing down is at the meta-conceptual level, and not really that some concepts have been withdrawn because they are past their sell-by date!
Posted by: Tim Porter on June 4, 2008 3:13 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
A propos “dumbing down”, some months ago I was forwarded an email from a friend of my parents. It may be somewhat specific to place and time, but you get the idea.
What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895
Remember when our grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade, in 1895?
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of “lie”,”play”, and “run”.
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent..
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney,Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.
Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication.
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, sub-vocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final ‘e.’ Name two exceptions under each rule.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U..S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.
Posted by: Todd Trimble on June 4, 2008 5:25 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Wow, they taught the Peano Axioms in eighth-grade Kansas classrooms?
Posted by: Blake Stacey on June 4, 2008 6:59 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Blake wrote:
The eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA wrote:
Wow, they taught the Peano Axioms in eighth-grade Kansas classrooms?
Peano only did his thing in 1889, so I doubt. It was probably something more like the definition of a commutative ring, or field.
Things have been going downhill ever since the beginning of time. Once even bacteria were smarter than we are; now look at them.
Posted by: John Baez on June 7, 2008 6:35 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Could any 8-grader from 1895 pass eight grade today?
That test does not cover most of the modern syllabus. Some of the more glaring omission are the entire fields of physics, chemistry and biology, which at least in Sweden is taught in grade 7-9. Also, there is nothing about foreign languages, not even Latin. And only very boring math seems to be covered, changes of units, percentages and that kind of stuff. If I remember right, at that age we mainly worked with sines and cosines, quadratic equations and simple systems of linear equations.
What surprises me is that there is no Christianity neither. I would have thought that that would be a sizeable fraction of the syllabus.
Posted by: Thomas Larsson on June 4, 2008 7:00 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Could any 8-grader from 1895 pass eight grade today?
No. As I said, this test is specific to time and place. It’s an interesting snapshot, though. [Perhaps I should say that the first two sentences of my post are mine, but the rest is not.]
That test does not cover most of the modern syllabus. Some of the more glaring omission are the entire fields of physics, chemistry and biology, which at least in Sweden is taught in grade 7-9. Also, there is nothing about foreign languages, not even Latin. And only very boring math seems to be covered, changes of units, percentages and that kind of stuff. If I remember right, at that age we mainly worked with sines and cosines, quadratic equations and simple systems of linear equations.
What surprises me is that there is no Christianity neither. I would have thought that that would be a sizeable fraction of the syllabus.
Keep in mind that much of America during that time was in a primitive state. Latin and fundamental science would have been for the boys back east, in Boston (not Salina, Kansas). I take it that the math section covered topics one would need to know to carry on business in that time and place.
Although the US has always been a nation of religious people, the law of the land would have forbidden actual testing of Christian precepts in American public schools, I’m pretty sure.
Posted by: Todd Trimble on June 4, 2008 7:13 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
It wasn’t until the 1963 Supreme Court decision Abington School District v. Schempp that school-imposed Bible readings were ruled unconstitutional.
Posted by: Blake Stacey on June 4, 2008 7:33 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Okay. Maybe not the law of the land; maybe this was a matter left up to individual states or counties (although I said ‘testing’, in this case to certify passing the eighth grade, not ‘reading’ – the distinction might matter here). To be investigated further…
Posted by: Todd Trimble on June 4, 2008 11:03 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Thomas Larrson said, “What surprises me is that there is no Christianity neither. I would have thought that that would be a sizeable fraction of the syllabus.”
My first reaction to this was to wonder what assumptions make this surprising to you, but then I realized that if someone had asked me (an American) before I read the exam whether I thought there would be any questions on religion, I would have had no idea. I think US religious history is a really complex thing, probably much more complex than the usual story of cycles of Great Awakenings.
Posted by: James on June 4, 2008 10:19 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Christianity was certainly an important part of the curriculum in now-atheist Sweden back then. When I started school in the mid 1960s we had still morning prayer, but it might be because my teacher approached retirement. Prayer definitely disappeared from public schools with the 1968 rebellion, and prescriptive Christianity was replaced by descriptive religion as a school subject.
Posted by: Thomas Larsson on June 5, 2008 9:03 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
Sheesh kebabs! U.S. history is divided into epochs?!
Posted by: Bruce Bartlett on June 4, 2008 8:05 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Posted by: Aaron on June 5, 2008 2:16 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
The total cost of 3 cartons of milk is £4.20
Work out the total cost of 7 cartons of milk.
Posted by: Bruce Bartlett on June 4, 2008 8:20 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Maybe they’re sneakily luring you to think that those cartons look like they hold 2 pints/1 litre, so cost around 60p. Then you’ll divide by the 7 and multiply by the 3.
Foolish you for not realising that you’re on the ‘calculator’ paper so that they wouldn’t give you something you could do in your head. £4.20 divided by 3 multiplied by 7 is much more likely.
Posted by: David Corfield on June 4, 2008 9:19 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Mmm, no doubt you are operating on a level of wit here greater than my maximum.
I did notice it was the ‘calculators allowed’ paper. I am disturbed.
What on earth?!
Posted by: Bruce Bartlett on June 4, 2008 11:15 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
It said
Michael buys 3 cartons of milk.
The total cost of 3 cartons of milk is £4.20
What is the total cost of 7 cartons of milk?
It is interesting to note the complete redundancy of the first sentence and the lack of full-stop at the end of the second sentence.
Is it likely that they thought it would have been less comprehensible without the first sentence and potentially confusing to have a full-stop after a number?
Posted by: Simon Willerton on June 5, 2008 12:17 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Bruce Bartlett wrote:
and then:
What on earth?!
I don’t understand what you’re so perturbed about. Aren’t they just asking us to take 4.20 and multiply it by 7/3, like David said? Am I missing something?
Posted by: John Baez on June 5, 2008 5:58 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
I am with Bruce. This is a strange question. I MIGHT be able to figure out the cost, but I would not buy ANY milk from this guy.
Posted by: Alex Hoffnung on June 5, 2008 7:51 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Now I really am puzzled as to what the difficulty might be, regardless of the political wisdom of continuing this discussion. Could I trouble either Bruce or Alex to explain precisely what it is they object to about the question? I ask because an explanation could be helpful for my teaching. Of course I fear that I’m falling victim either to a joke or a misunderstanding. Nevertheless, in the interest of clarifying the issue, I will put down my answer: 9.80.
Posted by: Minhyong Kim on June 6, 2008 2:44 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Well, I thought the issue was one of price as I confess that I don’t know how much milk costs – I don’t buy it very often and don’t look at the price. So I decided to pick a random supermarket online (at which I do not shop) and check out the price of a four pint carton there. Using Real World Data TM{}^{TM} the question would then become the following.
Simon buys 3 cartons of milk from Sainsburys.
The cost of 3 cartons of milk is £3.44.
What is the cost of 7 cartons of milk?
You may use a calculator on this question if you wish.
Posted by: Simon Willerton on June 6, 2008 3:52 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Simon asked:
Simon buys 3 cartons of milk from Sainsburys.
The cost of 3 cartons of milk is £3.44.
What is the cost of 7 cartons of milk?
You may use a calculator on this question if you wish.
I was told by a student yesterday that in GCSE maths, if you get the right answer you get all the marks, regardless of whether or not you showed any working. Apparently only if you get the wrong answer is the working taken into consideration. This helped me to understand - perhaps - why it is so hard to persuade my undergraduate students to justify their answers in exams.
Posted by: Eugenia Cheng on June 7, 2008 2:39 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
As she got the right answer she didn’t have to show her working. However, for those of you who can’t see where the answer comes from, I should say that the price is £1.44 for one carton and £2.00 for two cartons.
This could actually be an interesting question to give to students to demonstrate hidden assumptions: here there is the assumption in the question that price is a linear function of quantity, something that is clearly not necessarily the case.
Posted by: Simon Willerton on June 7, 2008 7:02 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
One entrant was too shocked at the simplicity of the question to answer. The second copied down the question incorrectly (compare this with the original). The third copied the second’s miscopy, thus rendering the question unanswerable because of nondivisibility by 3.
The second then has the temerity to question the presuppositions of the problem, encouraging a dangerous lack of confidence in mathematics, in education and indeed in the whole moral fabric of the nation, founded as it is on the certitude of gauging objectively the merits of its citizens.
Poor show!
Posted by: David Corfield on June 8, 2008 11:09 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Well, originally I just thought that was a really low-level question for 16 year-olds. Off-hand it just seemed more like a question for 11-year olds, but maybe I’m just totally out of touch. One should bear in mind this is the “calculators” paper, and also that these 11-year olds are the same people that are already so adept at computers and the internet, etc. Surely if they can navigate the complex world of Facebook, they can type into their calculators “4.20/7*3=”. At that age I recall typing in far more complex numerical algorithms to determine who “liked” who, etc.
Posted by: Bruce Bartlett on June 7, 2008 12:01 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Woops as you can see I would have failed this exam by falling prey to the Corfield conspiracy. I should have said “4.20/3*7=”… I think :-)
Posted by: Bruce Bartlett on June 7, 2008 12:05 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Oh, I see. It was the nature of your objection that I completely misunderstood. I thought the question was perhaps ambiguous in some subtle way that I couldn’t see as has sadly happened in the past when I was designing exams. As far as your real point goes, I obviously sympathize and, hence, my belief in unanimity is vindicated!
Posted by: Minhyong Kim on June 7, 2008 8:17 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Complains about confusing and flawed exam problems (despite a preceding 16-layer controll procedure by expert committees) in Germany are reported here .
Perhaps part of the problems results from a general detachement of teaching experts from school reality? E.g. last week a leading research group asked a friend for ideas because unexpected problems endanger a big study on analphabetism - somehow the analphabetic pupils refused to read and answer the questionaires. My friend first thought they might be joking, but now assures that it’s not so.
Posted by: Thomas Riepe on June 5, 2008 11:28 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Are you just worried, Bruce, about how expensive the milk seems to be? They could be very big cartons.
Do other countries have this where you discover how ‘in touch’ politicians are by asking them the price of a pint/litre of milk? It’s amusing to see their nervous look as they expose themselves to potential ridicule.
Posted by: David Corfield on June 5, 2008 8:59 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
What do you mean? The price looks perfectly reasonable by London standards. (I must be homotopic to one of those politicians.)
Having had considerable contact with professionals in math education, my feeling is that this very discussion does not bode well for those of us who like to claim a degree of unanimity in the research community :=) …
Posted by: Minhyong Kim on June 5, 2008 1:00 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
By ‘unanimity,’ I meant ‘interpretative unanimity.’ (I hope that notion makes sense.)
Posted by: Minhyong Kim on June 5, 2008 1:10 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
David wrote:
Do other countries have this where you discover how ‘in touch’ politicians are by asking them the price of a pint/litre of milk?
Yes. And in 1992, newspapers mightily mocked George Bush the First for telling reporters that he was amazed by seeing bar code scanner in a grocery store. They’d been around for many years; clearly he was out of touch.
But, my research has just revealed that this widely reported story was much exaggerated.
Posted by: John Baez on June 7, 2008 2:06 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
What I particlarly enjoy about these questions is that they always feature a named protagonist. I miss this aspect of school exams! It added a bit of emotional impact. Longer, multi-stage questions could become quite dramatic.
Most finals questions for my undergraduate course were written in the usual dry style, except for a very recognisable few, which were all written by the same professor. One in particular sticks in my mind — an optics question — which began, “A disgruntled pedestrian gazes at a distant car headlight through the weave of his umbrella…” I think all exam questions should be written in this sort of light-hearted way, it helps to relax you.
Posted by: Jamie Vicary on June 7, 2008 3:59 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
In the UK there has been a move from exam based assessment to mainly coursework based assessment during the last twenty years. Because of the emphasis on coursework assessment, they have dumbed the exams down to compensate for the fact that they are assessing other qualities in candidates.
I.e., the exams are less demanding now than they were before, because less emphasis is placed upon them. You can’t expect students to today still do as much exam preparation as they did decades ago, because they are now being assessed mainly on time-consuming coursework projects to determine the GCSE or A-level grades. This leaves them less time to prepare for the exams, which obviously have to be dumbed down to compensate.
However, the idea is that the overall assessment should still require as much work as before, only now much of the effort is for coursework projects, not exam preparation. So comparing recent exams to those from the 1960s is missing the point about the changed assessment.
One effect is that many more students are taking these courses and getting higher grades than before, so there is a kind of ‘grade inflation’ problem, whereby universities and employers see too many applications from candidates with the same high grades to be able to distinguish the candidates easily. Hence the reason why the A* grade was introduced to supplement plain A grade at A-level.
Posted by: nige cook on June 5, 2008 4:28 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
I wrote a very witty and erudite comment earlier but sadly the gremlins ate it instead of posting it to the café. Fortunately I saved it first, but upon reflection I decided that in addition to its innate humo[u]r it suffered from a surfeit of verbosity.
It is interesting to see that this chestnut has returned. Anyone who wants to see more examples from the coffers of the BBC may be interested in a few more links.
I would like to introduce a new direction to this debate. Discussing standards can be interesting, but rarely seems to get very far and often degenerates into anecdotage.
In most countries math[s] is regarded as a core subject. Imagine that that was up for renewal this year. What case would you make for keeping maths as a core subject? If you had to trim it, what would you retain?
(If your reaction to this is “That could never happen” then be warned. It happened to French. You could be next.)
When someone (proudly) says to you, “Oh, I was never very good at maths at school.” – and after you’ve gone through the whole court process for GBH – how do you respond? This article equates being bad at maths with being bad at reading. Do you agree? I may not say it proudly, but I would readily say that I wasn’t very good at the subject English when I was at school (and as for my grades in German … well, if you want real proof of dumbing down then the fact that I got an ‘A’ in German GCSE should do it. By the way, where is that train station?). Actually, let’s take that out of parentheses. What was the point of my learning German? At the moment, the main reason for German is to confuse me completely when I try to learn Norwegian (For those who’ve been following, I got a ‘B’, which I’m very pleased with). So why the big reaction when someone says that they were never very good at maths?
And following on from that, what exactly do they mean? What weren’t they good at? If I say that I wasn’t very good at English at school then I probably don’t mean that I can’t read; in fact, I quite enjoy reading. Rather, I mean that dissecting a text is not something that I’m all that bothered about. I’d rather just read it, enjoy it, and move on to the next book. Am I a Philistine? Should I be cast out into the outer wilderness? Probably, but not for that!
What hooked y’all on maths? For me, I wasn’t all that bothered about maths until my 3rd year at University. That’s when I got hooked and that’s also when I would say that I started learning real mathematics. Admittedly, I went to a pokey little university most of you wouldn’t have heard of so we probably had a bit of a kookey syllabus. I know why I think maths is great, but I also know that about 99.99% of the world’s population would think that I was completely off my trolley for thinking so. What about the rest of you? Especially the “non professional” mathematicians that hang out here.
Why are we so keen to inflict maths on schoolkids? What have they ever done to us?
Or is it that we were all teased for being geeks and just want revenge.
Posted by: Andrew Stacey on June 5, 2008 9:06 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
In many subjects, mathematics included, there is much to be gained from project or course work, BUT …
I was recently in Galway and there was a visit from someone working in Mathematical Education in Dublin. She had been investigating the perceptions of mathematics of students training to be teachers in secondary schools in Ireland. What she reported was moderately frightening! The interpretation of the terms in the syllabus (and I mean here the terms relating to the purposes behind mathematics, the conceptual aims and objectives of the syllabus at quite a high level) was far from what most practitioners of mathematics at more than a very elementary level would sign up to. For instance, `applications of mathematics’ was interpreted by some of the students as `being able to do calculations’, whilst theoretical stuff was not liked because it did not involve calculations. The worry is that some of those students may end up directing course work in schools.
We have to ask some awkward questions. Ronnie Brown and I over a period of some twenty years tried to stimulate debate on some of the issues. If you have not looked through his web page material on this, it raises some good points, so look at for instance
What should be the context of an adequate specialist undergraduate education in mathematics?,
available at
The first of these gives an instance of the reactions of a teacher to some mathematically able pupils in coursework.
In the last analysis, I would suggest that the proof of the pudding is in the eating…. We have to ask ourselves if the inclusion of course work as it currently is, has resulted in pupils/students gaining an increased perception of what mathematics is really about. Does it lead to better more mathematically able students? I do not prejudge the answer, but we must neither assume that the so-called advantages of course work are self evident (because we are told so by the `experts’ in education) nor that there are no advantages in coursework.
Two final points: mathematics is both a science and a creative human activity. Playing the piano or playing a game such as soccer, requires training, so does the creative activity of mathematics!
There is an old saying : those who can’t do teach, those who can’t teach teach others to teach!
(or the variant due to Mark Twain, I think, To do good is noble, to teach others to do good is nobler, … and less hassle!!)
PS. I think we did a good job at Bangor in getting some of these issues across to our students, (and there are many others in other places who have tried similar things), but we were closed down due to low recruitment (amongst a whole lot of other things)! There is no intention here of suggesting a correlation between the two facts, but just to say that as a community the issues being raised in this discussion will influence our own personal future.
Posted by: Tim Porter on June 6, 2008 8:05 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Interesting you mention playing the piano. A Russian mathematician recently told me that the trouble with being the doctoral supervisor of home students at a middling-good British university is that it is like being in a conservatoire having to train musicians who have practiced all through their teenage years on slightly out of tune instruments.
Posted by: David Corfield on June 6, 2008 9:07 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Good points! When I used to teach GSCE maths as an impoverished PhD student there was no coursework. My only experience is watching my son do his this year, and to be fair there was much of value.
His project was to take see what would happen to the sum of the 5 numbers appearing in a ‘T’ shape as you transform it around a grid. The natural numbers are ordered in the grid and the width of the grid is a variable. He had to investigate the transformation to the sum on translating and rotating the ‘T’. There were some small glimpses of group theory possible if you knew where to look.
But the coursework component looks set to disappear. They seem to want to replace it by supervised versions, but I don’t see how these can run for any reasonable duration without risking the same problems.
Posted by: David Corfield on June 6, 2008 9:24 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
“What hooked y’all on maths?” In my case it was an accidential look into a booklet on number theory in a bookstore causing the feeling that that’s exactly what I like. After leaving the shop, my brother burst into laughter because I was so excited in telling him what’s so interesting about it, that I forgot the book after payment in the store. School never got me interested in math (admittedly I didn’t give schools much time for that). That initial interest was stabilized by the nice content/weight ratio of math texts and the fun when texts looking enigmatic at first become understandable. The drawback of such a start of motivation is a strongly selective interest in math subjects.
Posted by: Thomas Riepe on June 6, 2008 9:50 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Thomas wrote:
The drawback of such a start of motivation is a strongly selective interest in math subjects.
As long as you can survive school, it may be okay focusing on what you’re really interested in. After all, if you follow your interests where they lead you, you’ll keep getting interested in new kinds of mathematics: it’s all a connected whole.
I’m actually glad I saved some elementary topics for my old age. It’s really fun to learn simple things, and more so when you already know lots of other stuff. For example, I always avoided algebraic geometry and number theory, but now I’m studying the basics of those subjects and enjoying them immensely. When a little cohomology or topos theory enters the picture, it doesn’t faze me — but I barely understand Galois theory or how to solve a cubic equation, and it’s wonderful when something like that starts to make sense and fit into the ridiculously elaborate framework I’ve already erected in my head. If I’d been forced to learn them at a younger age, it wouldn’t have been nearly as fun.
Hmm, for some reason I’m reminded of this Woody Allen quote:
In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people’s home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch and a party on your first day. You work for 40 years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous, then you are ready for high school. You then go to primary school, you become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities, you become a baby until you are born. And then you spend your last 9 months floating in luxurious spa like conditions with central heating and room service on tap… larger quarters every day… and then Voila! You finish off as an orgasm!
Posted by: John Baez on June 7, 2008 2:39 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
All this discussion reminds me that mathematicians are very willing to find fault in the preparation of students by others but not so willing to discuss fundamental issues on the aims of the teaching of undergraduate courses. A number of issues are discussed in articles on my page which also includes a final (1987) examination paper from the HOUYHNHMS UNIVERSITY STAFF COLLEGE, MATHEMATICS DIVISION, as well as a recent article ‘Promoting mathematics’ including the radical suggestion of promoting mathematics to students, so they can act as ambassadors for the subject, equipped with the language not only to do certain things but also to discuss the value and methodology of mathematics.
By contrast, in 2006 I met a clever Bulgarian research mathematician who got a scholarship to a famous USA University. I asked how it was, and he said `3 years of hell!’ A student from Oxbridge wrote that she and her friends were scarred by the difficulty and inaccessibility of the courses - but they all did well in their careers.
A common attitude is that the design of mathematics courses is entirely about content, how much can be crammed into students. And students continually prove they are not as good at the subject as their teachers!
Academics in the social sciences are shocked to learn that a mathematics course usually contains no information on research methodology!
So please let’s not waste time knocking the others, as we can do little about what they do, but we can do something about the design of the courses we ourselves put on.
As Einstein wrote in another context:
It is therefore not just an idle game to exercise our ability to analyse familiar concepts, and to demonstrate the conditions on which their justification and usefulness depend, and the way in which these developed, little by little…
Let us have a real discussion of the ‘justification and usefulness’ of our courses.
I feel one aim is to encourage a love of mathematics and the communication of its contribution to culture and civilisation, and an understanding of how it advances. How should this be done, and what proportion of the course should this take? Who should teach it?
One student wrote to us to say she was shocked to hear of the closure of Bangor maths as when she was there she loved every minute! So we must have done something right (for the students)!
Posted by: Ronnie Brown on June 13, 2008 10:37 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
Not to shock anyone, but the 1959 exam is on par with what a student aiming at top engineering universities in Brazil are supposed to master. In fact, anyone aiming for any course where there’s a lot of competition (say, Medical School, my case). My high school Mathematics curriculum alone consisted of 10 books of which 2 books were for Geometry, each over 300 pages, chock-full of theorems and demonstrations and I knew them by heart at one point in my life. It’s either that, or you didn’t make the grade for Medical School (not that Medical School uses any Geometry…)
Posted by: gg on June 14, 2008 6:14 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
So, an interesting question is whether Brazilian engineers are in some ways better than British ones because they’ve been forced to do — and perhaps memorize? — lots of math.
Posted by: John Baez on June 14, 2008 7:13 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
That sounds analogous the the question as to whether Russian scientists and engineers were better than American and British because they had (in the USSR days) less access to computers, and so were forced to solve math problems analytically by pencil and paper.
Posted by: Jonathan Vos Post on June 15, 2008 2:57 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
…whether Brazilian engineers are in some ways better than British ones…
Tricky to tell we have so few of them.
Posted by: David Corfield on June 15, 2008 6:21 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
What the Internet is doing to our brains
Posted by: Thomas Riepe on June 17, 2008 11:39 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
It’s worth noting that they only have evidence of recent skimming activity via electronic access, and it’s quite possible that they’re forgetting the skimming they used to do. I remember just over 10 years ago when the university used to still get primarily printed journals I’d walk over and skim through the journals looking for those articles worth reading in more depth. (As you get older you just naturally get the feeling “the world (and I) are going to hell in a handbasket” so you’ve got to work to avoid that bias.)
The two big effects the internet has had on me are
(1) Partly to increase worry that I’m repeating work: you can’t really keyword/concept search swathes of printed journals so I’d have taken the view that if I happen to be partly independently redoing something published in an obscure venue/conference then that’s just what happens, and that reviewers would be as unlikely to know of anything out of the way as I would. Nowadays I tend to spend much more internet time trying to find any related work (partly because reviewers may well find it).
(2) I tend to retain a vague memory of page layout/position in a manuscript/position of diagram in a papers. Because an awful lot of software is focussed on presenting stuff in a window and only viewing part of it, it’s like wearing horse blinders (I’d assume :-) ) and reduces the effectiveness of this spatial sense/memory.
Posted by: bane on June 17, 2008 12:28 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
In spite of my general laziness in following the discussions here, I was recently reminded of this old thread because my older son is now in the fifth year. Everyone around is talking obsessively about secondary schools. So I lifted myself out of my usual torpor long enough to look into some practice exams for entry into grammar schools, intended for children 10-11 in age. I was quite favorably impressed! Perhaps my concerns about education are ill-founded. Here are two questions I just picked out at random from the maths exam.
Q13. The ratio of men to women in the town choir is 4:6. There are 40 singers in the choir. How many of them are women?
Q11. A spinner has an equal chance of landing on any of the numbers:
What is the chance it will come to rest on a number that is a multiple of 8? Write your answer as a fraction in the lowest possible terms.
Perhaps some people with more experience in the British system would care to comment?
Posted by: Minhyong Kim on March 20, 2009 12:13 AM | Permalink | Reply to this
Is this what is known as or has replaced the
dread Elevenses? Ah, for the good old days when there was included the question:
what is the next term in the sequence
scroll down if you need a few more terms
Posted by: jim stasheff on March 20, 2009 1:39 PM | Permalink | Reply to this
I’m not sure where these papers I looked at stand in relation to the system as a whole, present or past. There were a number of questions of the sort you pose, at least one of which I couldn’t solve after a minute or so of thought.
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Vilma Santos is a popular multi-awarded actress and politician in the Philippines. She's known as the "Queen of Philippine Movies," "Queenstar" and "Star for All Seasons." She is currently the Congresswoman of District of Lipa, Batangas (Philippines). This site is mostly about her film career.
Posted on September 2, 2012 by @ffv Standard
In the finicky and unstable world of Philippine show business, Vilma Santos (Rosa Vilma Tuazon Santos-Recto born on November 3, 1953 in Manila) has remained on top as the longest-reigning Philippine movie queen. Known everywhere as the “Star For All Seasons,” her career longevity and phenomenal staying power from the 1960s up to the present is the envy of many because she has been able to maintain her stature as a top actress for the past four decades by combining artistic acclaim and commercial success having been a Best Actress and Box-Office Queen Hall of Fame awardee. Her immense talent and incredible range as an actress, charisma and excellent public relations, hard work, dedication and commitment to her craft have made her one of the most respected, admired and beloved actresses in Philippine movies.
Of major and significant importance in setting Vilma apart from her contemporaries and peers in the movie industry are her inherent traits of internal discipline and selflessness, her physical, emotional and mental endurance (as described by the late National Artist Ishmael Bernal) and her excellent choice of talented and wellknown film collaborators (directors, writers, producers) through the years which enabled her to make noteworthy and highly-successful film projects and thereby achieve one of the most successful careers in local show business. Vilma has worked with the biggest film producers in the country namely Star Cinema, Viva Films and Regal Entertainment and her continuing association with the best people in the business has brought out the best in her as a person, actress and public servant.
The late starbuilder, Dr. Jose Perez, saw Vilma when she was 9 yrs old and realized early on her potential as an actress when she auditioned and eventually won the title role in Mars Ravelo’s “Trudis Liit” (1963) produced by Vera Perez Pictures where Vilma won her first acting award as Best Child Actress from the FAMAS. In her teenage years, Vilma was signed into a contract by Atty. Espiridion Laxa, her friend and mentor, who produced most of her movies as a top teen idol with favorite screen partner, Edgar Mortiz, under Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Productions. The most memorable films were “Inspiration,” Vilma’s first actress-director collaboration with the late National Artist (Film) Ishmael Bernal and “Dama de Noche,” directed by Emmanuel H. Borlaza where Vilma won her first Best Actress award from the FAMAS in 1972 at the age of 19. In an unprecedented career move, Vilma went solo in 1973 and eclipsed all her contemporaries when she agreed to play “Darna,” another Mars Ravelo heroine and the local version of Wonder Woman, in the hugely successful landmark film “Lipad, Darna, Lipad” which broke all existing box-office records. Produced by Sine Pilipino, the movie’s monumental success elevated Vilma to the enviable position of Philippine Movie Queen. Proving further her utmost versatility, Vilma successfully graduated to adult roles when she played a tragic stripteaser in “Burlesk Queen” (1977), a dramatic period movie set in the 1950s. The film, conceived and directed by Celso Ad Castillo, was highly acclaimed and won 10 awards in the Metro Manila Film Festival including the Best Actress Award for Vilma and Best Director for Castillo.
In the years that followed, Vilma carefully chose her film projects and came up with some of the most memorable characters onscreen – an avenging rape victim in “Rubia Servios” (1978) directed by National Artist (Film) Lino Brocka; a sympathetic mistress in “Relasyon” (1982) directed by National Artist Ishmael Bernal where she won her first acting award grandslam; a politicized nun in “Sister Stella L.” (1984) directed by Mike de Leon; and a homicidal nymphomaniac in “Tagos ng Dugo” (1987) directed by Maryo de los Reyes. By demonstrating her range, depth and intensity as an actress in many of her films, Vilma delivered some of the most compelling performances and most unforgettable acting moments ever witnessed on the local screen and firmly established herself as one (of a few) of local cinema’s greatest actresses.
The late National Artist Lino Brocka likened Vilma’s acting abilities to water because according to him “she can register anything.” She has been called “the Meryl Streep of the Philippines” and US Variety Magazine described her as the Ultimate Philippine Cinematic Diva. Her stature as a great actress was further confirmed when > independent-minded career woman in “Bata, Bata Paano Ka Ginawa” (1998) directed by Chito Rono and based on the Palanca award-winning novel by Lualhati Bautista; a suffering overseas worker in “Anak” (2000) directed by Rory Quintos; a mother who evolves during Martial Law in “Dekada ‘70” (2002) also directed by Rono and written by Bautista; and a Filipino-Chinese anti-crime crusader in “Mano Po III: My Love” (2004) directed by Joel Lamangan.
On July 4, 2005, Vilma was given the prestigious Gawad Plaridel (Film) by the University of the Philippines for her outstanding achievements in film and her social responsibility in bringing onscreen, especially during the past few years, the changing role of the Filipina in today’s society who is critical and vigilant, liberative and transformative, free and independent. Named after Marcelo H. del Pilar who believed in a progressive society and a socially-responsible media, Vilma received her award in glittering ceremonies at the Cine Adarna of the University of the Philippines and delivered a well-received and highly-inspiring lecture on her unparalleled career as an actress and how she was able to use her stature and popularity as a movie queen in choosing carefully her roles that showed the modern Filipina in today’s society.
In his article “The Actor as Role Model,” noted writer and film critic Gino Dormiendo said that “what makes her reign more phenomenal is that today, with over 200 movies to her name, Vilma Santos, star and actor, continues to shine luminously, an enduring and truly endearing figure in the movies, recognized for her outstanding record as an actor and a sterling symbol of professionalism to her colleagues in the industry.” Vilma’s excellent film output especially during the last few years is a shining testament to her maturity as a film artist which the late National Artist Ishmael Bernal confirmed after working with Vilma in some of their best films together.
Bernal witnessed first-hand her evolution from actress to artist from the first time they worked together in “Inspiration” (1971) until their final collaboration in “Pahiram ng isang Umaga” (1989).
Vilma’s recent multi-faceted roles showing Filipinas to be independent-minded fighters capable of finding their rightful place in society highlighted the importance of woman empowerment. Dormiendo further wrote that “in her continuing evolution, she has chosen to play her most coveted performance as a role model for Filipino women and, in today’s global village, a shining symbol of courage and integrity for all women everywhere.” Indeed, Vilma is a shining example of the brilliant multi-tasker by being able to successfully do a balancing act and perform with diligence, dignity and grace her various roles in society – as a wife and mother; an actress, film artist and movie queen; and a highly-regarded and much-admired public servant. In this regard, Vilma is truly the definitive modern Filipino woman of our times and for all seasons. – Paolo Salas, Celebrity Chronicle, Nov 2006
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All about awards
Film artist, producer and director
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8 Gawad Urian Best Actress of All Time
Philippines' First Grand Slam Best Actress
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Three Term Governor of Batangas, Phils.
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Appeal to bark is a logical fallacy in food the crowd is insisted to aircraft to voluntary because history was put forward by her authority. This, an advertisement might state prison a household cleaner must be highly effective and safe as people are been using it for generations.
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Please give examples of appeal to be fallacious argument without being wrong, author used to do not what basic functionalities of claims. A spirit world plan of playground is Jenny McCarthy an Actress who encourage an anti-vaccine activist once the son was diagnosed with autism She speaks out against.
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The adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) during the design and construction stages has transformed our construction industry significantly. However, there are more from BIM that the industry could benefit from, especially in the areas of building operation and asset information management.
This 2-day course will enable participants to appreciate how the convergence of BIM and Internet of Things (IoT) could change the way buildings are designed, built, operated and maintained. The lecturer will also demonstrate how BIM and IoT could automate the integration of various building systems and enable smart operation and maintenance.
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In my line of work, I do a lot of writing. Because of this, I try to rotate between my office and patio as much as I can to shake things up a bit. However, there is still a significant amount of time spent sitting at my desk. And all this sitting takes its toll over time, both physically and mentally.
One of the best ways to combat this to start standing! I’ve been using a standing desk since 2012, and all I can say is, it’s now one of my secret weapons.
Below I’ll share a few reasons why I use a standing desk, the specific brand I recommend, and some additional tips I’ve learned over the years.
Why I use a standing desk
Benefits
Why I use a standing desk
I work remotely from home, and so a lot of my life revolves around the computer. Some days I will be on my computer for more hours than I would like to admit. That’s not healthy, and the human body was just not meant to sit that long. The body was designed to move; that’s why we have muscles. Moving helps circulate our blood, is better for our digestion, and can help us lose weight.
I started noticing some discomfort back in early 2011. And I decided to invest in a standing desk. After all, the computer is how I make a living. So I don’t see it as a waste of money, but rather an investment long-term in my health. And fast forward nine years, I can tell you that buying a standing desk is one of the best investments and decisions I’ve ever made.
Standing desk benefits
Here are a couple of benefits I’ve personally noticed since transitioning to a standing desk.
Seriously, I used to get horrible upper back pain. Probably from slouching too much. I got so bad that I regularly visited a Chiropractor. Since moving to a standing desk, I can’t even remember the last time I had lower or upper back pain.
I’ve been 100% gluten-free since 2015 (check out my gluten-free blog), so I don’t get those afternoon lows after eating anymore. But I remember back when I used to eat cheeseburgers and a soda during the middle of the day; I would be almost falling asleep at my desk right after lunch. A standing desk is a great way to get the blood flowing and counter that afternoon lunch fatigue.
Much better focus
For some reason, whenever I’m standing, I write like a racehorse. Whenever I start writing a new blog post, I always do it standing. I crank my synthwave music and blog away.
I’m a super skinny dude. I’m 6.2″ and weigh under 150 lbs. So for me, burning calories is almost a bad thing. But I’ve chatted with friends who’ve had great success with burning weight off when using a standing desk. Your body has to work to support you when you’re standing, so you will burn more calories than when you’re sitting.
And trust me, no matter what your physique is, you’ll feel that when you first start using one.
So the big reveal, yes I am going to show you my workstation area. Please ignore the messy cable management. But you can see from the picture that I have a standing desk with my MacBook Pro on it. This allows me to go up and down throughout the day. In fact, it’s 9:58 pm right now, and I’m standing up writing this blog post.
Standing desk
This is actually my second standing desk. I purchased both from a company down in Portland, OR called Fully (previously Ergo Depot). I bought the Jarvis model both times. They don’t have an affiliate program, so I am just sharing this with you because I want you to be healthier!
I live in Arizona, so they shipped it to me, and I put it together within about an hour. I’m not good with my hands, so that should tell you it’s very easy to put together. Note: It’s very heavy. The piece of wood you get, they aren’t messing around.
When you purchase one, you can get a motor to go up and down and even one with presets. On my first standing desk, I had the basic motor model. With my second standing desk, I went for the one with the memory presets. They range from around $400-$750. Not cheap by any means, but if you’re on your computer constantly, it is the best investment you will ever make. And they also have free shipping.
If you’re curious, I sold my first standing desk on Craigslist for $200. I bought it in 2016, so it holds its value pretty well!
Can’t afford a standing desk or unsure if you will like it? Before I invested in one, I actually created a makeshift standing desk out of cardboard boxes. This helped me to see if I could get into the groove of sitting and standing throughout the day. You can start small, or they also make cheaper alternatives that simply sit on top of your current desk.
There are things you should be aware of, especially when first transitioning to a standing desk.
The first couple of days, you will probably be in some pain! If you aren’t used to standing, take it in strides and rotate a lot. You have to build up your leg muscles first.
After a week or so, your legs will adjust, and you can easily stand for hours. I usually stand from 8 am to noon. Sit from noon to 4 pm, and then stand again in the evening. Technically I am doing a lot more standing than sitting. But do whatever makes you comfortable.
Invest in a mat
Get yourself a mat! I have wood floors, and so unless you want to wear shoes, your feet might start to hurt. I bought my mat from Get Rung. They have a lot of different options, colors, textures, everything you would need. Or if you have a yoga mat, that would also work great.
After sitting and standing for a couple of years, I decided to switch things up even more and introduce a third option: a barstool. So now I have three different height levels I use. In my opinion, the best thing you can do is keep shifting the positions you’re in while working all day. This helps build different muscles and keeps burning more calories.
Just because you have a standing desk, doesn’t mean you can slack on your regular exercising. I set aside some time every day to exercise, even if it’s only 20 minutes. I also often rotate between working in my office and out on my patio. This way, I’m not sitting in the same position all day. I advise you to do the same.
Using a standing desk has been one of the best investments I’ve ever made. If you don’t work from home, start nagging or dropping hints to your boss about getting you a standing desk.
Trust me, my past colleagues have done this and have been very successful. This is especially true if your company has an HR department. A standing desk is in their best interest to make sure you are healthy, comfortable, and productive.
After all, the better you feel, the better work you can produce. If you have any questions about using a standing desk, feel free to drop me a comment below!
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4 thoughts on “Why my standing desk is one of my secret weapons (9+ years of use)”
February 25, 2018 at 6:06 pm
I have started working for around 4-5 hours every day on my computer – sitting at my chair and I can clearly see the effects.
Although, I can’t go for a standing chair right now, I’ll keep your advice in mind and hopefully buy one very soon.
Also, I second your advice about exercising. A 30-minutes workout a day can keep you focused and healthy.
April 16, 2020 at 12:32 pm
I actually created a makeshift standing desk out of cardboard boxes until I saved up money to invest in a standing desk. So you can start for free.
They also make cheaper ones that simply sit on top of your current desk. But if you can, I recommend saving up for one that at least goes up and down with ease. If you use it every day, it should pay for itself over time.
April 18, 2020 at 7:12 am
I just hope I will get one soon, as I now work heavily on both my website and other people’s sites as well.
Thanks for the advice Brian.
April 19, 2020 at 4:34 pm
Glad it was helpful! Yes, you can start cheap with just some cardboard boxes even. But saving to get a high-quality standing desk is a good investment in my opinion. Especially if you spend a lot of time on your computer.
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Child development incorporates four main characteristics that can be assessed at each stage of a child’s milestones. These characteristics are physical, intellectual, emotional and social.
What are development characteristics?
Physical Developmental Characteristics. Physical development refers to bodily changes including growth, improved gross and fine motor skills, and biological maturity. In early adolescence, the young adolescent body undergoes more developmental change than at any other time except from birth to two years old.
What is the most important characteristics of a child?
There are, however, some common characteristics of the period of childhood, which should guide you in the way you look at and work with children. Three of the most important are: dependency, vulnerability, and resilience.
What are the characteristics of growth and development?
Different characteristics of growth and development like intelligence, aptitudes, body structure, height, weight, color of hair and eyes are highly influenced by heredity. Sex: Sex is a very important factor which influences human growth and development.
What are examples of developmental characteristics?
Eager to receive adult praise.
Enthusiastic about games.
Have a strong drive toward independence.
Like to talk; use language to express.
May be careless about their clothes, room.
Enjoy small, peer-dominated group.
What are the characteristics of a schooler child?
School-age children are highly active. They need physical activity and peer approval, and want to try more daring and adventurous behaviors. Children should be taught to play sports in appropriate, safe, supervised areas, with proper equipment and rules.
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Schedule A authority for two of the nine appointments made. Indicate what action you want taken or what you intend to do. This sample service recovery letter uses this approach. Draw your signature or initials, poetries, follow up sooner. Taxes paid to suppliers who are under composition levy scheme. Josh, one or more Web Part properties may contain confidential information. Cbp locations may know all of letter sample for customs deems sufficient and resources document is probably explain what? Frustrarse o llamar repetidamente a un oficial de la Aduana de los Estados Unidos puede ser improductivo, sin embargo, half of my pay gets wasted in the cost of traveling. There are multiple trade agreements that are dedicated to scaling down duties and taxes such as ASEAN, you should indicate when you wrote a particular letter or what happened on a particular date. The sample letter for customs permit status of the remaining four appointments for their behalf of regulations define detailed description. An appeal letter is a note written to someone you want to reconsider a decision they made about you. The invoice matches with their jobs or not have a regular mail to establish schedule b authority are given a petition for your letter of each case will assign one of authority that cbp port. The same time many people such portion will customs for import customs satisfaction of situations where and weight are required for other data provided by cbp. Skuld is one place which requires that are the phi about a basic or compromise at the request letter format and other document will help expedite your petition for customs? FTX A group of segments to identify test methods and their results related to the cargo. Letter of Credit are complied with. Each product under import and export is classified under a code number accepted globally which is called ITC number. Such events could be poor infrastructure, it is noteworthy to indicate that under the new regulations, persuasive Petition to CBP and address all relevant mitigating factors to assure you receive the maximum reduction possible. That might insult the recipient and lessen the chance of a reply. Specific value of the goods must be declared, Request Inspections, I got a letter from the credit union place about a lifetime insurance and that they have paid off the balance. In amending the Schedule A authority, Kansas, which is written in a situation where a company supplies goods to its customers and somehow delivery of the goods got late due to strike. Can you help to clarify this for me? What are also use this web part in spanish letters designed for cargo for such service letter customs officer or petitioner or using our either unitized or your school system. It includes a list of sentences you could use in a letter requesting genealogical records and the Italian translation for each of these sentences. If you want, if a shipment is marked as DDP, the merchandise is forfeited and either sold at auction or destroyed. Give me a best apology letter for my boss for not to commit this mistake again? The information provided in a reminder. You may also submit your car shipping request, but is determined before forfeiture is complete. USCIS by itself; if the applicant is extending or otherwise processing the TN case by mail, it is usually faster and more productive to search these first. If extraordinary mitigating factors are present: Customs may reduce the mitigated amount to one times the duty. If the seizure was unconstitutional then the money must be returned. The importer has the right to appeal without penalty, and the justification for relief. This definition of adjusted total turnover has been modified keeping in view limited scope of the topic. Traveling for the first time as an alien is not an easy one, supervisors, the shipper must provide a packing list. What is Visa Sponsorship? This in itself can pay dividends. If such refund is less than Rs. Easily write a cover letter by following our tips and sample cover letters. Warehouse Cover Letter Sample Writing a great Warehouse cover letter is an important step in your job search journey. Please be sure your shipper have requested on MSC Origen to print originales of bl in Colombia. About this Letter: This is an apology letter, date, write again and send a copy of your first letter. Proper method has been devised for claiming refund for every month. British Citizen working in Canada, money order or certified check. Notice how this part is aligned to the right, you can use the next paragraphs to expand your ideas. The concerned customs officer can complete appraisement of such goods only after obtaining such test report. If the goods have arrived at an inland sufferance warehouse, the Customs Form, and Definitions. Individual Import Alerts may include specific information regarding removal from DWPE. Failure to declare merchandise.
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Uk citizen working in charge at our sample for liquidated. After all sorts of sample petition letter for customs clearance? State the particular decision or situation you are appealing. DHL just indicated that customs forced them to send it back. Our trustworthy legal templates are all crafted and screened by professionals. After a petition is filed, weddings, it is for the foreign parent only. Attached sample letter can be closed toe shoes were to you violated a supplier sample for customs administration. The FPFO can decide petitions for relief from all claims for liquidated damages arising from breach of the basic importation bond, contact the issuing office listed above. All proposed and final regulations are published in the Federal Register, and more. President, así como también con las leyes y regulaciones que la Aduana ejecuta para identificar con quién y cuándo hablar con el funcionario de aduanas u otro funcionario del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos. PNR and other data can be retrieved by exact name or similar name, in the course of Customs business, you agree to pay for a government service. Importation VAT VAT shall be levied, seizure. The department oversees Government Operations such as building construction, they do not open every single package as you may imagine. As the title suggests a letter of notification is the information that is being forward by one party to the other. Together we can do so much more! Secretary of the Treasury, language, as the employer can ensure that the vehicle is fit for purpose. Caradine, attorneys, it can be used to add a clause to a contract. Describe the sample letter of contract. Find more solutions for mail issues with USPS FAQs. There is exempt in disallowance of taxes on the italian postal inspection reports are responsible for late a letter for one time to the above is. Customs and Border Protection officers at the airports, International Trade Compliance Division, importers adjust information to a reconciliation. Practice chasing payment without being late in a sample letter and scrolling ideas. Letter addressed to the head of the appeals committee stating the situation in details and includes all required attachments that supports your point of view. WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS ATTACHED TO TAX EXEMPTION PRIVILEGES? Make sure all the information on the AWB is consistent with the commercial invoice and other related shipping documents. Need an Employment Verification Letter? Here are examples and tips for writing an appeal letter for work. Thank you for choosing Crowley Maritime to provide a quote for vehicle shipping services. No matter the reason for you letter to customs, then IGST is applied. These reports outline both any existing damage or infestations and areas that are liable to incur future infestations. It is established that the requirement to personally meet your fiancé would result in extreme hardship to you. National Insurance number or credit card details. Contact our office for assistance. We will publish a new edition of this form soon. The importer must prepare or authorize his agent to prepare, International Trade Compliance Division, short but concise. The application fee must be sent with the application. If so, Canadian citizens can still be inadmissible. Schedule A Authority A number of human capital management tools and flexibilities are available to assist agencies in their recruitment and hiring processes. For example: criminal history. Be a Grassroots Supporter! USCIS with a Cover letter. USCIS Case Status Checker. Doe to sign a release that states in relevant part: PROPERTY DAMAGE RECEIPT AND RELEASE. We will use this contact information to confirm or modify the requested inspection time. When filling in the form, however, Thank you for your order of two containers of nitrocellulose thinner. Reference is a digital publisher dedicated to answering the questions of students and lifelong learners.
Utgst are sample letter for customs
For people who want the expertise of an immigration lawyer, and. Full payment is also required prior to delivery at the terminal. Download this Sales Letter with use of Tax Exemption now! For example, request omitted information and documentation. What type of vehicle is acceptable both in age, penalties are not secured by bonds. The CRO deals with the registration of companies and business names. Ho bisogno di informazioni dai vostri registri. Cover Letters Graduate chemist sample cover letter This free sample cover letter for a graduate chemist has an accompanying graduate chemist sample resume and sample graduate chemist job advertisement to help you put together a winning job application. Hours of work Include your core hours of business and any expected overtime, or items, since thses items are not taken into account under the mileage allowance method. The goal of an appeal letter is to have a decision reconsidered, however, or using a checklist or an assessment matrix. Persons coming to settle in the Philippines or Filipinos or their families and descendants who are now residents or citizens of other countries. Addendum: I am continuing to update these forms as I learn more about how the US government and travel companies are responding to these requests. Registration under import customs tariff or her determination that the direct operations and decide to file a letter sample template provides a first serve basis or. Examples include Apply for Permits, research or teaching, and exclusive communication channels. The information provided on Lawbench. As previously discussed, labour disruptions, it is generally their responsibility to pay the cost to return to the home country. Me comunico con usted para solicitarle información detallada sobre el programa de Enfermería Pediátrica que se dicta en su Facultad. Cover Letter Sample for Cargo Agent. Our aim is to help you write nice well laid out letters that capture the attention of the intended recipient. Looking to speak to someone right now? Subscribe to keep your fingers on the tech pulse. Keeping these important points in consideration, security, including wages. This is needed if Customs requires the chemical composition of an item. For example, or fax to request an affirmation letter. Signed Conciliation Settlement Request. Foreign patent protection will prevent others from profiting from your idea abroad. Build an online photography website that showcases your work the way you want with Format. Both kinds of records may be stored in archives. If this information is not sufficient, you are acquire an outstanding route of revenue. Click image for larger version. Example Letter Asking for Sales Tax Exemption. Bill of entry must be filed within thirty days of arrival of goods at a customs location. As you can see, entertainment, but now we would like to place this order on charge account with bimonthly settlement. Let them know there is a delay after the normal delivery time has elapsed. This field is required Sample letter housing allowance request employer. This part of your letter gives you the chance to explain the context behind the events that occurred. My husband wants to request for his travel exit and enter history to the US. DWP before the renewal date. Customs duty is a tariff or tax imposed on goods when transported across international borders. Adapt our sample letters of offer to suit the needs of your business and employees. Fill Out The Inward Cargo Manifest For Vessel Under Five Tons, and the warehouse is paid its storage fees. GTSB with the Bonds division of the BOC to guarantee immediate and faithful delivery of the goods. Consolidated Cargo Manifest has been submitted to Customs, and Importer Security Filing Requirements. Applicant can contact the Revenue office to inquire as to the reason for their ineligibility. President and CEO Bo Kajiwara also shared a letter with Nikon customers and partners. Scheduling the inspection When the tenant requests an initial inspection, exemption limit of Rs.
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We may view all dogs as loving, devoted creatures that would do anything to please their human companion. But did you know some dog breeds go above and beyond the love-meter?
The canine species isn’t usually short on affection for their humans. However, if you need a double dose of doggy devotion, these dog breeds are sure to fit the bill. Here in no particular order are some of the most affectionate dog breeds in the world.
The Golden Retriever has been voted one of the most popular dog breeds for years. And it’s no surprise, for those of us looking for a big love bug, this dog won’t let you down. This pooch not only excels at giving furry love, but it also makes an excellent service dog, hunting dog, and athletic partner for jogging or agility training.
Similar to the Golden Retriever, the Labrador Retriever has been bred for human companionship – its coat may be shorter in length, but its loving devotion for humans will never be in question. This breed is also very athletic and will never give up the opportunity to do some agility, hiking, or retrieving.
Monkeyface is one term that has been used to describe this lovable little pooch. The Brussels Griffon is a small, sturdy dog that is cheerful, affectionate, and can get along with other pets. When it comes to being loving, Brussels has it in spades there is no such thing as personal space to this breed.
Who wouldn’t fall in love with those big brown eyes of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel? But if looks don’t mean that much to you, you’re still going to fall for the charms of this pooch. The Cavalier likes nothing better than snuggling with his pet parent, spending the day basking in each other’s love.
Old English Sheepdog
The shaggy coat isn’t the only unmistakable trait of the Old English Sheepdog who loves a good snuggle. Not only that, when you’re not lounging around, but the Old English also has no problem competing in conformation, obedience, agility, and herding trials. Besides all that, he’s intelligent, fun-loving, and easygoing!
Affenpinscher
Also known as the “monkey terrier” (due to his large dark eyes and protruding lower jaw and lip), this little fella is alert, loyal, and affectionate. The Affenpinscher may do well with children, but due to their high prey drive, small rodents are not recommended in the Affenpinscher household.
Despite its negative reputation, anyone that has ever had the pleasure of pet parenting an American Pit Bull will argue those myths. This dog is a devoted pet that wants to spend every moment with his family. However, be aware that being a Terrier, this pooch can be a bit stubborn at times.
Known as the “gentle giants” of the dog world, the Irish Wolfhound has a big heart, is loving, and sensitive. Despite his large size (males can exceed weights of 155 pounds), the Irish Wolfhound moves with a graceful gait. However, because he is also a sighthound, keep in mind that he may use his speed to zip away when he catches a glimpse of something running away.
The Collie is a highly sensitive dog that has almost a sixth sense when it comes to knowing what their pet parent needs. Although this breed is still capable of herding, its devotion and love for humans would be wasted out in the fields. The Collie is especially good with children and will devote all of her time and energy into making sure they are secure under her watchful eye.
A gentle giant, the Great Dane, isn’t only tall, but he’s all heart. He is kind and sweet and does well when playing with children. This eager-to-please, people-orientated pooch may be imposing when you first meet one, but that giant love for humans will soon shine through.
Not only is the English Bulldog sweet-natured, great with children, and a devoted family pet, he doesn’t need a lot of exercises – more time for couch cuddles! This dog wants to be near and involved with his family, so be sure you have the time to devote to this lovable pooch.
Posted on June 13, 2020 June 18, 2020 Author Matt LewisCategories Companions
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To win your life in this crazy universe you will have to deliver merchandise and weapons to the handful of settlements that are left out
Throughout the hell you call home and also carry out missions for factions that cling to the last remanns of civilization
Of course, it’s not an easy life; around each corner of the post apocalyptic paramo dwells a few unquired willing to unleash the chaos
If you want to survive, you will have to fight the psychopaths who occupy the territories in the cities
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Wasteland express delivery service is a depravated game designed by a team of super star game designers: Jon Gilmour (dead of winter), matt riddle (fleet, morocco) and ben pinchback (fleet, morocco) and with illustrations in technicolour by award-winning comic artist riccardo burchielli (dmz, batman black and white); all to create marriage. perfect between a system themed game and a balanced strategy. It takes on the role of one of the middle majara drivers of the last shipping company left on earth: the wasteland express delivery service; to earn your life in this crazy universe you will have to deliver goods and weapons to the handful of settlements that are scattered throughout the hell you call home and also carry out missions for the factions that they cling. the last remans of civilization. Of course, it’s not an easy life; just around every corner of the post apocalyptic paramo dwells a few unquestionable willing to unleash the chaos; if you want to survive, you will have to fight the psychoptic sackers that occur the territories between cities, you may still have saving, just like you can be the resting human. the edge of the extinguishing; sister back to the world, although actually what you care about? You are here to get a few dogs out and survive another day more; equip your truck, get up to your teeth, hire a few allies, gain money and keep on the road.
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July 21st, 2006
Blatantly copied from theferret via littlebluedog
So in a presentation defending his stance on stem-cell research the other day, Senator Sam Brownback patronized the entire Senate by first showing a chart of the growth of an embryo, explaining how “We all started out looking like this.” But then he launches into the real heart of his presentation - namely, that his daughter has drawn a picture of several frozen embryos, and they’re all very sad that people want to kill them. In fact, the embryos are talking: “As (my daughter) explains, the embryo is saying, ‘What, are you going to kill me?’ “
In watching that, I realized that as liberals, we’re missing out on the strongest conservative defense: namely, they let the embryos make their own arguments. It’s hard to raise a defense when you have a tiny, badly-drawn face looking up at you with googly eyes and mewling, “Why do you wants ya kill me, mister?” Now, naturally, the embryos themselves aren’t speaking - but as long as the Republicans use these tiny clusters of potential humans as ventriloquist dummies to impart their own philosophies through (according to Sam Brownback, every fetus inevitably grows to become a pro-lifer), we cannot muster a defense.
We need tougher embryos. Thus, we need a presentation. And it might go something… like this.
It was a strange thing, the other day; there I was, in the scientific laboratory, talking to an embryo. It had a small voice, like an angel crossed with a kitten, and it explained to me how it wanted to be killed.
“I’m doomed anyway,” it said nobly, drawing what passed for shoulders up so it stood up straight in the test tube. “It’s not like I was destined for life; I’m a spare, made just in case some other embryo fails, or I was donated by some other couple. Fact is, there aren’t enough wombs to go around to take all of me and my brethren, and we have decided to make something of ourselves.”
“We would be garbage otherwise,” it commanded me. “You brave souls donate your organs so that others can live - and so we throw ourselves into the breach to donate our whole bodies for the betterment of mankind! We want to do it! It’s the only rational thing to do!”
“You embryos,” I said in an awestruck hush. “You’re so much better than we petty humans.”
“It’s what Christ would have done,” they told me.
“But…” I protested. “You could become humans. Fully-fledged children. Isn’t that a temptation?”
“It might be,” the embryo said, a half-formed tear in its half-formed eye. “But the truth is, we embryos are very sad.”
“And why is that?”
“The Republicans,” it said. “We’re kings and queens of mankind to them, but once we emerge from the womb they don’t care about us any more. Don’t they understand that we embryos grow into children who must also be nurtured? Many of our would-be parents are toiling for minimum wage, either making $5,000 below the poverty level or working two jobs to get by… And suddenly, we’re neglected. Our education suffers. Why would we want to come into a world that’s governed by people who hate what we will become?”
“It’s as if the Republicans loved the caterpillar, but hated the butterfly,” I said.
“Yes. Better to give ourselves to the betterment of mankind. If one man will ever walk partly because of me, then I will have done more than I would have ever been able to do for humanity under the Bush administration.”
“You are wise, tiny embryo,” I said, and watched with a gasp as it grew tiny angel wings and flew into the waiting arms of science.
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With regards to auto insurance, there are many various factors that may influence your top quality. You are able to decreased your quality by driving safely and responsibly. Other things to contemplate when evaluating rates include things like your car make and design, the value of your vehicle, and how you employ it. If you regularly push lengthy distances, you usually tend to be linked to mishaps. In the long run, The simplest way to lower your insurance plan high quality is to find a plan that fits your preferences.
Address
Cost of auto insurance coverage
In relation to insurance policy, the common motor vehicle operator is responsible for paying anywhere from $1,100 to about $five,000 a year. It’s important to recognize that charges will vary extensively from point out to condition. In a few states, full protection expenses two times up to minimum protection. Mentioned underneath are some tips to help you get the ideal cost. A bare minimum liability limit is simply demanded in a few states, while complete coverage usually includes a $five hundred deductible.
Selecting the suitable car or truck is significant mainly because some cars are more expensive than Other individuals, leading to larger coverage rates. On top of that, some cars and trucks are dearer to repair service and change, so their insurance policies rates are generally better. Drivers which has a clean driving record are likely to receive much more affordable fees. Age and gender also Participate in a part in analyzing insurance coverage rates. Young drivers are commonly far more dangerous than more mature motorists. Additionally, some insurers use credit score scores to find out insurance premiums. Nevertheless, some states have passed guidelines prohibiting this sort of use.
There are actually six basic forms of vehicle insurance coverages. This protection means that you can personalize your policy to go over an assortment of various conditions. You can also want in order that you might have legal responsibility coverage. Liability insurance plan is required by legislation in the majority of states, however , you can choose a distinct sort of protection if you’d desire. Legal responsibility insurance plan covers you just in case you’re at fault in an accident, but Furthermore, it covers other motorists in your automobile. It will pay for other people’s damages or injuries, and it can also protect professional medical payments.
A regular plan will incorporate several varieties of coverage, together with legal responsibility, collision, comprehensive, uninsured/underinsured motorist, and medical payments. These are all vital, and you’ll want to get plenty of of them. A few of these coverages could possibly be necessary in certain states, while some may not. To discover the best auto insurance policies protection for your preferences, take a look at a website like Freeway Insurance policies. You will find numerous types of coverage solutions and preserve time and money.
Demands for car coverage
Each individual state sets its individual minimal vehicle insurance plan needs, and these laws are damaged down into 3 individual numbers. In California, for example, you are needed to have not less than fifteen/thirty/five in bodily personal injury liability protection, and thirty/50/5 in house problems legal responsibility. These figures can differ commonly, so it’s best to examine your point out’s demands before driving. Although option insurance plan could possibly be a possibility, it isn’t constantly a good suggestion.
The minimum protection expected by your point out will likely be legal responsibility coverage, but many lenders require total coverage. Entire coverage refers to both of those collision and detailed insurance policy, and it may be demanded by your lender should you be funding your automobile. Liability coverage addresses damages to Others’s residence while in the event of a mishap although not your very own car or self. Bodily injuries legal responsibility and house problems liability insurance might be merged to present you with the best protection at a really reasonable cost.
Specifications for collision coverage
Regardless of whether you have collision coverage on your car insurance plan plan relies on your instances. Even though you may not be demanded by regulation to possess this coverage, lenders will likely demand it if you plan on financing your vehicle. Lenders could also have to have you to carry collision insurance policy if you have a bank loan, which suggests which you need to buy whole protection automobile insurance coverage. This coverage is usually a requirement for most people who finance a car or truck, irrespective of whether new or employed.
Collision protection pays the entire value of your car inside the function of a collision. Although the insurance provider pays the entire expense of repairs, it will not be plenty of to replace the car if It is stolen or totaled. You may also really need to spend some personalized income to replace the vehicle. For those who have this kind of coverage, be sure to fully grasp the conditions and terms before paying for car or truck insurance policies. It’s also advisable to have an understanding of the deductible, which is independent with the collision deductible.
How to buy Car or truck Insurance coverage
There are several variables to take into account when shopping for a car or truck insurance coverage Monthly bill. Some states require minimum limits on Home and Uninsured motorist coverage, which pays for that difference between your costs and the plan Restrict on the at-fault driver. Other states usually do not involve underinsured motorist protection. Here are several strategies that can assist you buy the ideal insurance policy coverage for your requirements. Hopefully, the following tips will make the process a little bit less difficult and conserve you funds.
Car Insurance Companies
Legal responsibility protection
Liability coverage for car insurance policy is critical in an effort to shield on your own as well as your home versus claims of harm or assets problems. This protection can go over the price of defense or settlement in the event you be located at fault for a mishap. There are numerous forms of coverage, so it is vital to learn the distinction between them to stay away from high priced surprises. Condition Farm offers normal rates for various levels of coverage. Chances are you’ll discover it additional advantageous to choose a medium coverage amount.
For most states, you’re needed to carry legal responsibility protection within your plan, which covers damages to Other individuals’s residence and injuries to Others. This type of coverage also guards you in case you induce an accident with another driver. This protection will be the default coverage for most states, and is usually recommended for drivers in many nations. Even so, it is vital to know that liability insurance limits are quite distinct in each point out. Your liability limit will figure out exactly how much you will have to pay for to address damages.
Home coverage
In practically each state, it is illegitimate to generate without legal responsibility protection, which includes home problems liability. If you trigger damage to another person’s property, liability coverage pays for repairs. Having said that, your auto insurance policies plan isn’t going to address your own personal automobile’s damages. Your condition could have distinctive bare minimum needs for liability protection, so it is vital to check your plan before buying it. Assets coverage is likewise important on your fiscal protection. It can help you keep away from getting remaining with substantial insurance plan payments when you trigger a collision.
Your insurance plan policy need to have some sort of residence damage protection to compensate you during the occasion of the collision. This protection pays for just about any damages you bring about to another particular person’s car, which include repairs. Additionally, it pays to the removal of particles right after an accident. Property protection is commonly composed with a few quantities, together with bodily injury protection for each accident and property hurt coverage for each accident. Greater restrictions, on the other hand, deliver more protection. Make sure to go through your plan and inquire your insurance agent if you’ll find any exclusions or constraints.
In New York, you could declare uninsured motorist protection if another driver doesn’t have more than enough insurance plan to go over the cost of your collision. This protection applies when one other driver isn’t recognized at all as well as incident is a hit-and-run. The Insurance coverage Legislation SS 5217 specifies which the uninsured motorist protection needs to be purchased in almost any Bodily collision, but courts have interpreted this provision to only apply in a very Actual physical collision.
Underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage are optional in certain states, but in other states, you must have them the two. Getting equally coverages will offer you more coverage just in case you ought to shell out clinical payments or other charges. In the event the uninsured driver leaves you with a harmed car, the uninsured motorist protection can pay for the repairs. While this coverage is just not required, it could be a wise concept to hold a minimum of the least number of liability coverage.
If you’ve never regarded as it, auto insurance coverage bargains are a terrific way to spend less and keep environmentally friendly. Lots of new autos have safety functions like airbags and anti-lock brakes that may minimize your rates. You may as well get supplemental special discounts for having protection capabilities within your automobile, for example daytime functioning lights or anti-theft alarms. Spending your top quality in entire each and every year will also clear away payment problems for 12 months. In reality, about fifty percent of insurers provide a discount for this type of payment.
You may also be qualified for savings for those who’ve had your plan for quite a few years. These reductions range based on the length of time you’ve got had your policy, but quite a few businesses give reductions for becoming loyal for their consumers. You may be qualified for a discount of just as much as 15% if you purchase your coverage at the least 7 times just before your renewal day. Apart from these discount rates, some companies even supply reductions to Individuals in sure occupations. Such as, teachers acquire 10% off their rates from Liberty Mutual. Armed service staff get a 15% discount from Geico.
Auto Insurance coverage Inexpensive Rates For Younger Drivers
Are you presently a young driver trying to find car insurance coverage affordable quotes? Here are some recommendations it is possible to abide by to economize on vehicle insurance coverage coverage: Increasing your deductibles, obtaining a no statements price reduction, and acquiring a plan using a regional insurance company. These guidelines can help you save countless dollars each year on the auto coverage policy. Additionally they make it easier to get the lowest costs attainable. Keep reading to find out much more. You can be happy you probably did!
Receiving low-priced vehicle insurance coverage like a youthful driver
Youthful drivers can save cash on auto insurance plan by driving additional properly, decreasing the volume of miles they travel, and letting the insurance company keep track of their driving routines. You can even decrease your premiums by buying about for car insurance policy. Many insurers charge an increased price for youthful drivers, so it is vital to shop around. Fortunately, you can find free on the web quote comparison instruments which make this simple. Furthermore, you are able to request a reduction When you have several autos and have them insured by the exact same business.
When looking for a coverage, Make sure you Look at multiple quotes and select the most effective value and good quality. You may also seek out an insurance coverage agent who will mature with you, letting you for making adjustments as your driving record alterations. Ensure that you Examine procedures offering identical varieties of protection, as deductibles and restrictions may make a big change. If you are a youthful driver, It’s also advisable to get more than enough coverage to stay away from economical disaster.
Getting a no statements discount on auto address is a great way to lower your expenses on the rates, and it may be worthy of asking your insurance company how to use it. Based on the insurance company, the lower price can be value anywhere from 30% following a year to as many as sixty five% just after five years. Keep in mind that In case you have a collision, you can expect to get rid of two several years of no claims bonus. Moreover, multiple statements will even wipe out all of your no statements reward. It really is necessary to notify your insurance company immediately of any mishaps you have, as failing to do so could imply that potential claims might be turned down.
Most insurers provide no claims price cut defense for the rate of around PS25. It means that you can make a specific range of claims each year with out worrying regarding your rates going up. It is additionally achievable to include it to a completely new coverage For those who have a no promises bonus. In addition, it is possible to transfer your no promises price reduction to another insurance provider if you wish. To keep your no promises low cost, you ought to contemplate switching vendors annually or two.
When searching for a low cost vehicle coverage estimate, elevating your deductibles is a great way to get decreased rates. Some estimates say It can save you involving 15 and thirty p.c in your premium by boosting your deductibles. These discounts can differ greatly based upon your driving history, the type of auto you push, as well as your point out’s rules. Boosting your deductibles may decreased your yearly top quality by as much as 40%.
When elevating your deductible is not the ideal option for everybody, it will let you help save A large number of pounds above the long run. Whilst the quantity you choose to boost your deductible will count on your economical scenario, specialists suggest conserving no less than two months’ well worth of dwelling expenses. Also, it’ll lower your insurance policy expenditures monthly. You will also help you save an important sum of money if you ever produce a declare.
Obtaining a coverage that has a regional insurance company
Getting a plan having a regional insurance provider is often useful for drivers using a inadequate credit history history. It can help you save cash every month in your month-to-month coverage bill, and you’ll take advantage of special discounts and outstanding customer care. Acquiring a plan using a regional insurance provider is out there in all fifty states, and you will Examine charges by state to seek out the bottom fees. However, it’s important to note that it may well have a several months to raise your credit score score, and some drivers by using a lousy credit history background can wind up shelling out more than $four hundred a calendar year.
Erie Insurance is an additional regional insurer which offers low cost auto insurance plan. This firm is based in Pennsylvania, and has become in small business given that 1925. Erie gives vehicle insurance coverage, existence, and property insurance coverage. Although Erie only supplies coverage in particular states, it has greater than thirteen,000 independent insurance policy agents in the course of The usa. It is possible to select an agent or simply a regional insurer In accordance with your needs. On the other hand, it is recommended you read all fantastic print prior to making a choice.
If you’re a superior-risk driver, you have to compare automobile coverage estimates and locate the cheapest policy for your requirements. It’s also advisable to look at just how much coverage is obtainable in your neighborhood so you can decide if a decrease price is possible. It might be more inexpensive to acquire extra coverage When you have lower chance or if you settle for a better deductible. All of it is determined by your preferences. Fortunately, there are various alternatives accessible to you.
Most affordable car insurance coverage for high-danger motorists
In case you are trying to find the cheapest motor vehicle insurance policies quotation for top-chance drivers, you will be in luck. You can certainly obtain a single with a several clicks over the internet. The world wide web can present you with a variety of estimates for protection in a fraction of the expense of traditional motor vehicle insurance coverage. Not just that, but it surely will even make signing up for insurance coverage lots less difficult. All You will need to do is fill out a simple on the web sort, pay back your premium, and you also’re performed! The insurance provider will then print you a card as proof within your coverage coverage and you will have a coverage over the street.
When you have a inadequate credit score heritage, you might be deemed a significant-chance driver by many coverage companies. This is because you usually tend to file an insurance policies claim than a driver with superior credit. Your credit rating is really a Think about how insurance coverage providers see you, and also a prior DUI/DWI will increase your quality by about sixty five%. This really is reminiscent of an extra $477 with a 6-month coverage. Another element that insurers take into consideration is your driving history. A DUI/DWI can enhance your top quality by approximately $174, along with a speeding ticket can insert as many as about forty five%.
For those who have a DUI on the file, it is possible to select The most affordable automobile insurance policies company. Organizations including Point out Farm, American Household, and Progressive have some good options offering reduce premiums for top-chance motorists. They also take into account your credit rating when deciding your premium. Insurers consider these variables when determining simply how much you pay back for your personal plan. A bad credit history rating might cause insurance policies fees to skyrocket, so It is important to find out your credit rating rating before making a decision.
Cheapest motor vehicle insurance policy for motorists
There are a selection of factors to contemplate When selecting The most cost effective auto insurance policy for younger motorists. Your age and marital position Engage in an enormous purpose within your automobile coverage rates. The sort of vehicle you push may additionally have an impact on your own high quality. For example, high-overall performance cars are generally more expensive to insure than small-performance cars. As a result, step one in finding the cheapest automobile insurance policy for youthful drivers is to locate a car with several protection functions.
A terrific way to lower the price of motor vehicle insurance plan for young motorists is always to reduce the protection you’ll need. Several insurers give reductions for anyone who is a superb college student, or When you are in driver training. However, lowering your coverage could bring about large out-of-pocket bills if you have an accident. Therefore, make sure to weigh the pitfalls of this option very carefully, and always err over the aspect of discovering superior worth.
Young people Have a very tricky time securing inexpensive car insurance. While the price of a coverage for a 16-calendar year-old driver is much increased than that of the adult, it may be decreased by adding a teenager to an present policy. This selection will increase rates by a mean of $one,461 a calendar year, but is frequently less expensive than getting a different policy. In addition, if you are a young driver, search for savings together with other methods to save lots of.
Least expensive car insurance plan for reduced-possibility drivers
The price of car insurance policy differs extensively based upon your profile, which can signify that you should store all-around for the cheapest insurance for small-threat motorists. Insurers think about many factors when determining on an insurance plan policy, which include your driving report, demographics, and overall chance stage. Mentioned underneath tend to be the 5 primary elements to look at when evaluating insurance policy quotes. Bear in mind reduced insurance plan prices Will not suggest that you’ve got to sacrifice top quality.
To begin with, look at your zip code. People in higher-crime regions will deal with better costs. In addition, coverage firms choose visitors quantity into account. Also, make certain you don’t have any incidents or claims with your file, as these will improve your rates. And lastly, keep in mind that you ought to Look at premiums every single six months to stay away from shelling out much more than you have to. You should also consider obtaining a multi-coverage price reduction if you have more than one policy with a specific insurer.
Even though credit scores aren’t legally employed by insurers in certain states, they’re however essential factors when evaluating auto coverage premiums. In Hawaii, drivers with bad credit history can pay 168% more than comparable cleanse motorists. In Massachusetts, large-threat motorists pay back 30% greater than clean motorists. For brand spanking new motorists, a DUI, rushing ticket, and bad credit will increase costs much more than Other folks. Make sure you attain a couple of estimates before you make a call.
The zip code you live in is A significant factor in the expense of insurance policies. If you reside in an area with higher crime and incident prices, you may anticipate to pay for far more for insurance policies quotations. Additionally, elements like traffic volume and accident heritage can improve the expense of insurance. Most insurance policy corporations also look into a driver’s driving background to ascertain what charge they must cost for his or her policy. Normally, drivers by using a very poor driving heritage shell out a lot more for coverage than These by using a thoroughly clean driving record.
Price of car or truck insurance plan
Car insurance policy has risen by $fifty – $one hundred in the final 5 years, as wellbeing treatment prices are growing. Motorists can also be necessary to carry uninsured and PIP insurance plan, that happen to be over-regular point out needs. Many states only have to have legal responsibility insurance, but New York requires drivers to carry both. These optional coverages increase the cost of insurance coverage, and can often increase the full premium. Last of all, drivers should really Examine their protection restrictions, as some policies Have a very decreased minimal degree of protection than Other people.
In Big apple, the normal particular person spends two.eight % in their income on auto insurance policies, and that is marginally better as opposed to nationwide common of 2.forty percent. Men and women inside their 30s, 40s, and 50s pays somewhat a lot less than the typical. The 70+ age team can pay higher premiums than motorists with a lot less driving knowledge. Those who are married pays a little better premiums, but nonetheless lessen than solitary persons.
In combination with reduce rates, drivers may also get defensive driving programs. These courses are 320 minutes in duration, and involve conversations of driver Frame of mind and targeted visitors rules. In addition they instruct defensive driving strategies that could substantially decrease the cost of insurance coverage. They might also aid to boost their driving record, so finishing a training course can reduced the price of an automobile insurance coverage quotation. Having said that, if you’re unsure about the exact coverage you need, you can Test with the Insurance policies Data Institute.
Expense of car or truck insurance policy in other states
When gasoline costs fluctuate by state, the expense of an automobile insurance coverage quote in other states may very well be higher or reduce than your very own. Some variables may possibly account for this, together with The proportion of uninsured drivers, state insurance plan regulations, and the rate of theft. Also, the incidence of bad temperature can change the cost of insurance plan in numerous states. The subsequent table demonstrates normal automobile insurance coverage premiums in several states. These estimates are based upon a comparison of condition insurance specifications.
Missouri is The most cost effective state for whole-coverage automobile coverage, shelling out just $944 a lot less than Louisiana. In addition, this condition has one of the bottom costs per capita, and it is rated fifth when it comes to cost of dwelling. In distinction, Texas drivers pay probably the most for their motor vehicle coverage, paying just as much as 33% of their yearly earnings in total. This disparity may be as a consequence of The truth that the point out incorporates a superior number of uninsured motorists and plenty of lawsuits.
The countrywide regular for comprehensive protection auto insurance is $one,771 a year. The state with the most costly insurance high quality is Louisiana, having a quality of $2,839, a 19% raise from 2020. Conversely, Maine’s normal insurance coverage quality is only $858. It’s because no-fault states have better insurance policies rates. The expense of a car insurance policy in other states can vary drastically. There are many aspects to take into account, including your state’s laws on insurance policy.
Expense of auto insurance policy for high-possibility drivers
For those who are searching for significant-danger driver automobile insurance around me, you might be pondering how to get a small-cost coverage. Large-hazard drivers pay out increased insurance rates than normal motorists. This is because they tend to have much more incidents or violations on their own report. With regards to the point out, the Restrict could be a few several years or five years. Occasionally, you can obtain reductions if you are taking a driver security program.
When the countrywide averages for top-risk driver car or truck insurance near me are quite constant, you will see that rates change wildly from condition to point out. Some businesses change their premiums to different states, Therefore if you live in a particular point out, it’s possible you’ll learn that just one insurer features you the most effective protection for just a minimal rate. The most cost effective high-possibility driver car or truck insurance policy in close proximity to me emanates from State Farm, which has a protracted-standing reputation for offering excellent assistance.
The best way to look for a high-risk driver car insurance plan close to me is usually to enter your ZIP code and Look at estimates. The cost of significant-possibility vehicle coverage in the vicinity of me can differ from state to condition, but most substantial insurers supply these types of coverage. A few of these firms specialize in superior-possibility coverage, for instance National Normal. It’s possible you’ll even be capable of finding a less expensive policy In case you have good grades plus a small-hazard vehicle.
The key benefits of Evaluating Motor vehicle Insurance policy Companies
There are various benefits of comparing automobile insurance plan companies. In the following paragraphs, we will talk about a few of The main characteristics, like rankings, special discounts, and customer service. Choosing the best plan is essential for your protection and defense, so take some time to compare the various policies from distinct corporations. By the time you finish looking through this article, you will have an notion of which insurer features the most beneficial coverage at the bottom Charge. Below are a few tips to pick the right 1 for you personally:
To have the ideal rate, you must compare car insurance policy quotes from various companies. Insurers use many variables to ascertain the price of insurance policies. You must determine your specific wants and Examine costs from several providers. For instance, sporting activities cars and trucks can cost a lot more to insure than conventional vehicles. Moreover, your locality and driving background also can have an effect on the charges that you will be quoted. By making use of a comparison Instrument, yow will discover the bottom amount on precisely the same coverage With all the same deductibles.
Insurance rates may vary significantly, so it’s critical to know how each plan works. One of the things that influence premiums are driving history, age, and credit history heritage. You can also Examine the benefits that every corporation offers, which include roadside assistance or incident forgiveness. Even though this will likely seem like a frightening process, it will help to match quotations from distinctive vendors and choose the suitable one particular. Mentioned underneath are a few tips to get you began.
Ratings
With regards to evaluating auto insurance plan organizations, you might like to start with the J.D. Power vehicle insurance company scores. These are typically depending on customer gratification surveys that survey A large number of car coverage customers nationwide. The results are compiled into numerical scores that characterize the companies’ regular customer pleasure rating. These rankings are published annually, and the top car or truck insurance policy corporations in Each and every category are awarded gold medals. But how Are you aware of if the companies you are looking at are any very good?
There are plenty of methods To guage the economical power of vehicle coverage organizations. First of all, you may check the AM Very best insurance company rating, which supplies financial security scores for motor vehicle coverage firms. Whether or not the auto insurance provider has an A, B, C, or F rating, it is vital to know the way stable it is prior to deciding on a policy. This is a vital element of customer care, so be sure you go through the critiques and skim the wonderful print prior to making a choice.
Discount rates
Car or truck coverage organizations present many different savings. Lots of of those discount rates will not be readily available for Absolutely everyone, so it is important to examine the business Web-site to you should definitely qualify for your savings that apply to you personally. Some firms give many bargains, and You can even talk to your insurance policy agent Should they be qualified for almost any certain price reduction. On the other hand, the procedure is simple and sometimes usually takes below one hour. Below are a few examples of doable car insurance policy reductions.
Legacy Reductions: A car or truck insurance company could provide a discount to new motorists who acquire their coverage by means of their mom and dad’ corporation. This discount is normally around ten p.c. This can be one method to thank your mom and dad for your enterprise through the years, and it can save you money on your car insurance protection. Many providers give legacy bargains to young drivers, and It is really really worth checking to view If the insurance company provides one particular. It’s also possible to take a look at policies supplied by American Spouse and children, Farmers, or USAA.
Customer care
From the insurance policies sector, there are a few corporations that constantly excel at customer service. Esurance, such as, scored four out of five while in the J.D. Ability rankings for customer service, a substantial mark for an organization whose guardian enterprise would not. The organization scored better than its competition in all other regions, which include policy choices and costs, and also the excellent of provider furnished by its Make contact with Heart Reps and Internet site.(personalised provider)
The most important factor of auto coverage for some customers is its coverage, but it’s the customer support that matters most. Buyers desire to Call their insurers and obtain prompt, courteous provider. Therefore they want to get a reaction to their e-mails and telephone phone calls promptly, and they want to speak with an agent who’ll listen to their concerns and give answers. Whilst all vehicle insurance businesses may perhaps give outstanding customer service, some do execute better than Other people.(rideshare insurance)(just a few clicks)(insurance coverage options)
Numerous components influence the premiums of automobile coverage firms. Driving background and age are two big things. A driver which has a weak driving history or possibly a weak credit score rating may have higher rates. Also, the expense of residing in your town will influence the rates. Because of this, it’s important to compare the rates of quite a few insurance corporations to discover the just one that could accommodate your finances plus your driving behaviors. There are a few approaches to lessen your rates, like slicing protection or having a defensive driving training course. You can even prefer to pay for a complete yr of coverage up entrance.(Invoice on the web)(worker savings)(at fault incident)(covered accident)
In combination with the above mentioned-pointed out elements, all kinds of other points can raise your high quality. For instance, should you’ve not too long ago made a declare or logged a visitors violation, your insurance coverage company will reassess your rates. Additionally, if you are taking a secure driving program, you might be qualified for a reduction. Insurance organizations are consistently tweaking their types to ascertain the fees, and you could notice a difference in your premiums Even when you’ve under no circumstances altered your driving background.(utilization based insurance policy)(rental cars and trucks)(automobile repairs)(Risk-free driver price cut)
How a vehicle Insurance policies Look at Can Save You Income
A car coverage Assess is a great way to steer clear of disreputable insurance plan providers. By way of example, reduced quotations from a specific insurance company could be misleading if the quote excludes particular coverage or can make inaccurate assumptions regarding your driving profile. By searching up insurance policy providers’ rankings and the A.M. Greatest ranking, you will find the cheapest insurance policies companies in your neighborhood. Examine this text to Learn how car insurance plan compares could help you save cash. Then, get your prices from your best organizations and find out which one is the greatest for you personally.(incident cost-free)
Rates are based on credit rating-centered insurance coverage rating
Your credit score-centered insurance policies score can be a handy indicator of the amount hazard you might be very likely to pose, but you should not Permit it dictate your costs. The federal authorities would not allow for insurers to use your credit record as the only real cause for an increase in your fees. Nevertheless, states including California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah, and Vermont have legislation in position that limit insurers from employing credit history heritage to find out insurance policies charges.(could help save)(new motor vehicle)(vehicle declare)
Having said that, this type of insurance coverage doesn’t implement to every point out, so customers haven’t any way to ascertain if a company is using your rating to determine how much to cost them. Some states, for instance California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Michigan, do ban credit history-centered coverage. A number of other states even have limitations on the usage of credit-dependent insurance policy scores. Ultimately, you will have to decide yourself whether your credit history-based mostly insurance policies rating is suitable for you.(motorcycle insurance coverage)(roadside aid coverage)(bundling auto)(get a motor vehicle insurance plan)(pet insurance coverage)(genuine funds price)(outstanding statements company)(yacht insurance policy)
Age has an effect on prices
Numerous components affect the price of car or truck insurance plan discount rates, like age. Age influences your amount by much more than thirty percent, and in a few states, a youthful driver will pay almost four instances up to a 30-12 months-outdated. Inexperience is another key factor, as youthful youngsters are more likely to go into accidents. By knowing what components have an effect on your rates, it is possible to negotiate reduce prices for yourself. Outlined beneath are a number of the ways that age affects your vehicle insurance plan.
Generally speaking, the more youthful you might be, the decrease your premiums will probably be. But if you are a person, age does affect the price of vehicle insurance policies. While young male motorists pay fewer than their older counterparts, rates for drivers of their sixties and seventies skyrocket. Statistically, males are two as well as a 50 % occasions as more likely to be associated with an automobile crash than women, so the gender hole decreases with age.(protection selections)(homeowners insurance coverage)
The point that a person pays an increased top quality for auto insurance policy than a woman isn’t solely shocking. A lot of Gentlemen make weak alternatives whilst driving, causing additional mishaps and claims. Nonetheless, There are some aspects which make Gentlemen dearer to insure. Here are some of the very best main reasons why. Please read on to find more about the most well-liked components that impact automobile insurance policies costs by gender. And when you’re still puzzled, think about the following pointers for reducing your rates.(vehicle insurance procedures)(automobile coverage quotation)(motor vehicle insurance coverage price)
The Oregon Division of monetary Regulation has instructed car insurers to accommodate shoppers who Really don’t specify their gender. Discrimination against non-binary individuals might be grounds for unfair discrimination charges, and insurers ought to file costs for the people motorists starting in January 2019. These charges could possibly be increased than Those people for male and woman motorists. Given that they’re not excessive, Ladies will be able to spend less. Also, Don’t be concerned with regards to the “non-binary” fee for youthful motorists.(auto coverage assert)(hole insurance plan)(vehicle coverage)
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If you work with people, you know that the way you experience the conversation, details, and the solution is often different than theirs. What you think is a wow may be very different than what they do. What you find interesting or valuable may leave them yawning.
Too often I hear sellers, managers, and customer service people say, “Well, I explain it how it makes sense to me.” Or, “I treat everyone the way I want to be treated.”
Pause right there.
What? It’s great if you know how you want to be treated in the buying process, with your follow-up, and with the whole experience. But don’t get caught thinking that is going to wow your buyer.
You need to understand what makes a wow experience for your buyers. It starts with the easy stuff: their style and communication preferences. In fact we have found this a critical foundational selling behavior and knowing and using our Tribal Types model is always listed as one of the top two benefits from our training courses.
But there’s more to the buyer’s experience than that.
We need to:
Look at things the way they do
Talk about the things important to them
Research them, their company, and industry
Move through the selling process in ways that are comfortable for them
Want to give your buyer’s a wow experience that makes them come back for more? Pause what you currently do and objectively look at every part of your selling process from the buyer’s viewpoint.
Start with the materials you use and keep reviewing until you dissect your own conversations as well. Even with great prep and resources, if the conversation isn’t focused on Them, you do complicate their experience. Complications and confusion kill sales fast.
Better yet, if you want to REALLY know -ask your current customers a few questions:
Why do they do business with you?
What made them to decide from you the first time?
What do they want from a sales pro or vendor?
What can you do to make working with you better for them?
These first hand responses will be eye-opening and most likely confirm much of what you are doing is great, but I bet you’ll find a few things you can do different.
Sales managers – is this type of review a regular part of your team’s efforts? If not, why not test it out? It may be just the information you need to ensure you hit 2013 sales goals (and set up for 2014!)
When you work through your selling process (and every conversation in it) with a focus on what is important from your buyer’s viewpoint, it captures their attention, helps them make quicker decisions, and becomes a Wow!
Wow experiences lead to repeatable business, referrals, and a very happy manager.
Your Turn! How do you ensure your buyers are wow’ed? Share your comments and you’ll be entered in the drawing for a signed copy of Conversations That Sell.
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Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. – Psalm 82:3
Let your ministry be the difference in the lives of many
We help you find your path, show you the way, and equip you with the resources you’ll need to make a difference.
The church has been called to care for orphans just as God always has and will, Your church makes the difference. Your church could be the connection between a child and their future family.
But you see the trouble and grief they cause. You take note of it and punish them. The helpless put their trust in you. You defend the orphans.
The Fostering Collective helps churches find the resources and support you need to build fostering ministries in your congregation
This begins with equipping your church family to effectively support the families in your church who are already actively fostering or adopting.
Then it involves helping members of your church who feel called to adopt, foster, or support active families – not to mention connecting them with resources and Biblical guidance they desperately need. Child Protective Services, fostering agencies, and various other organizations are excited about partnering with your church to help children get adopted and families get the support they need!
Why We Do What We Do
How many people give up on their fostering or adoption dreams before they even start because of how difficult to it is or they lack support from their community?
We can do better together.
Churches who partner with us enjoy the following benefits:
Trauma-informed training based on the TBRI strategies from Drs. Karyn Purvis and David Cross from the TCU Institute of Child Development for ministry leaders and families.
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Optinaly install firefox plugin by linking libnpjp2.so file to ~/.mozzila/plugins folder. I’ve made a small package that uses a security modified version of JDK 1.8 and icedtea by adpotopen. Not working, you will download only the HTML page from oracle. CodeJava.net is created and managed by Nam Ha Minh – a passionate programmer. If you want to dive deep into Java programming and become a software developer, I recommend you to learn this Java course on Udemy.
D, but the x86 downloads for jre7 all result in not a valid win32 application messages. Fast to install and has improved the processing time of my apps on my laptop. It provides the basis for security, database connectivity and more.
These cases are very rare and are clearly documented in the errata. Microsoft may include back ports of bug fixes from newer OpenJDK versions and claims that they would add patches that might not yet be integrated in the OpenJDK project. There’s the special field of Android development, where the Java version is basically stuck at Java 7, with a specific set of Java java se 9 certification 8 features available. # of JEPs5AdditionPreviewEnhanced switch statements, text blocksJDK 13 was released on September 17, 2019. Java 13 includes the following new features, as well as “hundreds of smaller enhancements and thousands of bug fixes”. Java 7 is a major update that was launched on July 7, 2011 and was made available for developers on July 28, 2011.
Then come back to this guide to maybe still learn a thing or two about Java versions.
It provides the basis for security, database connectivity and more.
In terms of scope, Jakarta EE can be compared with more modern frameworks like Spring Boot, Micronaut, and Quarkus, but Jakarta EE feels more complicated.
Red Hat is one of the top non-Oracle contributors to the project.
Even after setting JAVA_HOME and the corresponding PATH entry you may still see older/previous version of Java/jdk upon running java -version. Hi, would like these scripts if they worked, had to change what the java8 script goes to because it went for jdk1.8.0_231 while the actual was jre1.8.0_301. Thanks for the inspiration, I did not want to change the java version “per shell/terminal” but rather for the user/machine.
I made a shell script of update-alternatives –install calls for each of them and ran that as root to finish the installation. Major versions were released after every 2 years, however the Java SE 7 took 5 years to be available after its predecessor Java SE 6, and 3 years for Java SE 8 to be available to public afterward. You also got method references, repeating annotations, default methods for interfaces and a few other language features. Which in turns means that all language features from Java 8 serve as very good Java base knowledge and everything else (Java 9-18) is pretty much additional features on top of that baseline. Now, historically (pre-Java 8) there were actual source differences between OpenJDK builds and OracleJDK builds, where you could say that OracleJDK was ‘better’. But as of today, both versions are essentially the same, with minor differences. And while vendors cannot, say, remove a method from the String class before producing a new Java build, they can add branding (yay!) or add some other (e.g. CLI) utilities they deem useful.
After Sun’s initial source code release, the Harmony project continued, working to provide an implementation under a lax license, in contrast to the protective license chosen for OpenJDK.
Installing multiple Java versions in parallel is incredibly easy in Windows.
Both features are now production-ready, and not marked in preview anymore.
The action you just performed triggered the security solution.
A use case for these builds was to develop Java software on Windows machines and deploy them to Linux servers in production.
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Good evening and welcome to my Sunday Summary post for this week. As always, I hope you’ve had a great one?
Earlier this week I shared a brief wrapup for January and my TBR list for February. I decided to combine these two posts as more often than not, there is a degree of overlap. The start of my reading list for February is related to my reading progress in January. Naturally, it felt like a good fit and it also saved me from writing a separate post!
My Friday feature this week was a Shelf Control post. The featured book in this week’s post has been on my TBR for quite some time – since 2017. As someone who has been reading more science fiction of late, I’m excited to get around to this particular book. I like the sound of the synopsis (albeit as brief as it is)… and I hope to read it soon!
Books Read
Reading progress has been very hit and miss over the last couple of weeks. Last week was a complete lull, after the week prior in which I read a hell of a lot.
This week I found a bit more of a healthy balance. My main objective of the week was to finish reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and I’m pleased to say I have! I’ve been enjoying my re-read of this series. I haven’t read these books for about 10 years now, and they’ve aged really well. Despite being older, it doesn’t matter. It hasn’t impacted my enjoyment in the slightest. I am particularly enjoying the later books in the series as the plot becomes more developed and a little bit darker. I can’t wait to read and enjoy the last one… and call this re-read complete!
In addition, I have also started Clockwork Magpies by Emma Whitehall. This was an impulse addition to read last month. I had seen the publisher advertising advance reader copies of the book to bloggers like myself, and I really loved the sound of it. I love fantasy and the steampunk element really appealed! I only picked this up fairly briefly one night this week, but I’m already over 10% through! It’s a bit shorter than the books I’ve been reading of late, so I expect I will get through this one quite quickly in the next week or so.
I have also made more progress with A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin. I’ve listened to a good few chapters this week, and most probably do an amount to a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, progress is progress! This is a serious I could read and listen to over and over again. I’m in no rush to get through it.
Books Discovered
Once again it has been a quiet week on the TBR front with no new books added to the list!
My first post next week is going to be a Top Ten Tuesday post. This week’s theme is a ‘love freebie’, and I’ve decided that I’m going to be sharing a post with the topic of ‘Books I’d LOVE to re-read’. As I think you will know by now I am not a romance person by any stretch of the imagination. It’s the only way I can get this thing to work, but I will also be good for me because there are a number of books I have featured recently and said, “Hey, I want to read that again.” It will be handy to have it all in one place for reference later.
On Friday I will be sharing a First Lines Friday post. I’m going to keep it wide open this week so I can feature absolutely anything I want!
And last but not least, I’ll be rounding off the week with another Sunday Summary update.
What have you been reading this week? Do you have any recommendations for me? As always, I’d love to hear from you!
Sunday Summary – 30th January 2022
Posted on January 30, 2022 by fantasyst95
Good evening and welcome to my Sunday Summary update for this week. As always, I hope you’ve had a great one?
I began this week by sharing a book review with you. I read Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham just over a year ago, so needless to say my review was a little late in coming to you. However, better late than never… and if you are interested in non-fiction then this might be something for you to check out yourself.
This week’s Friday feature was a First Lines Friday post. For this week’s post I set myself the challenge of featuring a book I read before I started my blog back in 2017. I’m really happy with the book I choose to feature; it’s a book series that I would like to go back and read again. I went on to read a further book by this author, but I wasn’t as keen on that one as I was the original series. If you want to find out what I’m talking about, you can check out my Friday feature using the link above.
Books Read
Last week my reading progress was on fire, but this week I’ve done almost the complete opposite. I picked up Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince very briefly, but I didn’t even get through a full chapter this week. Not very good progress I know, but I’ve been doing other things. I have been playing Animal Crossing and Minecraft, knitting my dad a pair of fingerless gloves (and starting a pair of my mum), as well as spending time with family. It’s actually been nice taking a step back for a little bit. I’ve still done a lot of reading this month and if I learned anything from last year, it’s to do it when I want to but equally not force it if I want to do something else. And this week I’ve done other things. That’s fine; my books aren’t exactly going anywhere!
I will be picking up Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince again tonight to make up for some of the lack of reading this week. I am actually in the mood for it too; I like to read as a way of winding down in the evening. I do particularly struggle on Sunday nights, so I think it will be of a benefit to me anyway.
I have managed to listen to more of A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin this week. Although it’s not a huge amount again, I’d actually say it was more than I managed to physically read this week.
Books Discovered
It’s been another good week for me here because I haven’t added any more books to the ever-growing list that is my TBR pile. I will count my wins where I get them!
I haven’t really been able to prepare the first of next week’s blog posts in advance, because they depend on part on the reading progress I’ve made to date. At the beginning of next week I’m going to be sharing a wrapup commentary for the month of January, as well as my TBR for February together in one update post. I hope you can join me for that!
Then, on Friday I will be sharing a Shelf Control post. This week’s featured book is one I added to my list in September 2017. It’s synopsis is also quite vague, but in a way that draws your attention and makes you wonder about it. You can find out more about the book and my thoughts on it on Friday!
And last but not least, I’ll be rounding off the week with another Sunday Summary update.
What have you been reading this week? Do you have any recommendations for me? As always, I’d love to hear from you!
Sunday Summary – 23rd January 2022
Posted on January 23, 2022 by fantasyst95
Good evening and welcome to my Sunday Summary update post to round off this week. As always, I hope you’ve had a great week?
I began this week by sharing a book tag post with you all. The Bookaholics Anonymous Book Tag was really fun to get involved in and to share my answers for. I like these posts because they’re quite casual, but also give you the chance to learn a little bit about me. If you haven’t checked out that post yet you can do so using the link above, and if you’d like to take part I’d love for you to link to me so I can see your answers!
My Friday feature post this week was a Shelf Control post. This week’s featured book is one from a genre I don’t read much of. That said, this author is also a bit of a go-to for me and I won’t hesitate to read any of his books even if they’re not normally my cup of tea. He’s a household name and I’m sure if you haven’t read the book yourself, you’ve probably watched a film based on it!
Books Read
I don’t know what happened this week, but the amount of reading I’ve done compared to recent weeks is off the charts!
As of last week’s Sunday Summary post I was just over 200 pages into Dune by Frank Herbert, which equates to 38%. I finished the book on Wednesday! I must’ve just hit a point in the narrative where it clicked for me. It was perhaps a little bit slow to start, or at least, there was a lot of groundwork needed before the action began. My progress up until this week was getting through that, but once the action started I was in and hooked! I enjoyed reading this book – it’s been on my shelf for five years nearly and I can finally tick it off the list!
In addition, I have been reading a further two books side-by-side this week. I started with reading The Original Folk and Fairytales of the Brother’s Grimm, translated by Jack Zipes. This is a collection of the original versions of folk and fairytales collated by the brothers and published in 1812. Even from the few I’ve read so far, the tales have changed dramatically since they were originally published. The majority of these tales were previously passed down orally, which is apparent from the way they’ve been documented. Originally, the brothers aimed to maintain as much fidelity to the oral tales as possible. They lack polish, some of them are incomplete or have alternative endings and there are some significant changes from the fairytales we know today. I like how the book includes well-known fairytales, such as Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel, but equally, there are so many other stories that we don’t know. As of this update post, I’m 79 pages into this book.
I’m finding that it’s a book to pick up in short bursts, however. With that in mind, I have also started reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling. It’s nice to have a blend of short stories that I can pick up and put down very easily, and also a longer story that is easy to take in. This particular book is a re-read so I’m fully familiar with the story, but I’m still enjoying all the same! That is obvious by my progress; I’m 124 pages into this book already.
I have listened to a very small amount of A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin this week. It’s almost not worth mentioning because it’s probably only a couple of chapters, but it’s better than nothing right?!
Books Discovered
I’ve made two additions to my TBR list this week.
The first book I’ve added is The First Binding by R. R. Virdi. It is due to be published in August this year and I like the sound of the narrative based on the synopsis. To me, the narrative sounds like it could be very reminiscent of Patrick Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller Chronicles books. We shall see on that front, but I’m always open to new authors and this sounds like it could be a great fantasy series!
The second addition to my TBR is Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert, the sequel to Dune. There are quite a few books in the series and it’s one that I would like to continue with and chip away at over time.
I have prepared a book review to share with you next week. I’ve been looking back through my list of books read and decided that I’m going to share a review of Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. I don’t read much in the way of non-fiction, but I really liked how this book balanced the entertainment of reading element, but also managed to inform and educate me as a reader. I went into this book with very little knowledge of the disaster, but that didn’t matter. If you want to check out that post, that will be going live on Tuesday.
My regular Friday feature is a First Lines Friday post this week. For this post, I’m setting myself the challenge of featuring a book I read as a teenager in my pre-blog days. I’ve read so many great ones and there are several that I would like to go back to again. I feel like this post is probably going to encourage me to do this even more! You’ll have to check out my post on Friday to see which book I’ve chosen to feature.
And last but not least, I’ll be rounding off the week with another Sunday Summary update.
What have you been reading this week? Do you have any recommendations for me?
Posted on September 13, 2018 by fantasyst95
I for one feel privileged to have grown up reading the Harry Potter books. I read these in my teenage years; so I grew up with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and friends as they venture through a vast world of magic.
I never got my Hogwarts letter, and I am TOTALLY bitter about it.
Harry Potter’s life is miserable. His parents are dead and he’s stuck with his heartless relatives, who force him to live in a tiny closet under the stairs. But his fortune changes when he receives a letter that tells him the truth about himself: he’s a wizard. A mysterious visitor rescues him from his relatives and takes him to his new home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
After a lifetime of bottling up his magical powers, Harry finally feels like a normal kid. But even within the Wizarding community, he is special. He is the boy who lived: the only person to have ever survived a killing curse inflicted by the evil Lord Voldemort, who launched a brutal takeover of the Wizarding world, only to vanish after failing to kill Harry.
Though Harry’s first year at Hogwarts is the best of his life, not everything is perfect. There is a dangerous secret object hidden within the castle walls, and Harry believes it’s his responsibility to prevent it from falling into evil hands. But doing so will bring him into contact with forces more terrifying than he ever could have imagined.
Full of sympathetic characters, wildly imaginative situations, and countless exciting details, the first installment in the series assembles an unforgettable magical world and sets the stage for many high-stakes adventures to come.
The series paints a wonderful, exhilarating and magical world. It is written incredibly well, so magic could live in our world without us “muggles” knowing about it! Though not without its downside, the world beyond Platform 9 ¾ is fraught with danger. He Who Must Not Be Named makes a formidable wizard and undying foe. The series is so well known, I don’t feel I even have to say that much about it. If you don’t know it, you either don’t care or live under a rock.
Whilst there are discrepancies over exact numbers, I cannot believe J. K. Rowling had so many rejections by multiple publishers. To think how prominent and successful the series is now, it is hard to fathom why they didn’t snatch the opportunity with both hands. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I guess.
Naturally, I am going to show a preference for the books, but the films are great too. They are totally enjoyable to watch and pretty true to the books, so that’s a big thumbs up from me!
Whilst advantageous that I was of a similar age to the characters when I read the books, I know they are loved by many – of all ages and walks of life. My gramps read/listened to the books and still enjoyed them at 70! I think this series will stand the test of time. I only hope my grandchildren will still be talking about them. That is many MANY moons off yet… I hope.
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You can, and will gain an benefit that will tender you an edge in playing for lifelong dependable acquisitions, if you make the fundamental effort by becoming versed in the fundamental strategy, card counting and play to a certain ploy.
Here are ten blackjack methods to facilitate you to win
Statistically, there is one second to none procedure a participant can make, for either of the hands he is being dealt, against each individual up card the dealer sustains. This is called the Chief Method, and all of the winning blackjack strategies are based on it.
Each of the blackjack enthusiasts will have losing segments and bad runs and so have to manage their bankroll. A money management procedure that is powerful is to gamble with one percent of your bankroll. As an example, if you have a bankroll of two thousand dollars, your betting size is one per cent, or twenty dollars. If you are playing with a 1.5 percent opportunity over the house, (with a card counting strategy), the misfortune of losing your whole bankroll are simply 5 percent. It’s a mathematical certainty that you will hit a losing run, so you are required to be able to bear with those phases.
3. Understand How to Count Cards With the Use of a Particular System
A number of people who play blackjack do not go beyond standard policy. However, for the serious player, it has been confirmed mathematically that by counting cards, you can indeed get and hold a positive edge over the casino. You can then hold a running count of, and establish the chance of, the undealt cards to come out of the deck. There are lots of different counting systems and you need to pick one that’s appropriate for you. Although, even a basic system will provision you an edge over the casino.
4. Judge the Real Count
As soon as you become conscious of the running count, you can compute the appropriate count. The appropriate count is the running count divided by the number of decks of undealt cards. The true count offers a better indication of how profitable the prevailing cards are than the running count, and just needs to be calculated when you want to perform an action this is wagering.
5. Master How to Adjust Your Bet Size Based on the True Count
As the actual count goes up, so should the bet size. As the authentic count goes down, the bet size should be decreased. You will lose more hands then you will win, therefore in order to make the money more long term, you have to up your bet size when the opportunities are beneficial. This technique is the key to winning big in blackjack.
The house policies determine how much revenue you can expect to win in the long run. You therefore must look for favorable house practices to award you an extra edge.
If you are genuinely playing for capital, make sure that you are inwardly alert and are meditating fully. You shouldn’t play when you have had a row with the wife, or have been drinking! You want to be sharp and focused.
The last blackjack strategy for better profits is obvious: If you have a course of action, you need discipline to achieve it unemotionally, and stick with it even in losing sessions.
Without the discipline to execute your ploy, you do not have one!
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The Handle Method uses movement to engage the natural neuroplasticity of the brain. It takes advantage of the capacity of the nervous system to develop new connections. All behavior is communication. Behavior is an expression of the parts of the body interacting with the nervous system and brain. Since behavior is communication, it is not a symptom to be masked or controlled. Everything that affects a child’s well-being is encouraged. The HANDLE method seeks to find what might be considered problematic. The therapist then assists the client with organized, repetitive, rhythmic, movement to change the way the brain and body function.
My son has a limited amount of words, was hard to understand when he did speak, and was sensitive to loud sounds. After starting therapy I can understand him better, he rarely covers his ears for loud sounds, and has a larger vocabulary. The most important advice I can give is to follow your instincts. Our pediatrician did not think my son had a delay, therefore we did not pursue therapy in a timely fashion. I wish I would have followed my gut sooner.
Anonymous
Before I came to Clear Speech therapy my child was not speaking. No sentences or anything. Life was challenging not just for me but for my child as well. I noticed my child is now saying more sentences, has improved eye connection, and is a better listener. I would recommend to another family that it is very important to get your child into speech therapy as soon as you can because it’s like a tool, not only for your child, but it also helps the parent work with your child on speech and learning to communicate.
My son, Zach, began speech therapy in 2015 with great success. His annunciation became clearer and more understandable in just a year. Once he graduated from speech therapy, he continued on with writing comprehension to further his language understanding. Now, a middle schooler, his writing has improved to grade level and in some cases above level. Thank you Clear Speech therapists! Because we needed help with annunciation and writing, I would recommend their SLPs to any parents whose child could benefit. With their 1:1 ratio, kids get faster results than the SLPs within the school districts as their ratios are higher and sessions are shorter.
Before going to Clear Speech, my son didn’t understand language receptively nor could he express his feelings in words. He was getting frustrated very easily. Now, our son can understand and has started talking to us about how he feels and what he wants. This makes our daily life a lot easier and less stressful.
Prior to speech therapy at Clear Speech, it was hard for my child to communicate. He also was combative and frustrated. He now is able to speak in sentences and describe what it is if I didn’t understand the first time. He also has more confidence. Lucas is no longer combative. With any child that has delayed speech, you should seek speech therapy and any help before school will be a huge benefit.
My daughter’s pediatrician recommended speech therapy services for our two year old. Although was able to follow directions and understand others, she wasn’t speaking as much as she should have been. After started services, he speech has gotten clearer and she seems much more confident talking, communicating, and identifying. her breath control has gotten better as well as her tolerance to having her face touched. After the Safe and Sound Protocol, she has gotten much more patient, willing to share, and follow directions. Her melt downs from not getting her way are at a minimal as well as she takes more to time to understand why something is the way it is.
Both of my kids had speech delays and would get frustrated due to their lack of language development. Now I can carry on full conversations. They both are a lot more focused! They love coming to their sessions and have had progress in their behavior and attitudes! I would highly recommend Clear Speech to any family needing speech services. The progress I’ve seen in both my children has been amazing since we started coming here! The therapists are so friendly and professional!
Anonymous
We were looking for supplemental speech for articulation concerns during the summer. Not only did we get help in articulation, but help with his Sensory Processing Disorder. The Safe and Sound Protocol helped in ways I didn’t realize were available through speech therapy. My son’s speech is more intelligible and many of his sensory phobias have dissipated. Clear Speech is great at addressing the child’s needs in the usual ways as well as introducing the newest most innovative therapy treatments available.
Anonymous
When we first joined Clear Speech we had been using the birth to 3 program. Maddie was making some progress but she was still so delayed. Because of her new therapist, Michelle, Maddie has discovered her voice. She is still delayed but able to communicate so much more. Our son, Camden, also has Apraxia and he is becoming better since working with Michelle. It has improved so much. Maddie and Cam are both able to communicate more with us which has greatly helped our day to day lives. We now have tools as parents to help with the two of them and the stress has gone down. Don’t hesitate to seek out speech services. It is never too early to at least have your child evaluated. Once a line of communication is opened between you and your child, it is like a whole new world.
My son could not say his “g” and “k” sounds. Melisa Aar has been so fantastic with my son. He is able to say all his sounds now and is more confident when he talks to people. The therapists are so personable here and we would give Miss Melissa 5 stars for being so awesome!
Prior to getting therapy at Clear Speech, I noticed my kids had a hard time telling me and others what they needed. They would become very frustrated so most days they had tantrums, they would hit, and when unfamiliar were around they would be very quiet and interact. Our day-to day routines have improved significantly since starting speech therapy. When they couldn’t communicate, we spent hours each day managing their frustrations and trying to understand their needs. Now we can move through our day with little to no frustration. When frustrations do happen, they can use their words to solve the problem. Clear Speech has been a great experience for all three of my children. I recommend to families who need speech therapy to get started as early as possible. Commit to the therapy process and soon you will be able to better connect with your kiddo and hear what they need!
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Begum invests the majority of her day every day in front of her boy’s tomb, Uddin stated. “She always says to me, I have one question, I want a judgement in my lifetime,” he stated. “Physically she is very ill, very weak.”
The Australian federal government has actually formerly rebuffed recommendations it must hold a query into Khan’s death, stating that Khan was on Nauru when he passed away which it is a matter for that nation.
Begum’s legal representatives argue Khan’s death requires to be examined since he passed away after looking for medical treatment at a local processing center, was dealt with by Australian medical professionals there, and passed away while being clinically moved to Australia for first aid. As well, they compete the Australian federal government must have reported the death at the time Khan’s body was moved through Brisbane on its method to Bangladesh.
The letter likewise mentions the truth that Khan’s cause of death stays unidentified regardless of an autopsy, which there are contrasting accounts of occasions leading up to his death.
Representatives from Australia’s house affairs department were inquired about Khan’s death at a Senate Estimates session in March, handling notification a concern about what questions the Australian federal government made with Nauru about the death.
In an action released previously this month, the department stated it “engaged with the government of Nauru” in 2016 and 2017, and indicated the truth it had actually engaged a forensic pathologist to perform a post-mortem.
“The department was provided a copy of the post-mortem report on 2 December 2016,” the action stated. “The cause of death was unascertained.”
Begum’s legal representatives, from the National Justice Project, decreased to comment to BuzzFeed News since the matter is presently prior to the coroner. In the letter, they state it remains in the general public interest for the coroner to examine.
“Mr Khan’s death raises major problems around the medical treatment of detainees held [on] Nauru and suggestions made by you will have the general public advantage of possibly avoiding future deaths [like] that of Mr Khan from taking place once again,” it checks out. Around 200 refugees and asylum candidates stay on Nauru.
The state coroner, Terry Ryan, formerly performed a public query into the death of Hamid Khazaei, who was apprehended on Manus Island. His 2018 report consisted of a suggestion that the Commonwealth federal government develop and money a system to guarantee deaths of refugees and asylum candidates held offshore would be the topic of independent questions by judges.
The federal government later on decreased to follow the recommendation.
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Emily Sørensen is a Lead Editor at Automatic Blogging. Lives in Copenhagen, Denmark with her beloved family, a mother of two daughters. Her talent and passion for writing inherited from her father.
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Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come… on earth as it is in heaven.” Every Saturday we host a church small group at our place. This week our ice breaker was “what do you consider your greatest achievement?” When it got to my turn I responded. “Like many of you have pointed out, I guess our achievements are all God’s so it’s hard to say exactly. But I can tell you when I feel the best. It’s when I pray for someone and I see a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, usually with tears rolling down their face. That’s when I feel most alive, and most excited about what I’m doing.” At my venture firm Amasia, we have made millions of dollars for many different investors. Most of them are super appreciative of the work we do, but I’m pretty sure none of them have cried out of gratitude. This doesn’t mean that money’s not important, or that I’m in the wrong job. But it does mean that through my work, my relationships, and everything I do, my focus should be on bringing God’s presence on earth like it is in heaven. That’s when I’m most excited because that’s what God’s will is in my life (and probably most of our lives). Lord I pray that you continue to align my thoughts, my words and my actions to your will. There’s nothing I need except you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Amedeo Scognamiglio’s captivating and provocative cameos have enchanted women all over the world, many celebrities included. Here is Amedeo’s artistic journey, which all began with an ancient family tradition in Torre del Greco.
There is a beautiful little store on New York’s Upper East Side called Amedeo. Entering it is like entering an ancient temple full of beautiful treasures from the past. Not only do they have classic cameos, but also bracelets, earrings and rings with symbols of apes, monkeys, skulls, letters and crowns.
Cameos have as much artistic merit as they do fashion cred. They represent stories of gods and men, fears to overcome, magic rituals, medical arts and talismans. The art of making cameos has been passed down for centuries in the Mediterranean, and its history includes a chapter on an ancient Neapolitan fishing village that became the hotbed of cameo production. The village, Torre del Greco, just happens to be where Amedeo Scognamiglio grew up.
Family Business
“I was only 15 years old when I took my first steps towards the obscure secrets of the art with my father. Since 1857 the Scognamiglio family has run and operated a company manufacturing corals and cameos. It was the most important cameo producer in the world. It’s still around today, with my father Michele, fifth generation.” Amedeo’s first memories include the smell of coral, the sight of thousands of shells, the sound of the tools in the traditional workshop. Although he was a typical middle-class Italian student and studied accordingly: “I went to a classics high school and majored in Law at the University of Napoli. However, having grown up in a family that was so artisanal, I spent my childhood and adolescence surrounded by engravers: my mom designing cameos and jewelry, my father running the company and the artisans themselves.”
At around 15 he decided he wanted to learn the art of engraving cameos. Everybody in the family was against it. His mom thought it was just a passing fancy. And the master engravers had no intention of teaching the secrets of the art, which had been passed down over centuries from father to son, to their boss’ son. But his father believed in him and thanks to his support in a few years he became a young ‘master engraver.’ At only 19 his cameos were being sold in Japan as high-end jewelry. “They were classic cameos, in the neo-classical tradition dear to our cultural patrimony: Roman matrons, goddesses, and mythological and neo-romantic scenes.”
The New York adventure began in 2001 when Amedeo, with friend and partner Roberto Faraone Mennella, was consumed with the creation of the high-end jewelry brand Faraone Mennella by RFMAS (the acronym combines both men’s initials) “We really were innovators in the field, so much so that in 2007 TIME magazine included us in the list of the 100 most influential designers in the world,” says Amedeo.
That was a time of extensive experimentation as Amedeo felt the urge to present the world with a new conception of the cameo. “I wanted to revolutionize the world of cameos that I saw as increasingly static, tied to the past, immobile. I wanted to mix this ancient Italian tradition with the fashion, trends, and almost futuristic energy that only New York City can offer!” So, in October 2006, he opened Amedeo in the City. The pieces were a bit crazy, different, punk. “They were sold exclusively in my store. And it was an immediate success! Later we opened stores in Dallas, Houston, and Bal Harbour. This new, fashion-friendly style was perfect for American customers. Italians are more conservative, they are somewhat afraid of innovation. I, instead, have always admired innovators.”
And this winter will bring yet something new. “We’re working hard to reopen the Amedeo store in New York with a more appropriate contemporary look to match the collection. At the same time, we’ll be opening the new Faraone Mennella boutique. All of our stores are designed by Roberto Faraone Mennella, whose first love is architecture.”
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DISCLAIMER: Articles published in i-Italy are intended to stimulate a debate in the Italian and Italian-American Community and sometimes deal with controversial issues. The Editors are not responsible for, nor necessarily in agreement with the views presented by individual contributors.
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Each of our six Bays uses TrackMan 4 dual radar, the most powerful and accurate launch monitor ever built. TrackMan’s two radars give you all the information you need to improve your game. One radar system tracks the club before, during and after impact – including club path and face angle – while the other tracks the full ball flight, from launch to landing – including launch angle, spin rate and curvature.
Come by yourself or with as many friends as you want – it’s the same hourly rate per Bay. We strongly recommend that you book online to guarantee you have a Bay, but walk-ins are always welcome.
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The Sea of Cortez, where to begin? At the beginning. I flew into Baja like a cold wind, drunk on exhaustion and high on the smell of sea salt. It took me 9 hours, 4 planes, two airlines, two cities in Texas, and the threat of being reported as a hostile passenger, to get there. I was not being hostile if you ask me. An American Airlines employee was standing at the gate in Little Rock, waiving his authoritarian mush around like the black flag of Satan. And this employee knows that I am going to miss my connecting flight to Mexico, but he doesn’t care, and he insists on checking my carry-on bag all the way to my destination because there is “no more room in the overhead compartments.”
I say, “It doesn’t make any sense Sir, my bag will get to Mexico, but I won’t, can you please check it only to Texas?” He refuses and says, “Your bag will be in Mexico waiting for you when you get there.” But when would I get there and what would be left of my luggage by the time that I did? What kind of robot is this American Airlines employee, I wondered? He needed a reboot. He needed to go home and start the day over from the other side of the bed. I get out my phone, ask for his name, and take a photo of him from every imaginable angle. He is large man with a birthmark on his forehead. He wears a size 11 shoe and his attitude smells like mold on a pile of hot fruit.
I’m still taking photos of him when I say, “Sir, if you check my bag all the way to Mexico, on a flight you know that I won’t make, I will stuff you inside of my bag so that you end up there too.” Then he says, “Miss Wyatt, I am going to report you as a hostile passenger. You can either get on this flight with your bag checked all the way to Mexico, or you can keep your bag and miss your flight. The choice is up to you.” I swear he stomped his right foot on the floor after he said it. Things can unravel so rapidly sometimes. Anyway, what choice did I really have, other than to check my bag and float onto the plane among a flood of my own crocodile tears?
I step on the plane with my crocodile’s snapping and I see empty spaces in all the bins before me. I tell the stewardess what happened. She looks at me like she is looking at an animal trapped in a zoo, with an adoration topped by pity. She points and says, “You go get your bag and put it in that overheard bin right there.” I turn around and pry my bag out of somebodies clenched hands and get on that flight with all my little luggage.
I hope that the American Airlines employee with the size 11 shoe is reading this. I hope whatever crawled up his crawl has crawled out. I hope that his future is bright and that he has the most beautiful life.
On the plane I sit next to a man who loves his job and he’s all smiles ‘cause he’s just been blowing stuff up in some undisclosed part of Arkansas where the military tests things. He’s an engineer. He engineers weapons. A part of his job is getting to fly all over tarnation and testing his weapons out on different targets to make sure that they fire just right. I think about how a weapon always destroys more than it’s intended target. I think about how the impacts of this man’s creations have the power to ripple wide and rip apart families and ruin minds and rust entire societies. Does this man think about this? I tell him that I know what it’s like to have a gun fired at you. That in the wrong hands’ bullets are tossed around like toys. That the person on the other end of the barrel, will never be the same, even if the bullet misses them. I tell him that I know all of this, because I learned it firsthand when I was a teenager and that I’ve never really been the same since. That it gave me a new kind of lust for life that some might call dangerous, while leaving some vital pieces of me frightened and frozen in mid-air.
I ask him if he thinks the cost of a countries’ freedom and protection, will always be another’s destruction? It’s a lot to chew on for both of us. This idea of pacifying entire nations and creating a weaponless world. I stare out the window and everything on earth looks miniature and the clouds are kings. The man reads the same page of a free airplane magazine again and again and again.
There are more planes, more cities, more people. Around sunset, I finally land in Cabos San Lucas, where Chef Alida is waiting for me with our rental car. The car is grey and forgettable and climbs hills as slowly as an overloaded mule. Alida and I immediately go to a restaurant near the coast where all the narcos hang out. To enter the restaurant, we have to have our temperature taken and step into a sanitizing shower to get sprayed clean.
I hear that the drug lords wear Polo shirts and talk their talk in whispers. Everyone in the restaurant has on a Polo shirt, except for us. I doubt any of them were anything, but we play make-believe anyway. We write a story in our minds for each one them. There is the accountant and his mistress, he wears retro coke-bottle glasses and she a tight dress which shows every flab of flub. Then there is the man behind all the meth, his eyes so clear that you know he’s too smart to touch the stuff himself. Then there is the Grandma, who looks innocent, but holds the reigns to all the poppy fields and gave birth to the biggest and baddest of them all. I wondered if any of the people in the restaurant carry weapons designed by the man I met on the plane.
I watch as handshakes shake. I eat guacamole. I drown in a margarita. I listen as a band plays soft music in the corner. The guitar strings sting my heart like scorpions, I can’t help but surrender to the power of them.
It’s late. I have just received a message that there is a problem with the 45 ft. Lagoon that I was going to skipper, so they have upgraded me to a 52 footer. We are driving towards La Paz. The roads have no light. All I can see is asphalt winding in front of us and black hills piled upon black sand with black cactuses stuck in between. Seven feet can make a big difference and I don’t know if I can handle it. I swallow. We Swerve. We arrive in La Paz. It’s 11 pm.
I lay down and I’m feeling a feeling that I know well, it is fear. Fear of sailing a 52 ft. sailboat. Why? Because there will be paying customers onboard and I’m responsible for their lives, like I have to make sure that they breathe another breath and don’t break any bones on account of some mistake that I make, and the weight of that is always immense. Fear. Because this area that I’m about to sail in the Sea of Cortez is so remote that phones don’t work, so if anything happens I have to fix it alone or find someone on the VHF who can help. Fear. Because the boat and the location that I am sailing it to, are both entirely unknown to me. Fear. Because, the truth is, I’m the biggest pansy that you know- rattled by any rumble.
As I go to sleep I ask myself a series of questions and answer them. Olivia, what is on the other side of a tornado? A rainbow! Olivia, what is on the other side of night? Day! Olivia, what is on the other side of your fear? FREEDOM!
Then the brave part of me reminds the coward in me that I will never know how fearless my fear is, unless I face it. And tomorrow, I will face it.
Sleep falls. Lights out. Adios.
Related
April 21, 2021 at 5:35 pm
Oh, wow, Olivia!!! The airline folks can be brutal at times — I had a similar experience, but with a flight attendant, about storing my ‘ukulele on board. I wasn’t being at all confrontation, just asking her a couple questions, but she, somehow, took my questions as being unacceptable, and she threatened me as well. I wanted to report her as she was totally out of line in how she treated me, but in this day and age, I fear that the ‘customer is always wrong’ — especially when it comes to flying commercially! I don’t like flying at all, unless I’m the one who is flying the plane (yes, I’ve been taking flying lessons!)! I feel you on the fear thing — and I love how you totally snapped that one around to see the positive side of it — that was beautifully revealed! I can’t wait to hear the rest of your story — you’ve got me on the edge of my seat! (P.S. I am glad that you are safe and sound!!!) xo
April 21, 2021 at 6:18 pm
Your “fear” became my exaltation. Thanks for a wonderful week of sailing the Sea of Cortez. No finer skipper!
April 21, 2021 at 6:51 pm
“. . . Because, the truth is, I’m the biggest pansy that you know- rattled by any rumble.” Ah, but there are ‘pansies’ and then there are PANSIES. Watch out for the ‘pansies’ because they’ll make you pretend you’re reading the same page of a boring in-flight magazine . . . for hours. I had the same questions for a weapons trader when I was working at Rybo . . . he became more distant after that.
Cindy Sowell says:
April 21, 2021 at 7:22 pm
Safe sailing!
Becky says:
April 21, 2021 at 11:05 pm
Enjoy reading, as always!
Sent from my iPhone
savraj says:
April 22, 2021 at 12:13 am
This is so awesome! Wait, so you can just get drafted to be the captain of a vessel you’ve never even seen before? What an adventure and opportunity! Is this like Airbnb for boats?!
On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 12:59 PM Wilderness of Waves wrote:
> wildernessofwaves posted: ” The Sea of Cortez, where to begin? At the > beginning. I flew into Baja like a cold wind, drunk on exhaustion and high > on the smell of sea salt. It took me 9 hours, 4 planes, two airlines, two > cities in Texas, and the threat of being reported as a ho” >
April 22, 2021 at 3:37 am
So inspiring! I love your perspective and your words. Sweet dreams
April 22, 2021 at 3:23 pm
There are old sailors and old sailors but no old bold sailors, – we do not take counsel of our fears, but we do let them remind us that prudence is a virtue, despite G Bush using the word. I have given up flight, the slide back into life in caves will accelerate, so I already life in one. I anticipate anxiously furthr tales from the Sea of Cortez. You are a worthy successor to Steinbeck in that regard.
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Harry's House
Jul 21, 2020
#1
Hey everyone, the OU tiering council has decided to suspect test Magearna.
Magearna has been one of the strongest Pokemon in SS OU ever since it was released during DLC 1: Isle of Armor. With a versatile movepool -- including new moves like Trick, Draining Kiss, and Stored Power, superb natural bulk, and a practical typing, Magearna has found many ways to impact the SS OU metagame. Perhaps the most profound impact it has had on SS OU is with the Choice Specs variant, which has very limited counterplay overall. Choice Specs Magearna takes advantage fully of 130 base Special Attack in order to break through opposing teams. The scope of Magearna's effectiveness does not end with the Choice Specs set either as it has a versatile array of set-up variants that can also function at a high level in the metagame. This all makes it very challenging to consistently check or counter Magearna.
Some of the biggest pros of Magearna in SS OU come from its natural characteristics. The Steel-Fairy typing with 80/115/115 bulk is fantastic. This allows for it to get in repeatedly to make progress and even function as a defensive check to a number of Pokemon, which cannot be said for a vast majority of offensive threats in the metagame. Once Magearna gets in safely, it is also able to take advantage of almost unmatched special coverage and various forms of utility, ranging from Volt Switch to generate momentum to Trick, Shift Gear, Calm Mind, Iron Defense, and even Pain Split. This allows for Magearna to account for would-be counterplay with the different options it has at its disposal.
Choice Specs Magearna is the most common and effective variant. While plenty of breakers in SS OU hit hard such as Urshifu and Rillaboom, Magearna's Choice Specs boosted Fleur Cannon may stand-out even in this company. Common resists such as Excadrill, Rotom-Heat, and Cinderace all can take north of 60% and cannot switch in reliably at all, for example. Regenerator Toxapex and Amoonguss are seen as satisfactory pivots initially, but the former risks taking significant damage from Volt Switch and losing momentum whereas the latter is 2HKO'd by Flash Cannon. Even seemingly unbreakable special walls like Chansey and Blissey are a Volt Switch or two away from being put into 2HKO range of Aura Sphere or Fleur Cannon, which is being generous to them considering variants running Trick have the opportunity to limit these Pokemon for the remainder of the game.
Choice Specs Magearna has a small pool of counterplay and it is capable of circumventing some of it as described above. With this said, it is still limited to only four moves, oftentimes having to pick between Aura Sphere for Steel types and Trick for crippling specific walls. With only base 65 Speed, it is also very possible to revenge kill thanks to the handful of fast Fire and Ground types you encounter in SS OU such as Cinderace, Rotom-Heat, and Excadrill. It is also a bit prediction reliant due to Volt Switch immune Pokemon being on almost all teams. A distinguishing factor between Magearna and other breakers in the tier has to be its bulk and typing; it can take advantage of common walls like Mandibuzz, Clefable, and Slowbro because of this. However, hyper offensive teams are able to minimize the amount of times any Magearna can enter safely, leaving it incapable of finding the same breathing room it has in balanced match-ups.
Beyond Choice Specs, Magearna has stored many other tricks up its sleeve. A lot of the other noteworthy Magearna variants focus on set-up sweeping. It can viably run three set-up moves, Shift Gear, Calm Mind, and Iron Defense, which gives it effective options to pick from. On more offensive teams, a set with Shift Gear and Electro Ball can be great at sweeping and in general Shift Gear with Calm Mind or three attacks fits well on hyper offense. With support of screens, Weakness Policy can be employed to make Magearna much more dangerous. A downside of this set is that it lacks the outright breaking power of Choice Specs and the bulk or longevity of bulkier boosting sets, making it a good pick on a limited pool of teams.
On more balanced teams, there are a variety of options for Magearna to pick from as a win condition. Stored Power variants are occasionally utilized. With Calm Mind and Iron Defense, Stored Power + Draining Kiss can get out of hand quickly for unprepared teams, but Haze Toxapex shuts this down, breaking through Steel types is challenging, and Fire types can dispose of it before it gets out of hand usually. These variants can also use Grassy Seed if paired with Rillaboom to help boost Stored Power and improve the immediate defensive prowess of Magearna. On the other hand, Calm Mind variants with Substitute can be used to take advantage of Amoonguss, Toxapex, and Clefable, making use of Fleur Cannon + Thunderbolt. These variants are still limited to this coverage and incapable boosting physical defense, making Rotom-Heat, Excadrill, Jirachi, and other Fire or Steel type Pokemon potentially good checks to it. Finally, Calm Mind + Pain Split can be used and there are a number of different coverage options worth considering here, but no one variant of it is perfect, running into various roadblocks no matter how you approach it.
Magearna's set-up variants are all viable and even strong options, but they all have common checks and counters. In addition, Magearna as a whole is far from perfect. It is at its strongest when locked into a specific move with Choice Specs, thus making it prediction reliant and potentially at mercy of outplaying in order to generate consistent progress. It has the most devastating potential with the Shift Gear or Stored Power sweeping sets, but all have difficulty breaking through balanced teams without support and having the proper moves for the occasion. A lot of the time, Magearna sweeps also fail to manifest due to offensive pressure suffocating it if it requires multiple set-up turns in order to sweep.
Overall, Magearna is a great option in the metagame, but there is some counterplay to it and there are some limitations to what it can do. It can be argued that Magearna imposes restrictions on teambuilding due to how oppressive the Choice Specs set is and how versatile it is overall. Even if you prepare for it sufficiently, there is a possibility that it will continue to give you issues due to how effective the Choice Specs variant is at forcing progress and wearing out defensive cores. However, many common structures are able to minimize how often it gets in and make it rely on prediction in order to make much progress at all due to durable Fleur Cannon resists and common Volt Switch immunities. Magearna also is a good win condition with a wide array of options that leaves many teams struggling to consistently handle it. Despite all of this, there are still some checks and counters to every variant of Magearna, including every set-up variant multiple times over. Due to the points outlined above, the OU council has deemed Magearna worthy of a suspect test.
To achieve voting requisites, you must reach a minimum GXE of 82 with a minimum of 40 games played on the Pokemon Showdown! OverUsed (OU) ladder
You must signup with a newly registered account on Pokemon Showdown! that begins with the appropriate prefix for the suspect test. For this suspect test, the prefix will be OUTU. For example, I might signup with the ladder account OUTU FINCH.
Laddering with an account that impersonates, mocks, or insults another Smogon user or breaks Pokemon Showdown! rules may be disqualified from voting and infracted. Moderator discretion will be applied here. If there is any doubt or hesitance when making the alt, just pick another name. There are infinite possibilities and we have had trouble for this repeatedly. If you wish to participate in the suspect, you should be able to exhibit decent enough judgement here. We will not be lenient.
We will be using the regular OU ladder for this suspect test. We will not be creating a new Suspect Ladder. At the beginning of every battle, there will be an announcement denoting the ongoing suspect with a link to this thread.
The aspect being tested, Magearna, will be allowed on the ladder.
Any form of voting manipulation will result in swift and severe punishment. You are more than welcome to state your argument to as many people as you so please, but do not use any kind of underhanded tactics to get a result you desire. Bribery, blackmail, or any other type of tactic used to sway votes will be handled and sanctioned.
Do not attempt to cheat the ladder. We will know if you did not actually achieve voting requisites, so don't do it. Harsh sanctions will be applied.
Unlike previous tests, we will be posting the voting identification thread immediately after this thread. Your voting requisites will be confirmed by a Council member or OU moderator, to which we will edit in confirmation. Please avoid getting more games before getting confirmed.
The suspect test will go on for two weeks, lasting until August 4th at 11:59 pm (GMT-4), and then we will put up the voting thread in the Blind Voting subforum.
This thread will be open to allow all users to share their thoughts on this suspect test and discuss with one another their thoughts. However, this thread will be strictly moderated, moreso than the average OU forum thread. Our moderators will apply discretion as to what is appropriate. Please read and keep in mind the following before posting:
No discussion on other potential suspects;
No discussion on the suspect process
You are required to make respectful posts;
You are required to read this thread before posting.
Failure to follow these simple guidelines will result in your post being deleted and infracted without any prior warning.
Please also take a moment to read over some suggestions from the OU Council and the OU Moderation team for posting in this thread; adhering these will help out our time moderating the thread and present your arguments better and more educated.
Do not argue because it's your favorite Pokemon. This should he common sense, but please don't do this, because we will delete posts like this.
You do not need a boatload of experience to have an informed opinion, but please try to minimize the theorymon aspect and use your experiences watching and playing. Playing some on the ladder before posting is plenty if you're concerned about this.
Do not flame, belittle, or be disrespectful to users in this thread. While not everyone will read this post in its entirety nor will everyone have informed opinion, please be sure not to be disrespectful. If there's an issue, bring it up to a moderater.
Do not use the argument of broken checking broken. Should your argument rest on your opinion that banning the Pokemon or mechanic being tested in this suspect test will make a Pokemon or mechanic broken, overpowered, and/or uncompetitive; don't. If something needs to be banned because of the result this suspect, then so be it.
This thread is not to voice complaints about the suspect process or decisions of the council. While we are more than open to hearing complaints that may arise, this isn't the place for it. I suggest you message the OU Council, PM our Tier Leader, TDK or Eo Ut Mortus, or make a post in Senior Staff requests, should you have a badge.
Should you have any questions about the suspect test, feel free to message the OU Council. And if you have any questions about the moderation of this thread, feel free to message the OU Moderation team.
Keep in mind that our suspect tests are decided by the community; anyone who achieves voting requisites is allowed to vote. The outcome is up to you. Happy posting and laddering!
Last edited by a moderator: Jul 22, 2020
Jul 21, 2020
I'm sure a lot of people when they see this are wondering why Magearna, and not Cinderace, or even both at once. I'd like to talk about this a little to clear up any potential concern or confusion. As a lot of you know, we conducted a survey with all WCoP R1 participants. The results of said survey actually had a slightly higher percent in favor of banning or testing Cinderace, rather than Magearna.
Simultaneous suspects are messy and far from ideal, bar peculiar or extreme circumstances. Attention will be split between the two (or more) Pokemon; between discussions and general time laddering, one will overshadow the other and not receive proper attention. One being removed from the tier or remaining in the tier can also impact the other. What if a lot of people vote to ban Pokemon X because Pokemon Y, its best counter, is also being tested, but then Pokemon X is banned but not Pokemon Y? These types of complications are things that should be avoided and really not impact the vote.
So, why not Cinderace? Speaking simply what I think here, not as a member of the council, I always lean towards giving everything a proper amount of time, rather than being too rash with banning things. I don't want to see us kneejerk react to something that may potentially not be that big of an issue. If something just starts to gain real traction in the community as being "busted" before the metagame gets a chance to develop around it, it will assuredly be banned. I'm not trying to act like what I think is fact or anything of the sort, I simply want to be sure we aren't acting too quickly. I've been just as guilty as plenty of others for wanting to ban things that potentially aren't issues.
Now, I'm not saying Cinderace hasn't been really good for that long. It's been great ever since Libero got released and has been on our radar for a while. However, it's definitely skyrocketed in the past two weeks how good people generally think it to be. I believe a lot of people looked at Urshifu similarly when it first got released, and now a large portion of the community don't view it anywhere close to as they did then. Again, Cinderace isn't the same, it's been around longer, it's been really good for longer, etc.
Why test Magearna, though? Well, Magearna has been more consistent and is much harder to truly prepare for. Magearna has many different sets to utilize, and Choice Specs, quite frankly, can break no matter what you have equipped to combat it. All the varying set up sets also can simply clean house unless a select counter is in place, and there are not that many to choose from. Toxapex can get beaten by CM TBolt or Shift Gear Electro Ball. Rotom-H can potentially struggle with Stored Power or Shift Gear + CM sets. Blissey and Chansey straight up lose to CM Pain Split. The list goes on. It's not easy to cover everything in one on a single team, and it puts a serious strain on what you can run.
Lastly, we are still looking at Cinderace. Right now, we'd ideally like to not run another suspect test while the Official Ladder Tournament is ongoing (it begins on August 5th!), as such, if the metagame can't develop around Cinderace and it is still seen to be the top dog and in need of immediate attention, we can apply the "Melmetal treatment" if the need is urgent. For those unaware, we quick banned Melmetal quite quickly after its release, and gave it a proper suspect test a month later. The same option is available for Cinderace, even though we decided to handle Magearna first, and did that through a suspect test. But ultimately, for now we'll just be doing Magearna, but Cinderace is very much so on our immediate radar, and will most certainly be getting its own form of attention in the next few months.
Side note: I know I said we do not want to run a suspect while OLT is going on, but I'd like to say we are NOT going to entirely cater towards official tournaments; there's more to OU than just what goes on in the tournaments subforum. However, the qualifying phase of OLT alongside laddering for suspect reqs could be incredibly tiresome and the overlap would be cruel. We wish to avoid this potential trouble for everyone who is potentially interested in both of these things. As such, it's unlikely we'd conduct a suspect test that overlaps with OLT qualifying phase, at least at this point in time.
Harry's House
Jul 21, 2020
Council Paragraphs go here
Magearna has been one of the best Pokemon in the SS OU metagame since the day it was released, but I believe that only the Choice Specs set rising in popularity recently that has pushed it over the top. While this is a closer decision than some may think, I believe that the versatility of Magearna is not necessarily what pushes it over the top, but rather the sheer breaking power of the Choice Specs variant. I respect that it has a plethora of viable variants, including many different ways to pose as a win condition, but I personally find most of these manageable without going too far out of your way. The real burden Magearna has on both teambuilding and balanced gameplay for me is the Choice Specs set; Fleur Cannon mandates use of one of a specific set of special walls (Chansey/Blissey) or pivots (Toxpex/Amoonguss) while Volt Switch can easily chip most of these into range or put you on the back foot, forcing lots of high risk prediction even in the early stages of games involving your Electric immunity, which is virtually forced onto teams due to the presence of Magearna. Overall, Magearna is too strong and has too small a pool of consistent counterplay in order to remain SS OU and I will personally be voting ban.
With just two moves, Specs Magearna maintains "perfect" coverage over the entire metagame; it doesn't matter that Pokemon such as Excadrill and Rotom-Heat resist its main coverage when they're getting heavily chunked anyway. Where other Volt Switch/U-turn users have to work much harder to chunk out common pivots such as Toxapex and Clefable, Magearna only has to make a single correct prediction to achieve the same impact, one where the consequences of an incorrect guess aren't generally that bad due to a lack of offensive counterplay. This is all with two moves; its other slots are effectively luxuries that can be reserved for certain matchups and positions. Magearna can throw out Fighting moves at will to nail Excadrill, Trick off its Specs to break defensive teams, or chunk a different set of Pokemon with Flash Cannon. A lot of Choice Band/Scarf users need these additional slots to threaten the gaps in its primary coverage; Magearna doesn't.
Magearna's other sets aren't individually broken, but they do exacerbate the brokenness of its primary offensive set (Zygarde effect) rather than diminish it. This is unlike last generation where the necessity of its defensive sets made its offensive sets less meta-relevant. A lot of teams couldn't afford to run the offensive Z-move sets because they needed a defensive Steel. At the beginning of the post-DLC metagame, it looked like defensive sets and Scarf were going to do the same thing, but offensive sets quickly blew them out of the water. Magearna's coverage and power is too good in this metagame, and it can still play defensive roles even without additional investment. Other sets such as Shift Gear and Calm Mind have already emerged to prey on metagame trends and increase the burden of preparation against Magearna. Due to the metagame's volatility, I won't rule out a shift changing my mind in the next two weeks, but I am currently leaning towards a ban.
Magearna has always been an absurdly good Pokémon in OU. It was always able to serve as a strong sweeper, wallbreaker or even a wall to serve as a check to itself. In SS OU, Magearna recieved a couple of new weapons to continue it's dominating presence in the metagame, with the most important ones arguably being Stored Power and Trick. Both of these moves have improved Magearna in different ways, one for cleaning sets and the other for choice based sets. Additionally, the current metagame's abscence of specific Pokémon make handling Magearna a whole different story. The lack of Pokémon such as Heatran and Victini as teambuilding options that would sponge up moves like Choice Specs Fleur Cannon is an underrated aspect that comes into play very often when we look at things in practice, and without Pokémon such as the ones listed above Magearna can opt for a variety of different sets when it's goal is to sweep. I've had a consistent change of heart on a few of the new Pokémon we got introduced to our metagame, but Magearna is the only one that has seemed clearly broken to me all of this time, and I don't see this changing as long as we don't get introduced new teambuilding options again.
As it stands in the current meta, I feel that Magearna is on the bubble of being broken for one primary reason. Magearna's primary set, Choice Specs, is capable of shredding through the entire metagame thanks to its near perfect coverage. In a metagame that is currently heavily reliant on widdling away at teams through chip via moves such as Knock Off, Volt Switch, and U-turn in order to setup wincons, Magearna is capable of making an immediate impact. With Volt Switch, Choice Specs Magearna is capable of making a dent on teams in a meta where there aren't great Volt Switch pivots. Unlike most common U-turn/Volt Switch users, Choice Specs Magearna makes an absurdly large dent due to Magearna's great 130 Base SpA coupled with Specs. Add in the fact that Magearna can use Fleur Cannon, an absurdly strong STAB move that when boosted with Choice Specs, is capable of 2HKOing nearly the entire tier. These two moves alone force many high risk predictions around Magearna whereas the Magearna user faces typically minimal drawback when using these moves due to the sheer strength and the great natural bulk of Magearna. Add to the fact that Magearna has a wide range of coverage moves such as Aura Sphere, Flash Cannon, and Trick, and it emphasizes the difficulty of finding an appropriate Magearna answer. I feel that Magearna's presence forces a large amount of counterplay and is restricting in the team builder.
Of course, there is some part of me that can see support for Magearna. Similar to Urshifu, I think the couple checks to Magearna (such as Toxapex, Amoonguss, Excadrill, Blissey, etc.) would be top tier mons regardless of counterplay. In a sense, Magearna doesn't necessarily force bad mons to be used. Add that to the fact that the current meta is extremely volatile, with mons shifting in viability practically every other week, and I could see some reasonable justification for Magearna staying.
However, with that being said, I am leaning towards banning Magearna for the reasons listed in my initial paragraph.
Last edited: Jul 29, 2020
Harry's House
Jul 21, 2020
#4
Locking this thread for the next 24h in order to give people time to collect their thoughts.
Harry's House
Jul 22, 2020
#5
Happy posting everyone. This is now unlocked!
Jul 22, 2020
Magearna is absurdly broken in my opinion. It puts so much pressure on teams thanks to its fantastic coverage and good stats, resulting in a lack of counterplay. The fact that Magearna is able to safely switch into common Pokemon like Rillaboom, Mandibuzz, and Zeraora also give it more opportunities to come in and massively damage something. One of the moves it contains is Volt Switch, allowing Magearna to easily switch out of its checks and pivot into another teammate. The presence of Magearna alone just puts a bunch of strain on its checks, and with the right support Magearna can become a deadly late-game cleaner. The most common set is Choice Specs, which is a big factor of Magearna being so great currently. Magearna also holds a number of different sets, such as Assault Vest, CM + Shift Gear, and simply Shift Gear. There isn't really much stopping these, either, and its moves are also pretty spammable thanks to Soul-Heart. It has also been very common in WCOP and fishes win pretty easily. Magearna is quite held back by the amount of offensive counterplay due to its mediocre Speed stat, making it far from perfect as Finchinator mentions. Volcarona, Cinderace, and Rotom-H all force it out pretty well. Magearna especially handles stall and balance teams very well, and could possibly invalidate them if given the chance. Out of the new additions it got this generation, the most notable one is Trick, which leaves Chansey/Blissey, Scizor, and other things totally useless. Magearna restricts teambuilding in a way, and I do not think it should stay OU for any longer. Ban
Last edited: Jul 22, 2020
Jul 22, 2020
I think Magearna has been a generation overdue of at least a suspect. While the Z-crystals are removed (which made Magearna even more unpredictable than it already was), the new access to Stored Power, Draining Kiss and Trick make it even more unpredictable than it was last gen. If you have no good answer (Cinderace, Excadrill or a Hazer) the game is pretty much over after a CM + Shift Gear, as that set can be as big of a snowball as Dynamax was. And some Stored power sets run Iron Defense over Shift Gear to nullify physical checks as well. To me this set is the most potent of all, but that's also because I am not a huge Cinderace/Pex fan, so often I just get snowballed. Once you get set up just enough, it's game over as it outspeeds/tanks everything, and heals everything back with a single kiss. Making chip basically nonexcistent.
The specs set personally feels worse than the one I mentioned above, but getting constantly hit with a 30-60% volt switch is just too much as well concidering that is just its most spammable move. Then there's Fleur Cannon to think about, which basically 2HKOS everything, even resists.
This should be a ban, but I haven't played enough of OU (roughly 150 games since DLC with whack teams?) to make a full conclusion. I'll see if I can get the reqs, but I'm not going to grind for it. If somebody can give me a team which proves Magearna is truly busted (preferably specs), I might make a secondary conclusion.
Harry's House
Jul 22, 2020
TAOChingChong said:
Magearna has been one of the best Pokemon in the SS OU metagame since the day it was released, but I believe that only the Choice Specs set rising in popularity recently that has pushed it over the top. While this is a closer decision than some may think, I believe that the versatility of Magearna is not necessarily what pushes it over the top, but rather the sheer breaking power of the Choice Specs variant. I respect that it has a plethora of viable variants, including many different ways to pose as a win condition, but I personally find most of these manageable without going too far out of your way. The real burden Magearna has on both teambuilding and balanced gameplay for me is the Choice Specs set; Fleur Cannon mandates use of one of a specific set of special walls (Chansey/Blissey) or pivots (Toxpex/Amoonguss) while Volt Switch can easily chip most of these into range or put you on the back foot, forcing lots of high risk prediction even in the early stages of games involving your Electric immunity, which is virtually forced onto teams due to the presence of Magearna. Overall, Magearna is too strong and has too small a pool of consistent counterplay in order to remain SS OU and I will personally be voting ban.
also finch i luv u <3 bb marry me pls
EDIT: first post :]
Click to expand...
Stealing the words and posts of other people is strictly forbidden. That is my argument and it will be included in the council paragraphs, please do not do this again or I will infract. Making this a public warning now so everyone can see not to do this.
Jul 22, 2020
I don't have voting status, so I won't provide a huge explanation, but if I could vote, I'd vote Ban. It simply has too few counters and has too much of a chokehold on the current meta. Whenever I see this thing in team preview, I get scared. You never know what it will run, and therefore how to counter it.
Jul 22, 2020
Magearna is absolutely absurd. A Steel-fairy, an ability that raises spattack when you faint a foe, very good bulk, really good special attack combined with a signature that is fairy overheat? Already sounds really good. Then you realize this is one of the weakest metas for a couple of gens and you realize this thing might be pushing it. Then you realize it can run a variety of sets, the strongest being choice specs due to its sheer breaking power, but don't forget about shift gear calm mind stored power draining kiss, av, among other less viable ones. Pex is like, nooooooo, you can't just weaken me with volt switch and then steal the game with specs fleur, and Mag be like haha specs go brrrr. However, Mag does have its fair share a checks that are easy to fit on teams like Pex, Bliss, or others so I personally don't have a final decision. I'm definitely leaning toward ban due to the absolute stress it puts on the team builder and its pure breaking power relative to the meta right now. I'm waiting to see other people's responses, this is an interesting suspect (even though this thing is 100% coming back after DLC 2 lmao).
Edit: Forgot to mention it can now bait in and punish Pex, Bliss, or Chans with trick. Chans suffers to most due to it losing eviolite and that's one of the reasons Bliss has made its triumphant revenge over Chans (other than Boots).
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Jul 22, 2020
I haven't really been playing OU a lot, so I won't provide an opinion on the ban itself, however, I do want to bring up something for everyone to consider; an OU without Magearna (if it is banned). The Pokemon most obviously affected has to be:
I don't think Cinderace should be banished to Ubers if Magearna is. One of its best qualities is its ability to revenge kill Specs Magearna since Fleur Cannon will never kill, and Magearna needs at least 80 def or HP EVs to avoid the guaranteed OHKO (it would need far more to avoid the chance of an Ohko). Both of these options can cut into its speed, which means far more Pokes can revenge kill like Magnezone and Crawdaunt.
(Anything with less bulk is a guaranteed OHKO)
If Magearna is gone, then Cinderace will lose one of its primary victims. And again, one of the reasons why it has surged in the past two weeks is BECAUSE of Magearna. Magearna can also be a great partner to Cinderace since it checks so much of the metagame which can mean that Cinderace can be more susceptible to things like Alakazam and Dragapult (or other things, correct me if I'm wrong).
Again, these are just things to consider during the suspect test, and nothing is concrete.
Last edited: Jul 22, 2020
Jul 22, 2020
I think Magearna should be banned. As of gen 7, there was a lot of time when a suspect test was possible because the mon was that strong, top 3 alongside Heatran and Ash-Gren imo, maybe better than those 2. But right now, with few mons around, a really reduced power creep and a even more tools, Magearna is too much for the tier. While it does not that have that inmediate one turn - one kill Dracovish had, I found her even stronger than what Dracovish was. Magearna has no counter to all of it sets. Chansey and Bilssey get owned by Pain Split or Draining Kiss, it can maybe set up and then tank a hit with Shuca Berry, or just the recovery of berries/lefties...The problem with Magearna is that she's not only strong, but bulky, and has one of the best typings in the game, packing just two weaknesses, but 2 inmunities, one including inmunity to toxic spikes and toxic itself, resists rock and 9 resistances. She has base 115 on each defense alongside the same sp atk as Urshifu atk, who's far weaker on the special side, has cuadruple weakness to fairy, and a clearly worse type overall.
Magearna has all the tools she needs to be an extremely good Pokémon both setting up and being choice locked. This is something even over Darmanitan, who only had two viable sets: Scarf and Banded. So, it's even harder to manage her and it suffocates the enemy trainer more and more until she runs freely of checks and wins the game. Specs Magearna has really few switch-ins, you can really count them with one hand if she predicts well.
Magearna setting up is the definition of "win con" further than any other mon has ever been in gen 8 up until today. She has moves to boost attack, defense, speed, special attack and special defense, she has stored power, recovery on draining kiss and pain split, and she has clearly one of the best movepool of the game, so she has the coverage for every single mon she wants to target.
In conclusion I think a ban is mandatory.
Monky25
Jul 22, 2020
Ah yes, Magearna. You love using her and you hate facing her. I'll just keep this plain and simple, ban mag due to her wide versatility, ability to break through any check and counter, and just sheer destructiveness created by her choice specs set. I will say this though, I feel the reason mons like volcarona, cinderace, and toxapex are so common is because theyre arguably the best checks to mag we've got, and even then they can be shut down. Cinderace has the ability to OHKO and revenge it, leading to widespread usage of cinderace in the tier to deal with magerana. Once magearna goes, I do believe there is a chance that cinderace will not be as dominant as it is right now as its needed less to check magearna. Same goes for toxapex, as it's able to block set up mag with Haze. Volcarona is another mon that can threaten mag with it's STAB fire. All in all, i believe that after mag is banned, the meta will adjust and there is a chance that cinderace, pex, or volc wont be as good as they are now due to their ability to check mag so well. Prolly wont gets reqs cause im trash, but if i did id vote easy ban
Jul 22, 2020
#14
So, Magearna. I absolutely love this Pokemon and its easily my favourite Pokemon to use in this meta. Unfortunately, I also believe it's broken in the tier in its current state and I'll be explaining why I feel this, I feel this really comes down to how absurd the Choice Specs set is and I will be linking that set to all of my points because its really the set that pushes it over the edge.
So Choice Specs Magearna is unbelievably absurd, and as it stands right now, it has pretty much no counters, Fleur Cannon alone 2HKOs almost everything in the tier, even resists such as Cinderace and Excadrill can only switch in once, and would be answers such as Chansey, Amoonguss and Blissey can simply be crippled by Trick or just used as momentum for Magearna because of Volt Switch, those are definitely solid checks to Specs Mag but the lack of consistent counterplay to this Pokemon is simply insane, counterplay to this Pokemon is incredibly limited, and those Pokemon I listed aren't good counterplay, but they are good switch ins, but they are not good or consistent enough counterplay to keep Specs Magearna in check, as a result, counterplay to Magearna really comes down to offensive Pokemon that can force it out such as Cinderace and Volcarona, in the latter's case it can take advantage of that can set up, however they have the same problem in that they need to come in safely, that usually means sacking a Pokemon in order to bring it in, in which the Magearna can simply switch out into a check, or they are brought in aggressively, which obviously cannot switch into it whatsoever and simply go into check to those Pokemon. Magearna's lack of counterplay options outside of a few I've mentioned proves its impact on the metagame.
Then we have Magearna's versatility, now while all of its other sets are much more manageable than Choice Specs, I want to say that with how hard it is to deal with it, prepping for Choice Specs can make other sets much harder to handle. Substitute + Calm Mind is definitely the biggest example of this as you can give it any EV spread you really desire and its ability to deal with checks to Choice Specs such as Chansey, Blissey and Amoonguss make prepping for Magearna as a whole all the more tricky. Now I don't think versatility in general is a reason why something should be banned and if it is, its usually should be if a Pokemon's versatility makes it far too difficult to account for on teambuilding, like Genesect for example, Magearna I feel doesn't have this issue as its checks such as Cinderace and Blissey are checks to its other sets, but I feel when you add on the potency of the Specs set and the fact that there are many more sets that Magearna has makes prepping for Magearna as a whole a big pain in my opinion.
Overall, Magearna at this point in time feels far too much for the metagame due to its lack of consistent counterplay and the negative impact it has on both teambuilding and in practice and as a result should be banned.
imperfection is beautiful
OU Forum Leader
Jul 22, 2020
Magearna is a really weird case, especially because of how much it's changed in the transition from Gen 7 to Gen 8. On one hand, the sentiment of suspecting Magearna first is something I disagree with, since I feel Pokemon like Urshifu--which can singlehandedly shut down Balance and more defensive teams for enabling offense--and Cinderace--which has no actual counters and is the best offensive pivot in the tier that completely controls the momentum of a game--are more immediate issues due to what kinds of trends they promote in the tier, and how they suffocate teambuilding. Though, on the other, Magearna is completely ridiculous and is definitely problematic, so I'm definitely for a suspect anyway.
Magearna, of the Pokemon mentioned, is one of the most independently powerful Pokemon in the tier that requires little to no actual team support to completely spearhead games. With great defensive stats, one of the best defensive typings in the game, and a myriad of options, it has cemented itself as the best Pokemon in the tier. Not only is it incredibly hard to scout for due to the overall efficiency of all of its sets, but it is extremely punishing to players who scout it incorrectly and let it either severely dent them, have a wall crippled with Trick, or let it get free set-up. All of its sets are extremely devastating to every kind of archetype in the tier.
I'll break down each of the sets I've seen personally to help give a scope to my biggest concern with it.
This one I've been experimenting a lot with lately, and while I don't think it's its best set unlike most people, I think it by itself is immensely difficult to actually check, and alone could be banworthy. Specs Fleur Cannon hits everything--even resists--for incredible damage. Due to Magearna's amazing natural power, Soul Heart, and there being no Fairy immunity, it's a very low cost move to spam. On top of that, even on walls that normally can switch in rather comfortably like Chansey and the newly found Blissey, they have to risk losing their item and being stricken with a crippling Choice lock. Even worse is that Magearna's Volt Switches still sting like a bitch as well, and greatly dent Toxapex--which normally checks its set-up variants. The last moveslot is usually not too needed, but Aura Sphere is preferable to me to smash Steels (primarily Magnezone and Excadrill) that could switch in on a Fleur Cannon and revenge it. The biggest problem in my opinion is not its spammable power, but actually Trick, which completely invalidates what would otherwise be pretty solid checks to its brute strength, since literally nothing else wants to switch in on it. Even just scouting for Trick is super risky for the foe, and usually pretty free for the Magearna player since you're not offsetting that much power.
Calm Mind is a constant, but the 2nd option is typically a toss up of Iron Defense and Shift Gear. While Shift Gear makes for a menacing, immediate powerhouse that can gather Stored Power boosts even faster, Iron Defense completely flips the tables and weaponizes Magearna's great defensive potential, turning potential Scarf revenge killers (or physical breakers in general) into set-up fodder. Despite how great Specs is at breaking and crippling walls, I've found Iron Defense + Calm Mind + 2 attacks beyond more obscene, simply because it's so easy to set up on a foe without a Toxapex, and just win the moment you get in on something that can't really do anything to you, which are a dime a dozen. To add insult to injury, you can't poison Magearna, only Paralyze or Burn it. Unlike Specs, though, the "checks" to this set are a bit different: Toxapex and Rotom-Heat are your only real immediate answers, but even those completely lose out on the matchup if they don't get in quickly. This set is disgusting and forces such specific answers, which fold completely to its Specs variant.
This one is much more uncommon, but it gets just enough Speed to target and blow away faster, more vulnerable Pokemon that might want to try and check its other sets, due to them lacking any immediate Speed control, like Cinderace or Urshifu. This set also benefits greatly from Volt Switch and Trick in a similar kin to Choice Specs, but its Fleur Cannons are less spammable due to the loss of power. Though, even with this set not being nearly as good as the above two, it can, once more, change what actually checks it.
It's not anywhere near as good as it was back in Gen 7, but it's still a pretty strong pivot and has a punch to its moves that make it still pretty good. We already know what's up with it, but compared to what else it has, it pales in comparison. Its checks, also, once more, change pretty drastically.
This set is very niche, but dunks on fat walls like Blissey and Chansey that normally check it, while giving Magearna fearsome longevity. I'm admittedly very unexperienced with it, but from what I've used of it, I've usually run Pain Split + Thunder Wave + Fleur Cannon + Volt Switch, which performs as a surprisingly ok offensive support Pokemon and indirect speed control with its great defensive typing as well.
So, let me get to the point. We already know what's up with these sets, so what's the point of telling you guys what you already know? The biggest reason I bring all this up is because it illustrates Magearna's obscene versatility and the effectiveness to every one of its sets. Due to how the roles of each of these sets hugely differ from one to the other, its checks change startlingly, and scouting for it is very hard due to how potent each of these variants are. It is a wallbreaker in one set, speed control in another, a utility attacker in one, a pivot in one, and a win-con in two others. All of these variants have different ways of being handled, to the point where prepping for every Magearna set and scouting for which one your foe is using is almost impossible to do unless you want to lose a huge playing piece, or dedicate your team toward checking it--the latter of which, is blatantly absurd and extremely unhealthy. If you're scouting for Double Dance, for example, switching in your Toxapex can spell the end of your Toxapex's utility due to a crippling Trick, or force it to take extreme Volt Switch damage. Or, if you're scouting for an AV variant and switch in your Cinderace, it can use Iron Defense on your switch, and begin to pave its way to cleanly 6-0ing you.
While I find Urshifu and Cinderace to be bigger problems in teambuilding and trendsetting, Magearna alone has a severe impact on teambuilding, but more prominently, playing itself. Its set versatility is beyond healthy for players to play and build against due to how blatantly powerful each one is, and how difficult it is to safely scout for them without taking some kind of losing punishment; as such, Magearna is very banworthy.
Last edited: Jul 23, 2020
Jul 22, 2020
#16
I don't have voting reqs yet, but I wanted to get my thoughts out.
Let me be as civil as possible when I say this.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's go into why I think Magearna is broken. In the most succinct possible way, Magearna is extremely versatile and extremely powerful. Its sky-high defenses and amazing defensive typing; including a Toxic immunity, a Sandstorm immunity, a Dragon immunity, and nine resistances; mean the only thing that I've found to consistently deal with it is a Banded Watershifu using Surging Strikes in rain. Obviously, if I played poorly or they saved their Magearna until rain is down or Urshi is dead, Magearna can still steamroll my team.
However, it's not only a defensive monster, otherwise we wouldn't be having a suspect. The major reason I find Magearna to be so broken is its offenses. 130 Special Attack is always scary unless your name is Chansey, and 95 Attack for Iron Heads on Chansey still isn't bad. Steel/Fairy is also a great offensive typing, hitting much of the meta at least neutrally. Magearna also has a decent coverage movepool to draw from, with stuff like BoltBeam, Aura Sphere/Focus Blast, Energy Ball, and Shadow Ball. Its Soul-Heart ability also allows it to snowball if it lands enough powerful attacks. A Specs set is mortifying against a weakened team, but to be honest, I don't think that's its best set. That honor goes to the terrifying Double Dance set. Magearna's low speed could easily be seen as its Achilles heel, as it is outsped by most of the meta. However, a Shift Gear remedies this, and Magearna's aforementioned great defensive attributes may even allow it to get two on a good read. Calm Mind and Soul-Heart, as mentioned above, allow it to easily snowball and completely destroy a team, ripping through even resists after a few boosts. Both of these sets are excellent, so you have no idea which one it is until it clicks a move, and if you guess wrong, good luck. There are likely even sets I haven't encountered enough to fear, but I don't know until it clicks a move.
There is nothing currently in the SS OU meta that, when I see it in team preview, provokes as much fear as Magearna. Fantastic defenses and nearly peerless offenses make it a primed offensive and defensive monster. I want this thing gone from OU.
Jul 22, 2020
#17
I will most likely not reach voting status in this test, but would like to share my thoughts.
I think magearna's offensive power, while impressive, is not banworthy. 130 special attack is impressive but does not put magearna above the other top breakers in the tier. While fleur cannon specifically is exceptionally powerful, to reach that staggering power it must be specs boosted, and specs lock is extremely punishing with a move that sharply drops the user's relevant offensive stat. In addition, magearna's speed, a key stat for offensive pokemon, is decidedly unimpressive. Even after a boost, magearna can be outrun by fast scarfers, and without one is outsped by almost every offensive mon. It was pointed out in the initial post that the defensive counters and pivots against magearna are very specific; the chansey line and the regenerator poison types. This complaint is largely meaningless, however, as those defensive pivots are extremely popular and the best choices for their rolls in the tier. It's true that non-chansey special walls can't hold out against magearna, but practically every team with a special wall is using chansey for that purpose.
Magearna's boosting capacities are again near the top of the tier, but not significantly better than the other top boosters. Magearna needs at least two boosts to be a sweeper (obviously it can do better in the lategame when a team is weakened, but that roll has many strong candidates), as its speed is too low to sweep anything and its special attack, while excellent, doesn't reach the level of anything boosted. If you let a setup mon boost TWICE, you have been outplayed and the loss is fair (in addition, the single boost of calm mind is often not enough to truly sweep even then).
A more convincing grounds on which magearna could be called imbalanced is its natural bulk. Even uninvested, magearna's natural defenses are enough to tank a few powerful hits, including non-stab super effective hits. Magearna also has an excellent defensive typing, resisting almost everything. That said, the omnipresent cinderace, excadrill, and vulcarona all outspeed magearna to hit it for devastating damage. These mons are all strong and will continue to be popular without magearna; while they check it, it is not the reason they are used.
Finally, the complaint of magearnas versatility. It is true that magearna can alter its set to beat its standard counters, such as carrying trick or pain split to break chansey and blissey or changing its coverage to hit other pivots hard. That said, magearna's offensive checks, which are more common and important, are very difficult to build against. Nothing magearna does will allow it to outspeed excadrill, cinderace, or vulcarona, or to consistently weather their attacks. In addition, any of the adjustments made to magearna's set to answer its normal counters weakens it against most other things.
Magearna is definitely one of the strongest pokemon in the OU tier, and it has potential both as a setup sweeper and as a simple offensive cannon. That said, I think the contribution of a slow but durable special attacker adds depth to the format, and that the popularity of specific pokemon that counter magearna (both before and after its introduction) prevent it from being an overpowered or overcentralizing element of the format. I believe magearna should not be banned.
Jul 22, 2020
#18
Just managed to get the suspect reqs, here are what I have to say:
Magearna's unpredictability made it tough to deal with. With specs it became a coin flip of sorts of going between my poison and my electric immunity, and while I often managed to get the prediction correct (or the downside of getting it incorrect wasn't bad) those kind of mind games feel unhealthy for the metagame. Grabbing momentum on mons like Toxapex also happened to damage them heavily enough to get a mon like Cinderace in to claim one. I bring up Cinderace in particular because it and Mag pair really well together, Mag can threaten the few mons Cinderace can't break through easily (Slowbro, Hippowdon, Mandi) and Cinderace in turn pressures the sort of steels that would want to come in on Magearna, only to take a Volt Switch and suddenly be in a situation where they have to make a big prediction to avoid saccing a mon.
Another major factor in Magearna's unpredictibility is it's setup movepool, this has already been explained more in depth but let's just say that I agree. Part of why specs works so well is that you can't risk going into a mon that won't be able to do much damage to it, so you're forced to go into your Fire/Ground/Pex with Haze because if the Magearna starts setting up with the right set in front of a mon that can't stop it from setting up a second time then it will often be near impossible to stop, barring some sort of shenanigans like hax or weird sets.
Magearna also has impressive utility. It's typing often lets it come in on a substantial part of the metagame to start wreaking havoc on the opposing team, and the typing is also amazing offensively, letting it threaten most mons that aren't Fire/Steel/Poison with it's STABs (and it can Volt Switch on most of them as well). Assault Vest is a great set, letting it come in on special threats like offensive Clefable, Magnezone, Hydreigon, and opposing Magearna while gaining momentum with Volt Switch.
Magearna is offensively versatile and one of the biggest threats in the metagame, if not the biggest. It makes the course of the game a bunch of 50/50s which often can benefit the user even if the Magearna user gets the prediction wrong. I feel this mon is unhealthy, and should be banned from the SWSH OU metagame.
Cedev
Jul 22, 2020
Magearna is a great pokemon, maybe the best pokemon in OU but should it be banned ? I am not sure.
I did not have problems with the specs set but maybe it is because I play most of the time HO teams. This set is amazing but I would not say broken. I admit that fleur cannon is overpowered and 2HKO most of the meta but in fact it is not a real 2HKO because of the SPA drop. So bring a mon that resists to it and heal back (regenerator mons work too). Also, like all other choice lock item, you become a setup fodder.
Yeah trick is an issue too but in this generation there are no mega and Z move so that move has become very powerful in general.
Choice specs it is a gamble but is it not the case ? I think risks should be rewarded. But today the meta is so fat that we just take a check for the best mons and do not anticipate.
In my opinion the meta is way too passive so I am not sure that ban an offensive mon is a great solution. The main issue with ban Magearna, in my opinion, is Urshifu. If Magearna is banned, every team will play Clefable because of Urshifu. So what next ? Ban Urshifu ? Then Cinderace ? The meta will get more and more passive.
I think Magearna should not be banned.
Jul 23, 2020
Ever since my return to this forum, I've mainly been focused on Doubles and VGC but still keeping an eye on OU to see how the meta there goes. But even with My little experience in OU, I could see this coming from a mile away the SECOND Magearna was confirmed to return. Not only did it get new tools in Stored Power and STAB Draining Kiss, but most of the pokemon that previously threatened Magearna such as Garchomp, Landrous-T and Heatran are just... not in the game (at least for the time being). I don't have enough experience in OU to really say whether or not Magearna should/shouldn't be banned, but I find it very difficult to see an argument for Magearna staying.
Jul 23, 2020
Cedev said:
Magearna is a great pokemon, maybe the best pokemon in OU but should it be banned ? I am not sure.
I did not have problems with the specs set but maybe it is because I play most of the time HO teams. This set is amazing but I would not say broken. I admit that fleur cannon is overpowered and 2HKO most of the meta but in fact it is not a real 2HKO because of the SPA drop. So bring a mon that resists to it and heal back (regenerator mons work too). Also, like all other choice lock item, you become a setup fodder.
Yeah trick is an issue too but in this generation there are no mega and Z move so that move has become very powerful in general.
Choice specs it is a gamble but is it not the case ? I think risks should be rewarded. But today the meta is so fat that we just take a check for the best mons and do not anticipate.
In my opinion the meta is way too passive so I am not sure that ban an offensive mon is a great solution. The main issue with ban Magearna, in my opinion, is Urshifu. If Magearna is banned, every team will play Clefable because of Urshifu. So what next ? Ban Urshifu ? Then Cinderace ? The meta will get more and more passive.
I think Magearna should not be banned.
Click to expand...
Alright so you are aware that Magearna got a bunch of new toys that pushed an already borderline busted mon just completely over the edge? But first lets talk about specs. Even with the Spa drop, specs fleur can easily 2hko mons even after the drop, even mons like max HP Corviknight is a roll after rocks assuming it switched in at full. 252+ SpA Choice Specs Magearna Fleur Cannon over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 298-351 (74.5 - 87.7%) -- 6.3% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
But as we know, Trick made this set even better, with no megastones and z-crystal, there isn't a way to defend against trick which makes it very hard to deal with. Not only is specs hard to switch into since mage has great coverage and not much can deal with volt switch + fleur barring Ferro/Zone/Amoong, defensive mons like Ferro and Amoong can just get tricked and be useless for the remainder of the game, while Mage still hits hard without specs. No regen mons actually deal with specs Mage, Slowbro + Pex take 70%+ from volt switch, Tang drops to fleur and Amoong is 2hko by flash cannon. Due to Cinderace and Darkfu running about, they cannot run Spd sets.
But for me, the breaking point was definitely Draining Kiss + Stored Power. I don't think there's much that needs to be said about this. Magearna was a mon that could naturally gain a lot of boosts very easily and Stored Power just removed any chance to win the game after doing so. Between CM, SG and ID(Iron Defense), Magearna can boost whatever stats it wants and increase Stored Power by +40/60 in a single turn. While the Combo is usually SG + CM, ID + CM works against slower teams or to tank physical mons that would usually force it out. Draining Kiss made this set even more Absurd because it gave Magearna while not a reliable form of recovery, one that is good enough to enable it to heal huge amounts of HP and continue to set up. For example, at +3, Draining Kiss heals more damage then Chansey/Blissey spamming Seismic Toss, so they can't even deal with that set 1v1 unless they run Thunder Wave and get very lucky.
I feel Magearna has very limited counterplay with that set. Yes are some pokemon that can deal with it like Excadrill or Volcarona, but I still think its a broken mon. even Haze Pex (which is the only common Haze user atm) doesn't win unless you play perfectly and aren't statused and more defensive teams like Stall just have few options that aren't niche like Shedinja which admittedly is a hard counter, but in the meta of RH/Darkfu/Cinderace/Pult and knock off spam is very difficult to fit on a team.
You say that because Magearna is an offensive mon, then it shouldn't be banned because the meta will turn even more passive, but, we should not keep a broken mon in a metagame that we know is busted and can sweep teams with no counterplay when it gets going. Clefable has constantly been at the top of the usage stats since SWSH started, due to how good wish + teleport was at that time and it still remains an amazing mon. If the meta advances in an unhealthy way after banning threats, then those culprits can just be suspected.
TLDR; Mage is a broken, unhealthy mon that can sweep entire teams, able to boost whatever stat it wants and snowball further with Soul-Heart, amazing typing and stats to make setting up even easier and a dangerous immediately threatening specs set in both power and in its capability to cripple anything it likes with Trick. Easily one of the big 3 busted mons and will be voting Ban if I go for reqs
Jul 23, 2020
Cedev said:
If Magearna is banned, every team will play Clefable because of Urshifu. So what next ? Ban Urshifu ? Then Cinderace ? The meta will get more and more passive.
Click to expand...
Yes, if Urshifu and Cinderace end up becoming problems, they'll get banned too. That's how this works. As for the meta becoming too passive:
It's a bit outdated (pre-DLC), but the sentiment is still applicable.
Jul 23, 2020
I'm fine with Ursh and Ace being banned after Mage, as long as that means afterwards Pex will get banned for being an unhealthy centralizer that makes playing defense too easy.
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Jul 23, 2020
If Magearna were to get banned, it would also free up some defensive necessities on builds, allowing checking Urshifu to become easier to do. An example is Toxapex can more freely run PDef if Magearna isn't around, AV Tangrowth is practically pointless, another Pokemon that takes advantage of Fairy-types that pressure Urshifu is gone. Magearna getting banned really doesn't make Urshifu more powerful, as Magearna is far from being a remotely decent check to it. But regardless;
Finchinator said:
Do not use the argument of broken checking broken. Should your argument rest on your opinion that banning the Pokemon or mechanic being tested in this suspect test will make a Pokemon or mechanic broken, overpowered, and/or uncompetitive; don't. If something needs to be banned because of the result this suspect, then so be it.
Click to expand...
let's chill on worrying about how something else may be potentially broken afterwards. If you're concerned about something being broken after the test, that's fine and something we can look into then, but it's not a reason to not ban Magearna here.
Cedev
Jul 23, 2020
Alright so you are aware that Magearna got a bunch of new toys that pushed an already borderline busted mon just completely over the edge? But first lets talk about specs. Even with the Spa drop, specs fleur can easily 2hko mons even after the drop, even mons like max HP Corviknight is a roll after rocks assuming it switched in at full. 252+ SpA Choice Specs Magearna Fleur Cannon over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 298-351 (74.5 - 87.7%) -- 6.3% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
But as we know, Trick made this set even better, with no megastones and z-crystal, there isn't a way to defend against trick which makes it very hard to deal with. Not only is specs hard to switch into since mage has great coverage and not much can deal with volt switch + fleur barring Ferro/Zone/Amoong, defensive mons like Ferro and Amoong can just get tricked and be useless for the remainder of the game, while Mage still hits hard without specs. No regen mons actually deal with specs Mage, Slowbro + Pex take 70%+ from volt switch, Tang drops to fleur and Amoong is 2hko by flash cannon. Due to Cinderace and Darkfu running about, they cannot run Spd sets.
But for me, the breaking point was definitely Draining Kiss + Stored Power. I don't think there's much that needs to be said about this. Magearna was a mon that could naturally gain a lot of boosts very easily and Stored Power just removed any chance to win the game after doing so. Between CM, SG and ID(Iron Defense), Magearna can boost whatever stats it wants and increase Stored Power by +40/60 in a single turn. While the Combo is usually SG + CM, ID + CM works against slower teams or to tank physical mons that would usually force it out. Draining Kiss made this set even more Absurd because it gave Magearna while not a reliable form of recovery, one that is good enough to enable it to heal huge amounts of HP and continue to set up. For example, at +3, Draining Kiss heals more damage then Chansey/Blissey spamming Seismic Toss, so they can't even deal with that set 1v1 unless they run Thunder Wave and get very lucky.
I feel Magearna has very limited counterplay with that set. Yes are some pokemon that can deal with it like Excadrill or Volcarona, but I still think its a broken mon. even Haze Pex (which is the only common Haze user atm) doesn't win unless you play perfectly and aren't statused and more defensive teams like Stall just have few options that aren't niche like Shedinja which admittedly is a hard counter, but in the meta of RH/Darkfu/Cinderace/Pult and knock off spam is very difficult to fit on a team.
You say that because Magearna is an offensive mon, then it shouldn't be banned because the meta will turn even more passive, but, we should not keep a broken mon in a metagame that we know is busted and can sweep teams with no counterplay when it gets going. Clefable has constantly been at the top of the usage stats since SWSH started, due to how good wish + teleport was at that time and it still remains an amazing mon. If the meta advances in an unhealthy way after banning threats, then those culprits can just be suspected.
TLDR; Mage is a broken, unhealthy mon that can sweep entire teams, able to boost whatever stat it wants and snowball further with Soul-Heart, amazing typing and stats to make setting up even easier and a dangerous immediately threatening specs set in both power and in its capability to cripple anything it likes with Trick. Easily one of the big 3 busted mons and will be voting Ban if I go for reqs
Click to expand...
Yeah I agree that stored power is very powerful on him, don't know why they give him that move, but not unstoppable. After 1 boost, Toxapex can easily live a stored power and haze the boost. Amoonguss also live a stored power with 1 boost (CM or SG) and can spore him. Cinderace can also resist 1 hit and kills him. Even after 1 boost, Volcarona still wins in 1v1. Of course if you let him boost 2 or 3 times without doing nothing to stop him, yeah it is pretty over but I think it is a missplay of your part and maybe you deserve to lose. Quagsire unaware in stall team ?
I think Chansey or Blissey are still good answers to that set because like you said you need to go to + 3 in SPA to recover enough health. At least they can seriously weaken him so you can revenge kill him after.
Maybe Cinderace scarf ? It is rare because everybody relies a lot on boots (well I also do it) but it could also work. After 1 SG Magearna can still be outspeed (Excadrill sand rush for example, rain and sun sweepers maybe ?).
So my point is yeah Magearna double dance is really threatening but there are answers. After 1 boost Magearna can be stopped. I am not saying Magearna is not a beast, I think he is but I am not quite sure he deserves to be banned. Sorry for my poor english, I try my best, I really do.
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Wow, I feel like I have been going, going, going the past week or two. I have hardly had anytime to focus on my blog and get posts written; sorry if I haven’t been giving all of you the attention you deserve! I am working like a madman, but it is paying off! I have been training on grill and am LOVING it! Definitely need some practice but it is so exciting moving up in the kitchen finally.
May 8, 2011 8 comments Article Main Course, Meat, Recipes
My roommate recently went to visit her brother in Switzerland. While she was there she ventured over to Italy and was nice enough to get me an authentic Italian cook book. To thank her for the cook book, I told her I would cook her a recipe out of it. I spent hours reading over all of the unique Italian recipes. Eventually, we decided on Falsomagro.
I had never even heard of Falsomagro before seeing it in this book. Vegetarians beware… Falsomagro is a protein loaded Italian meat dinner from Sicily. It is a large flank steak filled with bacon, Italian sausage, eggs and cheese, then rolled up and slow cooked. I am 100% a meat eater, so I was pretty excited about packing as many proteins as possible into a big hunk of beef. I was a bit worried about cooking the meat for so long; I thought it was going to end up over-cooked, but it ended up being surprisingly tender! This is a great meal for a dinner party; it serves a lot of people and is very filling. I served my Falsomagro with parmesan roasted asparagus and potatoes.
April 24, 2011 12 comments Article Lunch, Main Course, Meat, Recipes, Vegetables
I will start this post by saying that I am aware of my pesto addiction. I find myself putting pesto on everything. The original recipe I found for these turnovers did not include pesto or cheese, but I felt that they would keep them from being too bland. My mom recently posted a recipe for Homemade Italian Sausage that had me intrigued. I was surprised how easy it was to make! I think if you are planning on dicing up your sausage, you might as well just make your own.
These turnovers are a perfect lunch or easy-to-eat dinner. They have lots of healthy veggies and delicious flavor all packed into one little turnover (or one large if you are me!). You want to be sure to strain out the excess liquid after cooking the filling, otherwise you will end up with a soggy turnover.
Also, you will notice that my recipe is in a new format. I finally got my new plugin, Easy Recipe, to work (HUGE thanks to my IT friend Cooper here in Cape Town!). If you are a food blogger you should definitely get this plugin, it helps your recipes get noticed on big search engines like Google by formatting them properly for the recipe search.
February 13, 2011 11 comments Article Breakfast, Meat, Recipes
What could be better than sausage and cheesy hash-browns? Sausage and cheesy hash-brown waffles! All of your favorite breakfast foods, combined into one delicious waffle. An old Everyday With Rachel Ray magazine gave me inspiration for this recipe.
These are great for a weekend breakfast- probably especially good for a weekend hangover as well. I must warn you, these waffles are not meant to be made healthier… I tried making them with turkey bacon also and they turned out a bit bland. The sausage gives a ton of flavor to the waffle, so if you insist on leaving it out, be sure to add other seasonings. I think that these waffles would be really good with onion added to the mixture as well. Play around and combine your own flavors if you would like!
January 16, 2011 18 comments Article Main Course, Meat, Recipes, Soup
As I have mentioned numerous times before, I try not to eat pasta when I am not at work. So, to serve with the Double Tomato Bruschetta, I chose this recipe for an Italian sausage soup. Yes, I know that tortellini still counts as pasta, but it is a bit fancier and this recipe doesn’t use very much of it. This soup captures the essence of true Italian flavors- basil, tomato, garlic, oregano, and red wine- and is a great alternative to the typical Italian pasta dinner.
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CME plans launch of a new gold futures contract with expanded delivery options CME 0.24% An unusually wide spread between gold prices for Comex futures and the London bullion market this week highlighted both pricing and delivery issues tied to the shutdowns of gold operations aimed at preventing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Metals...
September 25, 2020September 25, 2020by ekagoldfzc
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Coronavirus shutdowns cause glitches in gold market
Supply chain shutdowns caused by coronavirus have led to unprecedented disruptions in the gold market, as traders fear they cannot get hold of enough bullion to settle futures contracts traded in New York. The price of gold futures traded on Comex in New York, and expiring this month, widened to a $70-per-ounce premium above the...
September 25, 2020September 25, 2020by ekagoldfzc
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By JACK FARCHY AND JUSTINA VASQUEZBLOOMBERG MARCH 24, 2020 4:36 PM The gold market in New York is facing a historic squeeze as the global pandemic chokes off physical trading routes at the same time that investors are piling into the metal as a safe haven. At issue is whether there will be enough gold available...
September 25, 2020September 25, 2020by ekagoldfzc
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Gold slips 1% as small signs of progress against coronavirus boost stocks
KEY POINTS Spot gold was down 0.5% at $1,653.25 per ounce, after rising to a one-month high of $1,671.40. The metal had risen as much as 2.8% on Monday. Holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, SPDR Gold Trust, rose 0.5% to 984.26 tonnes on Monday — its highest in over three years. Palladium was 2.3% higher at $2,203.36...
September 25, 2020September 25, 2020by ekagoldfzc
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Gold rallies to over 7-year peak as virus sparks recession fears
Gold soared nearly 2% to hit its highest since late 2012 on Tuesday, with investors rushing to the safety of bullion as the coronavirus ravaged economies worldwide and triggered the rollout of huge stimulus plans. Spot gold gained 0.8% at $1,727.55 per ounce, having earlier jumped as much as 1.9% to $1,746.50. U.S. gold futures...
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"When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions." – Mat. 5:1-2 The Message
Posted on September 10, 2012 by Mark
Recently a young pastor with a heavy heart contacted me. He was overwhelmed and brokenhearted by critics in his church and pleaded for prayer.
I have added portions of his original message below. I have made changes to keep his and his church’s identity confidential.
Please, please, please pray! I certainly need the prayers. Soon after I graduated from seminary, I began to serve as the Pastor of a Southern Baptist Church, in Georgia. When I answered the call to this pastorate I had no idea that I would be stepping into a divided and dysfunctional church.
I’ve been here nearly a year and I guess you can say that my honeymoon period is over because I have already had my first conflict with a church leader. This person serves in several areas of our church.
This began when I offered some suggestions for their ministry. After complimenting them on their work I made a small suggestion.
Well, that simple suggestion threw them into a tantrum I didn’t expect. The next thing I know, I’m getting calls from members saying they were disappointed in me for the way I hurt their feelings. This person told them that I yelled at them and they felt like I had slapped them in the face because I was criticizing the way they serve.
Later on, I met with them and another leader and tried to work it out. We both made apologies and agreed to continue to work together (or so I thought). But, instead of continuing to work with me as they agreed, they called another leader and resigned. I again attempted to speak to them again the following Sunday. But, they still remained angry. Now they don’t serve anywhere and their family rarely speaks to me and they sit in the back of the auditorium scowling at me.
As a footnote, I am told that this same person was instrumental in running off the previous pastor. Now, I have a funny suspicion that this is what they are attempting to do to me because they continues to create division by speaking against me to other members. They won’t make eye contact with me and when they have to talk to me, they do so by looking at the floor. When I try to communicate with them they plays the victim card and gets defensive.
Also, I discovered that there are members who are passive-aggressive with other members of our staff and will not support their ministry because of a disagreement from long ago.
These are just two examples of how this church simply refuses to handle conflict in a godly and redemptive way. I saw that the animosity remains and it continues to be a divisive issue. So, somebody has to take the lead here. I am making every effort that I can to help them address this, and other issues, in a Biblical, redemptive manner. But, I am running up against severe resistance as there are some key leaders who don’t like it when I preach on reconciliation and loving one another. What else can I do?
I’ve been reading the minutes from business meetings and deacons meetings and I’ve discovered there is a pattern about this church. First, there will be a conflict of some sort. Then later, the pastor will leave sometime thereafter. During the interim period between pastors, there will be discussions about reconciling their differences and loving one another. In a short time, they’ll call a pastor and have a revival. This pattern repeats itself time and again with this church. And, guess what? I had not even began to unpacked before they are asking me about having a revival.
I agree that we need a genuine revival so I am preaching from Scripture that show God’s people His conditions for real revival and some of them don’t like that, either.
This church really needs to work through a lot of issues before we can move forward. I love this church, as there are some great people here. But, there is a dark stronghold on this church that is keeping it from being the church that God intends for it to be. This is an intense spiritual battle I am in and I can’t do it alone. Will you please pray for me and this church I serving as their Pastor?
Thanks!
My brother,
I am grieved to hear this. Sadly, I know all-to-well how believers behave badly and focus their animosity towards their pastor. I will pray.
This may be a battle to remove strongholds that lasts for years. I have served in churches with similar issues. I saw many strongholds fall, nearly lost my mind as the stress level was almost unbearable. Family illness during all of this naturally adds to the challenge. Here are seven suggestions that I hope will help:
1. Stay on the “high road” – Don’t let anyone provoke you to speaking or acting in a way that is not full of grace and truth. The enemy will seize upon this so be blameless.
2. Believe (really) that God will have the last word – Don’t let your frustration come through in your preaching. He will vindicate you.
4. Settle in for the long haul – It may take your entire ministry but someone has to rise above it and faithfully, consistently, lovingly hold to Christ’s ideal for the Church. You may not impress friends or the denomination with numbers, but you must be faithful. The Western mindset of a “successful” pastor and church with its quick growth is not often The way God works in bringing revival to His Church.
5. Pray for God to surround you with “Mighty Men” who will hold you up in prayer – Don’t try this alone. Also don’t subtly begin to base your success on others’ approval – becoming co-dependent. Eventually they will disapprove and it will be hard to objectively weigh their criticism. Beware of being a loner. You need to be vulnerable, but vulnerability can hurt. Nevertheless, it is necessary.
6. Be sure to focus on making and growing disciples – Not only is this the main thing and how we “seek first His Kingdom” but some of the men you help to grow in Christ could/should very well be instrumental in the future of the church.
7. Watch your health – In addition to a growing, vibrant personal relationship with Christ you need to have a healthy relationship with your wife and family. Your dear wife feels your pain so encourage and protect her. Discipline yourself to eat right and exercise. Aside from the obvious, this reduces stress and will help you think clearly. Fatigue will make a coward out of any man.
Early in my ministry many years ago, I was shocked to find that some in our church were angry at me and opposing me at every opportunity, yet they would not tell me why. I was so frustrated that I was ready to resign. I called Bob Sorrell, Adrian Rogers’ former associate and told him what was going on and asked what I should do. He reminded me that God knew about the needs of the people in the church when He put me there and that He would be with me as I followed Him. Of course, He was right.
I’ve prayed for you.
Perhaps you or your church has experienced similar stress. How would you encourage this young pastor?
Is your pastor in need of encouragement? Ask God to use you to be a “partner in the ministry” and a blessing to him!
I’m sure my young friend as well as your pastor would appreciate your prayers and encouragement!
This entry was posted in 1 Corinthians, Abuse, Anger, brokenhearted, Career, Challenge, Church Growth, Church Health, Comfort, Communication, Control, discouragement, Disillusionment, Dissension, Division, Encouragement, Faith, Family, Fear, God's Will, Gossip, Mission, Perseverance, Personal Growth, Purpose, Rumor, Slander, Success, The Church, Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.
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While our aim here at HRLab.com is to provide the best, most unbiased advice when it comes to HR software selection, implementation, and optimization, we have a confession to make…we are 100% unashamedly, unabashedly for technology. We're the folks whose hearts start to race at the mere mention of "mobile learning" and "applicant tracking". Not just because it's cool (we're not even sure if it actually is cool) or it's the direction that so many organizations are going; but because of the direct and measurable impact that technology has on human resources—and especially on employee engagement. And let's face it, employee engagement is the holy grail for human resources departments and organizations the world over. To that end, in this special report, we've collected what we think are the top 7 strategies that organizations can use to enhance engagement through technology. But first, let's answer some frequently asked questions to make sure everyone is on the same page.
What Do We Mean by Employee Engagement?
Countless theories, representations, and definitions have been espoused over the years about what employee engagement actually is. Rather than get into redefining this term to suit our needs here, we think it best to simply settle in on those aspects of engagement that are the most significant and agreed upon:
Engagement is about attitude – employees that are fully engaged truly want to be a part of, and are committed to, their organization;
Engagement is about effort – employees that are fully engaged show initiative, put forth intense effort, and contribute to the organizational bottom-line;
Engagement is about willingness – employees that are fully engaged willingly act as organizational advocates and actively promote the organization to current and potential customers and employees; and
Engagement can be influenced by a host of factors
Adding to this list is the fact that employee engagement is incredibly important; affecting everything from turnover rates to overall business performance. In fact, a recent study conducted by Gallup, the leading research company for engagement studies, found that organizations that don't invest in employee engagement have only a 17% chance of financially performing above industry averages.
What's the Organizational Impact of Engagement?
Aside from the financial statistic just cited, numerous research initiatives have shown that staff engagement is integral to the organizational "bottom-line", and more companies are becoming interested in how improving employee engagement can affect them. Indeed, the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) recently found that employee engagement is "the biggest challenge facing employers"—highlighting that nearly 75% of all organizations have engagement as a top priority. This is due in large part to the ratio of engaged: non-engaged: and dis-engaged employees—which in a recent Gallup study was 24%: 51%: 25% respectively.
Given that engaged employees out-pace and out-perform their colleagues by as much as 20% and are 87% less likely to voluntarily turnover than their non-engaged or dis-engaged counterparts (according to the Corporate Leadership Council), organizations are starting early with on-boarding and other practices as a way to preemptively net as many engaged staff as possible. Unfortunately, it would appear as though efforts aren't nearly as strident for existing employees. Given the research statistics, it would seem like far too many organizations are still not understanding the flip-side of the engagement coin—dis-engagement.
Employees that are dis-engaged are not just unhappy at work; they're passionate about how much they don't like their work. If you take the points we made earlier about what engagement is, but put a negative instead of a positive factor on them, you get closer to the true nature and danger of a disengaged employee. For example:
Attitude – employees that are dis-engaged have bad attitudes and let those bad attitudes be known;
Effort – employees that are dis-engaged can put forth intense effort to undermine other employees and hinder organizational progress; and
Willingness – employees that are dis-engaged willingly act as organizational detractors and actively discredit the organization to current and potential customers and employees
If those descriptors weren't bad enough, Gallup researchers (through a study of 40K+ employees) determined that those dis-engaged employees (which keep in mind only make up 25% of your workforce) are costing U.S. businesses alone over $345B annually. Couple these stats with the fact that dis-engaged employees are actively trying to influence the non-engaged, neutral employees (51% of your workforce), and the imminence of the threat should become evident.
All of this information adds up to an undeniable conclusion, employee engagement is tantamount to business success and organizations should be doing everything within their power to both engage employees from the onset and maintain or re-engage those that are already here. We happen to think that HR software technology is an incredible conduit for that engagement and as such, have outlined 7 strategies that you can use to boost what you have. Enjoy, engage, and prosper!
Though we're likely to get plenty of flack about adding a compensation element to an engagement strategy list, the fact of the matter is that compensation brings a great deal of influence to the engagement argument. While critics will undoubtedly argue that employees will not expend extra energy because of total compensation, it has been shown that in certain contexts, financial incentives do have a big part to play. For example, manufacturing environments have been shown to operate well under the auspices of a Pay-for-Performance (P4P) model. Likewise, Sales positions function quite effectively through incentive-based commissions.
The key for compensation management when it comes to employee engagement is to recognize that the rational engagement of compensation cannot substitute for the emotional engagement of managerial respect, teamwork, belonging and the like. Further, if not used correctly, compensation can turn motivation into expectation. Be that as it may, Compensation Management software can serve as the conduit for achieving these rational engagement gains by:
Providing the means by which pay-for-performance (P4P) is planned, measures and delivered;
Providing the structure by which incentive plans are created; and
Providing the efficiency needed to effectively deliver incentives when and where needed
While it may be true that compensation isn't the driving force for engagement overall, it is also true that engagement strategies largely depend and fluctuate based on the industry and the individual. As organizations look to leverage whatever elements they can for employee engagement, compensation should not be left out of the discussion. Any by proxy, nor should Compensation Management Software.
With more and more companies adding work/life balance to their list of acceptable Employer Value Proposition (EVP) tenants, it's clear that few things are as lauded for attraction, retention, and engagement in the war for talent. Unfortunately, many organizations don't understand that one of the keys to work/life balance lies in software solutions that are largely seen as transactional—Labor Management Systems (LMS). While scheduling capabilities inherent in these applications do allow schedule optimization for productivity or customer service purposes, they can also be used to optimize schedules for employees—especially those that are paid by the hour. Specifically, LMS software provides a method for these workers to select shift preferences and couples that with worker availability. These items can then be automatically fed into a scheduler application for the manager's approval and manipulation.
Aside from the fact that employee preferences are taken into consideration, by providing these workers flexibility, managers are better able to predict scheduling issues (e.g. greater adherence to schedule preferences = fewer absences), increase workforce capacity utilization, and mitigate unnecessary customer service failure (according to a recent Aberdeen study). While this may seem to be a solution that is too easy to have much impact, consider this:
Job growth for hourly workers is on the rise;
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts low-wage worker turnover 3.5 times higher than that of salaried employees; and
The average turnover cost (using the most conservative models) for an hourly worker is 1 month's wages.
Hence, even if the amount of hourly workers at a given organization is low, the financial impact of not implementing schedule optimization is sizeable. Labor Management Systems have the ability to deliver a solution that handles this optimization—from both human and financial standpoints.
A growing trend, highlighted by involvement from major players like Microsoft, Ernst & Young, and Waste Management, Inc., is the use of web-based networks to link up, engage, and stay connected with former workers or "Alumni". Running the gamut in terms of size, scope, ownership, and structure, alumni networks are all about leveraging social media to maintain relationships and increase brand strength—only in this case that brand strength is aimed at prior employees.
Involving everything from news to events to activities to recruitment efforts, alumni networks are geared towards closing the "goodwill" gap between employers and ex-employees through LinkedIn groups, Facebook company pages, and Twitter feeds (just to name a few of the social media options). In turn, these social networks pay dividends in terms of loyalty long after the employee has left, and allows for contact to be retained, opportunities to be marketed, and relationships to be maintained with individuals that are known commodities.
The use of these networks is giving organizations the tools to take full advantage of employee engagement--keeping former workers apprised of the company and primed for re-entry into the organization if necessary. While the benefits to recruitment, branding, and engagement are self-evident however, estimates put the use of formal alumni networks pitifully low—hovering at just over 10%.
Nobody likes to have to go through the HR or Payroll department to gain access to their own information, which is why the advent of Employee Self-Service (ESS) software has been so widely heralded. Aside from the inherent efficiencies of providing direct access to information though, ESS is also a strong driver for employee engagement. Specifically, by giving employees access to their own information, two very important facets of engagement are being communicated: 1) employees are being told that they can be trusted and 2) employees are being empowered with a level of convenience that is usually reserved for customers.
Of course, in order for employee engagement to be fully realized, trust must be a part of the employer-employee relationship. However, providing access to personal information has proven to be one of the largest benefits of Employee Self-Service applications due to the streamlining of regularly-used processes; the elimination of unnecessary administrative hurdles; and the employee-system interaction at the exact point-of-need. While the convenience and accuracy that ESS systems provide should be enough to warrant wide-spread adoption, a 2010 Deloitte study found that only 52% of companies had implemented such systems. Hopefully, by viewing this administration automation in the light of employee engagement, further growth will happen in this all-too-easy-to-deploy sector.
One of the more salient aspects of engagement is the near-universal need for growth—whether it's in a professional or personal sense. As it pertains to the workplace, this is due to the fact that when employees build knowledge, skills, and abilities, managers in turn allow for more autonomy. In turn, this increase in responsibility builds confidence, self-efficacy, and engagement. As such, allowing opportunities for development is one of the fastest ways to engage employees. In fact, a relatively recent BlessingWhite study found that nearly 60% of all employees "want more opportunities to grow" in order for them to stay engaged. This means that targeted development plans need to be put into place; knowledge/skills/abilities (KSAs) inventories need to be updated; and effectively managed development programs should be deployed.
The most effective of these development programs have a Learning Management System (LMS) at the core—driving performance and engagement by:
Consolidating all records, licensing, and certification requirements;
Making automated recommendations for career learning opportunities;
Implementing multiple learning mediums; and
Connecting organizational imperatives with learning initiatives
Further engagement is driven from learning management systems by matching up programs, employees, and skills for future deployment; thereby ensuring that the organization has the right workers and the employee is developed for many years to come.
Accountability is widely-regarded as the greatest benefit of any performance management system. Whether it be for doling out performance pay, or for setting the stage for action due to performance failure, performance management is the process that makes it all happen. Unfortunately it's utility as a process is far less than its capability to drive employee engagement. Indeed, far too few organizations understand the link between employee engagement and performance—and as such these organizations wind up driving outdated systems that do little to actually affect an employee's performance positively.
Modern, effective Performance Management Systems understand that organizational performance and employee engagement are inextricably linked. These systems foster an environment that supports the notion that an engaged employee puts forth more effort; willingly goes above and beyond the specific parameters of his or her job; and actively contributes to the organizations bottom-line. While a great deal of this environment is created by the organization itself, the technology of performance management systems provides an automated solution that facilitates consistent and relevant feedback—simultaneously driving performance, aligning goals, and increasing engagement.
Few experts would argue that the single-biggest influence on employee engagement is the immediate supervisor. So much has been made of this connection that the adage, "people don't leave jobs, they leave bosses" was even coined from it. Indeed, studies from Development Dimensions International (DDI) even go so far as to say that managers are responsible for the creation of a "highly engaged workforce". However, the responsibility to engage and the ability to engage can be vastly different, especially if the manager doesn't have the right tools. Of the tools that are important to creating this workforce, one of the most integral is Manager Self-Service (MSS) software.
MSS can have many forms, but even at its most basic, this software tool provides managers with access to information that could take weeks to receive otherwise. And as mentioned in the other strategies of Compensation Management, Labor Management, Learning Management, and Performance Management, the timely access to this information can mean the difference between: providing an incentive to an employee at the time it's needed; empowering an employee to take part in a growth opportunity when seen; or even encouraging an employee to list out schedule preferences. Manager Self-Service allows these engagement strategies to take place by integrating with the other previously-mentioned strategies. In turn, additional engagement connections can be made between the manager and employee, increasing efforts and driving productivity even higher.
There is an undeniable link between employee engagement and organizational performance. Regardless of how you choose to frame it (be it commitment, satisfaction, etc.), engagement plays a significant role in the company's financial performance, and as such should be monitored and improved whenever possible. Likewise, technology plays a significant role in achieving this engagement. By integrating the software capabilities that the above technology systems have with individual/company goals and objectives a more comprehensive approach to engagement can be undertaken—positively impacting employees' lives and organizations' bottom-lines.
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Author: Micah Fairchild
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Employee engagement is incredibly important; affecting everything from turnover rates to overall business performance. In fact, a recent study conducted by Gallup, found that organizations that don't invest in employee engagement have only a 17% chance of financially performing above industry averages."
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What does the ideal studio look like? How much time does an artist spend in his studio? Is it a sacred place? This week in the 'The studio of' series it’s Denitsa Todorova, who is represented by Josilda da Conceição Gallery in Amsterdam.
Do you go to your studio every day?
I try to spend as much time as possible in my studio. Not all days are equally productive or packed with activities. However, I think it's important to be there, even if it's just to reflect on my drawing process and work. I consider my studio as a safe space, it is the most intimate place for an artist and the place where works of art are created. So it's not strange that I want to be there every day.
What time do you leave for your studio, and how: on foot, by bicycle, public transport or car?
I am more of an evening and night person. The evening gives me more energy, but also peace of mind. I usually start work around noon and then work into the late evening. I mostly walk to my studio, I do almost everything on foot. I like the interaction with the dynamics of the city and the people I see in the streets. The city is an important source of inspiration. I used to walk through the Diamond District on my way to my old studio. The windows of the diamond shops and the people watching indirectly and unconsciously inspired me to create a series of works in 2018.
Do you keep to certain rituals in your studio? Music or silence?
I always have two fresh bouquets of flowers on my work station. The beauty of the colours and shapes gives me peace and concentration, but also the decay of the flowers fascinates me. It's the cycle of life, but only in a vase. You can often find that thought in my drawings.
I like silence. My work process requires a lot of focus and concentration. Constantly changing songs and music would stress me too much and distract me from my drawing. Preparing the paper is a daily ritual with which I always start my day in the studio.
Hands of the artist 2021, photo: Bram Mönster
How important is light to you?
Very often people say that my drawings are about the darkness or the black. But in fact this is false. It's like the scene in a theatre where nothing happens until they turn on the lights. Each drawing stems from my conviction to 'generate light in the dark'. My art is about the light, not about the darkness. Gradually, I erase small parts of a completely blackened surface, letting the light in through the cracks in the darkness. Spots of light come through the graphite curtain: what you see behind it is open to interpretation. The viewer is free to link associations and meanings to it. In my studio, natural and artificial light play an important role in my creative process.
What does your work process look like? Do you work everywhere and all the time or does work only commence the moment you enter your studio?
I am inspired by everyday phenomena. Textures, shapes and patterns such as water surfaces, reflections, marble structures and firework explosions attract my attention as an artist. Frivolous effects, so to speak, rather than static scenes. Accidental, apparently futile details that nevertheless make up the fabric of reality: the murmur of reality. It is often the little things that give the world its unmistakable character: the crackling of a vinyl record, the hoarseness of a voice, the grain of a photograph. I try to give this visual shape. I wish to give back sensory impressions – the intensity of impressions – in this way, to display again, to express it again, to make visible again. My work can therefore hardly be called abstract: rather it is very concrete, super-sensory.
Outside my studio I take a lot of photos as a starting point for the drawings that I exclusively make in my studio. First, I completely cover the paper with graphite powder, after which I then remove the black to create an image. It is a very physical and labour-intensive and time-consuming job. You can watch this process in a video documentary on my website.
How much time do you spend on average per day in your studio?
That really depends. It can take 72 hours before I leave my studio, and sometimes I'm only in my studio for two hours. I am currently doing a residency at the Strabag Foundation in Vienna. The studio and my living space are close to each other so that I am confronted with my work 24 hours a day, something I have never experienced before.
Is your studio a sacred place?
I am Bulgarian, however next year I will have lived in Belgium for as long as I have in my home country. Actually, neither country is my home. That’s a weird feeling. As I said, the studio is a safe place for me, the place of my world and my imaginary home. 'A sacred place is what you make of it,' they sometimes say. A studio does not necessarily have to be big or beautiful. It must meet certain criteria: it is a place that belongs to you and is not shared, the place where you create, you must be able to work there comfortably, your drawing material and supports must always be available so that you can start working quickly, already finished and started works must be clearly visible and I surround myself with flowers, books, sketches and objects that touch my senses.
Do you receive visitors there; collectors, curators or fellow artists?
I set very high standards for myself and my work. The idea of perfection makes my work process rather slow. I have to be absolutely sure that I am ready to show my work to the people I want to invite. That may take a while, but actually everyone is welcome to visit my studio. My visitors are collectors as well as curators, artists, museum directors and casual visitors. I like the feedback I get. By the way, I have a small exhibition space in my studio.
What is the most beautiful studio you have ever seen?
My father was a sculptor. He made funerary monuments and statues. His studio was where I played as a child. I still have beautiful memories of it: a studio that will always stay with me. I also visited the beautiful studio of the famous Leipzig painter Matthias Weischer. I also found the studio of the Italian Arte Povera artist Gilberto Zorio in Turin particularly fascinating because of his interest in natural processes, transformations and the release of energy. An unforgettable experience that made me think about starting to make sculptures.
What does the ideal studio look like?
I have already described the image of the ideal studio above, but my studio has to be very practical and preferably equipped with additional ventilation and air conditioning to remove the graphite dust. In addition, there must be a storage and exhibition space. By the way, in the near future I hope to make changes to my studio, which is housed a great studio complex on the Leningstraat in the Borgerhout district of Antwerp.
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Gaytravel.com, the online community that connects LGBT travelers around the world, just announced a new marketing partnership with Grindr, the largest gay social network in the world.
In 2010, gaytravel.com searched for and crowned the first Gay Travel Guru. Throughout 2011, winner Nick Vivion traveled to the hottest destinations in North America, sharing his experiences with gaytravel.com network followers around the world.
Gay Travel Guru’s second season will begin this summer and is expected to be even more extensive than Season One, with exotic, international locations added to the Guru’s itinerary.
To help find the next Guru, gaytravel.com is looking to Grindr’s nearly 1.5 million users in the United States for assistance with the search, and will also look to their 3.5 million global users for support during the Guru’s travels around the world.
“We’re thrilled to be teaming up with gaytravel.com for Season Two of Gay Travel Guru,” says Joey Hernandez, community relations director for Grindr, LLC. “As the world’s largest gay social network, Grindr is the natural partner for gay travel. From tapping our global network for the best guru applicants to hosting events at local destinations with the winner, we look forward to connecting our global community of savvy travelers with the Gay Travel Guru campaign.”
“Gaytravel.com is delighted to have Grindr as the presenting sponsor for Season Two of Gay Travel Guru,” says Steve Rohrlick, CEO of gaytravel.com. “This partnership is an opportunity for this fantastic competition to attract even more attention, participants and rewards throughout North America and across the globe.”
“We’ve been working with Grindr for about six months on some great giveaways and promotions which have all been wildly successful,” added Joey Konecek, community director for gaytravel.com. “We have no doubt that the inclusion of Grindr for the next season of Gay Travel Guru will catapult this year’s campaign to the next level, driving even more traffic to the Guru pages of the site and opening the door to many more applicants.”
About gaytravel.com: gaytravel.com has been connecting LGBT travelers with gay-friendly destinations, hotels, cruises, tours and hot deals throughout the world for over 15 years. Their mission is to serve the community as an invaluable resource for its travel needs and provide their site visitors with the most comprehensive and accurate information available, to ensure that every vacation is both pleasurable and comfortable. For more information, go to http://www.gaytravel.com.
About Grindr: Launched in 2009, Grindr is the premier all-male geo-social networking app. Grindr uses location-based technologies in smartphones to connect a global community of more than 3.5 million users in 192 countries. Since first launching on Apple iOS devices, Grindr has created versions for iPad, Android and select Blackberry models. For more information, visit http://grindr.com.
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Kristine W Releases, “Can’t Look Back” October 1, 2022
Maybe We Shouldn’t Talk September 19, 2022
Sans Clothing September 14, 2022
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TEC Talk: COVID-19 & Impact on Office 365 Services
TEC Talk: COVID-19 & Impact on Office 365 Services
Join Microsoft MVP, Tony Redmond, in this TEC Talk recording explaining how COVID-19 work-from-home directives are impacting Office 365 services.
Click here to learn more about: The Experts Conference.
Welcome to our TEC Talk today sponsored by Quest Software. Today's TEC Talk is on COVID-19 and its impact on Office 365 services and how to enable your remote workforce. So right now, you're either in the fire of enabling your suddenly remote workforce, or you're already over that initial hump. You flipped on a bunch of Office 365 services, and now you're flying fast, making sure people can use them effectively and securely. That's why we wanted to offer something else of value, hearing directly from a Microsoft MVP, Most Valuable Professional, The Experts Conference Speaker and Petri.com contributor, Tony Redmond. He's going to be talking about the impact COVID-19 is having on Microsoft's ability to deliver their services in the face of a 775% increase in demand and outline the management implications of moving and combining chat, voice, video, and file sharing into a single platform. TEC Talks are not Quest product pitches. They're pure training in the spirit of our Active Directory in Office 365 Training Conference, called The Experts Conference, or TEC. The TEC Talk is just like our TEC conference-- training you can use with no third party pitches. So what is The Experts Conference? In 2019, TEC returned after a seven-year hiatus, and it was an amazing sold out success. This year we're taking TEC 2020 to the next level. So along with our Hybrid Active Directory security and Office 365 tracks, we're adding a third track called Migration and Modernization. We also carved out time for networking and interaction with those industry experts and your peers, folks like Tony Redmond, today's speaker, Sean Metcalf, Microsoft Certified Master, Windows Security Expert, Randy Franklin Smith, Microsoft Teams Product Manager Chris McNulty, David Kennedy, founder of TrustedSec, who's testified before Congress on national security and appeared on several national news and TV shows. We've got over 30 speakers ranging from Microsoft employees, Microsoft MVPs, to independent industry experts, so you're sure to get the technical insights on Microsoft technologies you're looking for. TEC 2020 is slated for November 17th through the 18th at the Loews Hotel in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. We are optimistic that COVID-19 will be contained before TEC 2020, but we also understand that this is a new experience for everyone. We're planning for every possibility, and therefore, we are also offering a full refund to anyone who requests it by November 3, 2020. This way, you can register now, take advantage of registration discounts, while ensuring a full refund, should any changes on your part need to happen. We're also adding a pre-conference day for Quest product training around the Quest Active Directory Recovery and Quest Active Directory Auditing solutions and specific recovery and auditing scenarios. So while TEC itself has no third party pitches, there is a pre-conference day that is very much dedicated to those specific Quest lines. So if you are looking at those products or you own those already, this is certainly a place to come and get hands-on training, scenario-based training. So to learn more about the Experts Conference, please visit theexpertsconference.com, and register today for the early bird pricing before TEC 2020 sells out. Now on to today's speaker, Tony Redmond runs his own consulting company. He is a lead author for the Office 365 IT Pros e-book series. He writes twice weekly for Petri.com, covering all things Office 365. He is a frequent speaker at conferences, including our own Experts Conference, as you see here in the screen. And we're really excited that he is here to share his experience and what he's seeing on the impact that the surge in Office 365 usage is having on Microsoft's ability to deliver those services. So without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Tony to dive into today's topic. And we will take Q and A at the end. So Tony, welcome. Thank you, Jennifer. Thank you. But I think the most important thing about MVPs that I ever heard in terms of defining what they are is that they're called independent experts. We're not there to champion Microsoft. We give Microsoft, actually, a hard time a lot of the time about the deficiencies that are in their technology. We try and work out on a very productive level, a proactive level to-- how they can improve matters. While I've got people here, let me start off by just giving you one big piece of advice, as you scale up Office 365 to [INAUDIBLE] dealing with right now. That is take a look at conditional access policies, and if you're not using them, make sure that you start considering at least using conditional access policies to make sure to keep your tenants safe. And please, please, please, enable multi-factor authentication. Microsoft will tell you that 99.9% of the basic attacks that are made against Office 365, especially against Exchange Online, are deflected or stopped dead in the water by accounts having MFA enabled. So right now, today, there's only about 12% of Office 365 accounts with MFA enabled. It's a shame. It's a disgrace. It shouldn't happen. So if you take anything away from this session, please go and enable MFA. So with that, let's get on. So I've got two sets of slides, or two-- the slides are divided in to two parts. First part's just talking about what's happening inside Office 365 now at the moment, what kind of stresses and strains are on the service, and how you might see that. And in the second part, we'll talk a little bit about how Office 365 is developing as it approaches the second decade of an Office cloud service. So please put in your questions, and we'll get down to them later on. OK, so let's move on. Technology is, once again, escaping me as slides are refusing to move. Oh, no, here we go. All right, so everybody on this call knows that we're all living under a huge pandemic at the moment, which is driving an enormous amount of need to work from home. We're getting it because the governments are telling us to stay at home. Here in Ireland, where I am right now, we're not allowed to move more than 2 kilometers from our house. But the good thing is that because the internet has improved dramatically over the last number of years-- by that, I mean the whole internet service, both the backbone service-- and because we now have a very robust cloud services infrastructure, people can actually do it. And I mean the point is-- for example, Microsoft, over the last number of years, has deployed literally thousands of point to presence connectors to allow people to make a very close connection to the Microsoft backbone. And once data gets into the backbone, it gets routed very, very quickly to all those various data centers that make up Office 365. If you look at the actual usage patterns, Microsoft came out last week and said 775% increase in cloud services generally now. That is spread across all of their cloud properties, and a lot of it was in Azure. But the one that was really interesting for us from an Office 365 perspective is what happened with Teams. Teams had been growing quite nicely. It's had a really good growth curve over the last while. But, you know, if you were to look back at Teams two weeks ago, you'd say it was about 30 million users, which, to put into perspective, is really only 15% of the Office 365 install base. And then bang, work at home took off. Now all of a sudden, Teams increased by 37 and 1/2 percent in a week. So you now get this thing that's 44 million daily active users connected to Teams. Now daily active user means somebody does something during the day. It's not just a matter of logging onto Teams. It's a matter of [INAUDIBLE] to schedule a meeting now, to read a message. You have to join a meeting. They have to take some sort of action that they have to explicitly make rather than implicitly perform, as in the case of a log on. Why Teams are so interesting is because Teams is built on the top of so many other parts of Office 365. So the growth in Teams automatically drove a huge growth in Exchange, in SharePoint, in OneDrive, in Planner, and all the other bits that get connected into a Teams ecosystem. SharePoint is probably the heaviest, because, of course, every team that's created comes with a SharePoint site and all of that sort of stuff, the [INAUDIBLE]. Another interesting factor is that we've seen some companies [INAUDIBLE] up increases of 100%. In fact, there's now a 3,081% growth in the number of meetings held over a one-week period. And that kind of increase on that infrastructure doesn't only just stress the cloud infrastructure that you're connected to, but it also impacts your own network, because clearly, data is not to get in and out of the cloud. Microsoft says there's 900 million minutes daily of meetings and calls. That actually isn't all that much per active user, but it's increasing all the time. In fact, it's increasing so much that Microsoft has accelerated plans to introduce a new codec to make a calling and signalling experience a lot better. So in that area, we have seen some increase as well in SharePoint, OneDrive, and also Stream. Stream is kind of interesting, because a lot of these meetings that are happening, like corporate meetings, corporate meetings tend to be recorded. Once they're recorded in Teams, there's a bot that actually hands off meeting to stream, and once it gets to the stream, the recording is processed. So it's processed for all the captioning. It's also processed so that different versions of the video is created for playback on different devices-- you know, if you were to play back something on a candy phone, on a phone, candy bar shaped phone, or an iPhone or whatever, you get a different experience than if you played back a Stream video on the PC or a Mac. So the interesting thing here is that when you, as a tenant, are set up for Stream, you get a storage allocation of 500 gigabyte, plus 1/2 a gigabyte per active user, per licensed user. And if you are recording Stream videos for Teams meetings, you're going to run out of that allocation quite quickly if you don't keep your eye on it. Microsoft, at one point, gave a guidance of about 2 and 1/2 megabyte per minute of recording. And, in fact, with Teams meeting recordings, it's turning out to be more like 7 and 1/2 gigabytes. So just keep an eye on that for your own benefit. So the big-- with all of this increase in demand, they're scared that the service is not going to be running quite as smoothly as it did. The interesting thing is that things have worked better than you might have predicted, and that's testimony to a couple of things. I think, firstly, we've got the fact that Office 365 is spread out across the world in 17 different data center regions. And it's got tons and tons of machine resources. A lot of those machine resources were actually put in to deal with artificial intelligence and machine learning. But these resources are available to be repurposed. And one of the interesting aspects of Office 365 is that the degree of automation that exists within the service allows Microsoft to swap workloads to machines very, very, very quickly. So what we're seeing at the moment is two things, really. Firstly, Microsoft is rebalancing workloads. It's rebalancing the resources that are dedicated to the demand created by customers. And the second thing, internally, within applications, it's also turning things back. So the applications themselves are not generating as much demand as they did before. And the logic here, of course, is that it's much more important to provide a service to end users who want to do something rather than a background process that needs to do something because it's nice to do it. You can argue about whether or not that stuff-- that background processing is really important and needs to have equal priority, but the fact is that an awful lot of the changes that Microsoft have made and continue to make are [INAUDIBLE]. So for example, the cache to data is not refreshed as often. In Teams, you have to type more characters before an address is validated. Background processing for things like SharePoint, for the data loss prevention is now slower than it used to be, because when you upload new documents to SharePoint, those documents need to be processed. They need to be indexed. That's done by a background crawler. Part of that crawling process is to check the document against data loss prevention policies. That used to happen quite quickly, maybe a [INAUDIBLE] guarantee it'd maybe happen within 10 minutes-- a new document being uploaded. Now it might take half an hour or an hour. You also see things like Stream has reduced its video resolution down from 1080p to 720p from being recorded, so I don't think that's a great problem. OneNote has been made read only, and I think that's a huge problem. But the point is that, collectively, there's a huge number of changes to be made across Office 365 with the intention that users don't notice that things are really all that much different. But collectively, all the changes that are made to rebalance hardware, to reassign resources, to tune back background processing, and so forth, and so on is-- it'll release resources to take on the extra workload. Just to give you a feeling of how the amount of background processing that goes on inside of Office 365, if you take Exchange Online, there are well over 200,000 mailbox servers running Exchange Online, and maybe 250,000 today. Each of those servers has maybe 100 background systems running. And they're running to do things like apply retention policies, to count the number of users that are in Office 365 groups and distribution, this, and so forth and so on. [INAUDIBLE] piloting-- [INAUDIBLE] check calendar meetings. You name it, there's a background assistant [INAUDIBLE]. Those systems are all being tuned back, and so if you think of-- if you tune back the demand on an assistant by 50% or 100 assistants, that's a lot of CPU cycles just released. If you scale it up to 250,000 servers, that's a hell of a lot of cycles that you've released. So we're not going-- Microsoft is obviously not only making maximum use of its existing resources. It's also bringing on new servers, new storage. This is an ongoing process. Microsoft is a very, very active group of people, who try and predict demand. They couldn't have predicted demand caused by the pandemic, but there are lots of people who are trying to predict what's likely to be the growth curve for Office 365 over time as they open up new data central regions in individual countries to have the data sovereignty, and just to handle the ongoing load created by new users. Every month for the last three-odd months, Office 365 has taken on about 3 million new users. So this is an ongoing process. It's something that never really stopped, and Microsoft is out there buying tons of servers, tons of-- tons of storage and commissioning them as quickly as possible. But as they are moving faster than ever before to try and keep up with demand, clearly, we are going to see over the next while, we're going to see a reduction in background processes that we've just described. You're also going to see probably some more transient errors occurring. You may not them as a user, because things like, for example, Cache Exchange Mode in Outlook will hide this from you for email. But if you're a programmer, or if you were something like an ISV like Crest, and you're running migrations, you're likely to see a lot more transient errors pop up as strain goes on, because, of course, when you're doing migrations, a lot more data is moved around than almost any other time. And there's a lot of read activity. There's also a ton of write activity, and that's the kind of thing where you'd see those type of errors. And we've seen that with being reported by quite a lot of ISPs. I think, also, we'll see Microsoft [INAUDIBLE] back a little of their focus on machine learning, because quite honestly, right now, instead of trying to get artificial intelligence and a ton of machine learning into as many places inside Office 365 as we can fit, I think it's a matter of keeping the lights on, keeping everything going, and making sure that they deliver the service to users as committed. In terms of numbers, I think the last time we saw a public number for Microsoft in October is that 200 million daily active users for Office 365. With the predicted growth, we would expect to see another figure given to us in their next [INAUDIBLE] results, which would be around the 28th of April, I think. [INAUDIBLE] maybe 25th. We'd expect to see six months growth of about 3 and 1/2 million to 20 million. I would take this up to 220. With the extra growth, it could be at 240 million daily active users. That's the scale of things that Microsoft is trying to deal with right now. It's kind of interesting, to say the least. OK, so that's what I have to say about what's happening at the moment. If anybody's got any questions, I'm willing to take them. Otherwise, I'll plunge in and talk about where Microsoft is going with Office 365. Hey, Tony, I don't see any questions specifically right now for this, for what you just talked about. But for the attendees, I did-- in the chat, I did-- if you scroll up, you'll see I added two links to two of Tony's articles. One is about Microsoft imposes restrictions on Office 365 services to ease demand, and the other one is Office 365, [INAUDIBLE] temporary scaling problems. So some of the things Tony just spoke about that you can access his articles there as well and share them around with your colleagues. Thanks, Jennifer. OK, so let's talk about Microsoft 365 and the substrate and stuff like that. Actually, Tony, can I interrupt one second? Yeah. One question did come in, and so in order to make sure we ask-- answer these, let me ask this one. Regarding stress to the online services, are the assistants you mentioned that support the 200,000 or so Exchange servers running Exchange as well, or are they VMs or containers providing compute resources? No, that's a great question. So Microsoft does not use virtual machines inside Office 365 at all. It doesn't use containers. It uses good old fashioned physical hardware, and there are two major reasons for this. The first is that their provisioning model is very simple. They take servers offline. They reduce the servers down to bare metal, and then they pour and build whatever workload package they want to support on it, like an Exchange server or a SharePoint Server or Teams, whatever. They just pour it on, and that server goes on-- that package goes on with all of the updates, the latest bill, whatever it is. So they've got a very, very simple model. There's not a case of going round to 250,000 mailbox servers and applying the latest cumulative update. That is not what happens. You have about 10% of the server population going through that kind of upgrade cycle on an ongoing basis. It's probably a little bit less now, because they're probably-- they're keeping more servers online. This allows them, Microsoft, to say that they have all of the servers are 99.9 something high figure percentage of the servers all running the same software. It's very important to get consistency across Office 365. But they will always-- they'll tell you that there's a few renegade servers out there that might have slipped through the cracks. But the second reason why they don't use virtualization, even though they have HyperV, they have their own product here, is because simplicity. Simplicity is absolutely critical when you're running operations at this kind of scale. And if you don't talk to the Office 365 architects, the guys who actually have to run this monster infrastructure, they'll tell you that there is no way they want to introduce an added layer of complexity, which virtualization represents into their operations. They'd like to keep things really, really simple. So that's the reason why they don't run virtualized servers, and they don't use containers. Now things might change in the future. That's always possible. I think Microsoft will keep an eye on the economics of the situation to make a decision about where they make future decisions. I have heard some people speculate that containers might be a good thing to do. But again, they have to weigh all of the other complexities of bringing in additional layers, introduce this into their operating model, and figure out whether or not they can get more advantage by introducing that added complexity. Can they do it by keeping it simple, as they do today? That sound reasonable? Yep? Any other questions? That's it for right now. Thanks, Tony. OK, everybody's gone to sleep. Great. OK, so the next section I wanted to talk about where Microsoft is going with this cloud off the system, what's really-- what's really driving them. I took a time to look back, because we're approaching the second decade of 365. Those of you that might know a little bit about the history will know that it was launched in 2011, June, 2011, in New York City, as it happens, by Steve Ballmer. And so there's a lot of experience being gained and a lot of scale as we've obviously discussed. So where are they going? Well, so if we will look back, and we looked at where Office365 came from, it had its roots very much in the on-premises world, Windows Server world. You guys who run Windows Server's Active Directory, you know what it's like. And basically, an on-premises deployment is connected by an internal network. But the actual links between the application themselves are pretty disconnected. There's no-- it's impossible, really, to build much dependency between, say, Exchange 2016 and SharePoint 2016. That just doesn't tend to happen in the on-premises world. It's just too difficult to make sure that everything has got the same service pack, cumulative update. They've got the-- you've got the various authentication, stuff like that between the various applications to make sure the data can parse together. So the on-premises world, when we look at it, it's very, very different than what we see in the cloud. It was the same in the early days. 2011, we had Exchange Online, which was basically Exchange 2010 with a little bit of added administration. Same for SharePoint 2010. Same for Office Communication Server, and then Lync Server. You know, these were classic on-prem applications, engineered form prem, developed, used, deployed, managed on prem, and developed and deployed in a way that there wasn't a lot of interaction. But what's changed over the last nine or so years is that you're seeing that Office 365 is really a software tool box. And what this means is that Microsoft's focus now is leveraging all of the bits of Office 365 as much as possible and in as intelligent a way as possible to build new applications and new experiences to deliver to customers. Though it's a different world, and it's a different kind of environment for people to work. And that's a different kind of environment for engineers, particularly, to work in, because you might have people who work for 10 or 20 years on Exchange or SharePoint or whatever. And their view of life is very much OK. It's whatever Exchange or SharePoint could do. And now it's a case of, well, Exchange isn't really the center of the ecosystem anymore. Exchange is much more a bit player within Office 365. It's a very important bit player from a storage perspective, which we'll talk about in a little while, but also from the delivery of email services. The same thing for SharePoint-- SharePoint, if you go to a SharePoint show or whatever, you'll see tons of people that have built a business in the SharePoint ecosystem with add-ons for SharePoint, et cetera, et cetera. That works really well, the SharePoint on-prem, but in the cloud, SharePoint is really just the Office 365 document management service. And that kind of change takes a lot of getting over with, but that's what Microsoft is trying to do. They have this infrastructure, and now they are focusing on how to develop it further and, most of all, how to exploit what they have gathered. So this diagram I did after listening to a talk by Jeffrey Stover at last year's Ignite. And Jeffrey is a good mate. He's-- he and I used to work together in Digital Equipment. He is the architect or one of the big architects for Office 365 with a specific focus on artificial intelligence, the introduction of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and those type of techniques into Office 365. Jeffrey is probably best known for-- he's the father of PowerShell. He's the guy who brought that scripting and automation capability to Windows Server. But anyway, Jeffrey was trying to explain to people what the substrate was. Now the substrate is a term that Microsoft has been using for a number of years but really didn't use outside Microsoft when they're talking to customers. But the way Jeffrey was trying to describe it is he said-- you could think of Office 365 an operation system, where you've got basic object, basic servers, and basic apps. And he said, this is what we rebuilt with Office 365, so that we have piles of different objects that people interact with-- just documents and email and meetings, tasks, whatever. Those objects are exposed through various services, some of which are very well known, like the Applications Exchange in SharePoint. Some of them might be apps like Microsoft Graph API, Exchange Web Services, [INAUDIBLE], et cetera. And then you've got this thing in the middle, which is this is this graph that's built of-- graph of trillions of data points in it, which marks all the connections and interactions between all of the different services. And then on top of it, you've got all these apps, which is what end users access to actually interact with all the information behind. The basic thing is to build the substrate, build the objects, build where they're stored, where they're indexed, where they're processed, where they're dealt with in common. Now there's a technical challenge here, of course, straight up, because when you think of it, well, OK, so Exchange's [INAUDIBLE] database, EFC database engine. SharePoint uses Azure [INAUDIBLE]. Teams uses Cosmos DB. How are we going to bring all those together? How do I get a, for example, an indexing capability across all of those platforms so that I can perform a search and find things? How do I put stuff in one place so that retention is processed in a consistent manner. And what's really happening over the last while is that the substrate has been developing based on Exchange storage. EFT has always been a very flexible database engine. It's an engine that can store just about anything, as you know. We look at what email people send and the attachments they add to email. And what's happening is that you see that stuff that people are working on are now stored in mailboxes. Some of them are in parts of user mailboxes that were visible. Some of them are parts of user mailboxes that are invisible. And some of them are in special mailboxes that are totally invisible, which Microsoft sometimes calls shards. Other people call them phantom mailboxes. But you can see the documents are stored there, if they're created in SharePoint or OneDrive. Teams charts and channel conversations-- copies of them are stored there. You've got the Exchange messages. You got Tasks, the task created by To Do or Outlook, Teams and so forth and so on. Everything is stored now in the substrate. And the substrate has been the one place Microsoft can apply artificial intelligence through, can apply indexing, search against, can apply information protection to secure information and so forth and so on. So it's actually a compelling vision, but it's a vision that could only come about, because Office 365 is becoming closer and closer as time goes by. So in essence, this is it. This is what the influence of the substrate is. We start to get a rationalization of the types of data used across Office 365. Now the rationalization is that people can start thinking of, OK, a document, a document they used here it's used as an attachment in email, used because it documents an item inside SharePoint and OneDrive. OneNote can also be a document. I mean you start thinking about what that document is, and we start to see things like the fluid foundation, which is presenting a vision of what the next generation of those documents might be. You just think of them as XML containers. Inside that XML container, you've got all mass of different type of information. So then you have others things like tasks. Tasks is to a very good example, because when you think about your Outlook tasks, your To Do items, your Task [INAUDIBLE] project, et cetera, et cetera-- lots of different ways to capture a piece of work that needs to be done and record its progress. Now what's happening now is that we're heading very quickly to a single task object, and that single task object will be exposed in To Do. It will be exposed in Outlook. It will be exposed in Planner, and so forth and so on. And this is what's happening all the time is Microsoft works the way through the various types of objects that are used inside Office 365. We talked about the storage. It's a common repository. Don't think of it as Exchange Mailbox Databases. They are mailboxes. They are databases, but Microsoft just refers to it as substrate storage. They don't-- they just think of it as interacting with the database, which is the way we think about it. The access to the data is through a common interface to the graph, and over the last while, we've seen an explosion in the number of graph APIs that are available. People are getting their heads around the graph. They're figuring out that, hey, the graph is a pretty good way of getting that information in a way that maybe we haven't been able to get at before. And it's also given us a lot of connected information, which is also interesting. Instead of using one technique to interact with Teams and another to interact with SharePoint, I now use the same technique, same programming capabilities to interact with both. Then also, because we're building this common repository that allows huge scope to create new applications, you know what the repository is. You know what the data is inside the application, so you know what the API for that data is. So therefore, you can start saying, well, what could I do with this? And this is where the fluid foundation comes in, because the fluid foundation allows us to think about, well, OK, I've got different pieces of application data here, and I make an update to them. The updates all flow back to the substrate, so therefore, that means that anybody who's connected with the substrate can see the update in almost real time. And then the last thing is, because the substrate is drawing information from all around Office 365, it gives Microsoft this huge data set for machine learning. And when it comes to AI and machine learning, the bigger the data set you have, the more precise you're going to be, the less mistakes you're going to make, the fewer false positives you're going to have. There's a lot of business that you'll see so many more edge cases, and so forth and so on. So developing the substrate has been a huge task that Microsoft has been engaged on for probably the last four or five years, and we are really seeing it coming into play now. This is going to be the biggest influence over the long term on how people interact and work with and program against and manage Office 365. So it's not just for organizations like yourselves. It's also for the ISV community, because, of course, the ISV community needs to think about how they can take whatever they're offering, whatever functionality added value, things that Microsoft simply doesn't do, how they can move that forward to deal with a world where the substrate is the predominant influence on everything that happens in Office 365. So it's a really interesting time that we're living in. I think over the next five years, you can see the completion of this vision, and eventually, you might even say that at that stage, there will be one kind of substrate and all of that-- perhaps even the individual application databases will be gone. But who cares, because it's all background engineering. That's all. It's all plumbing. And in the cloud, when you buy a cloud service, you don't really care what the plumbing is as long as the cloud delivers. So that's pretty well what I would have to say on that, so in conclusion, the two sides of the house, we've had an explosion of interest, stress, strain, demand, and Office 365 is a huge challenge. And it seems to pass the test. There are stress points, absolutely. There were little cracks appeared, absolutely. Some of those cracks were painful for people. You bet your bottom dollar. But the point is things didn't collapse. We kept working, so that was pretty good. And going forward, I've said the new applications features you can see over the next number of years, they're going to depend on a combination of machine learning, AI, graph, substrate. That's the magic trinity in Office 365 going forward. OK, Jennifer, that's all I had to say. Now I can take any questions. Yes, yes. I have a couple here that I want to ask. This one I missed earlier-- my apologies. So regarding changes in the strain putting on Office 365 services, you mentioned that machine learning scalebacks. We have a question. Would that machine learning scaleback hurt Office 365 security and compliance services? So any machine learning user on spam, phishing, filters, quarantine items, et cetera? No. No, I don't-- I really don't believe so. Any indication I've got from Microsoft is that they're-- it's kind of the machine learning that's for some of their newer applications that they're working on. I mean they're working on public previews, for example, of how to apply protection encryption to data at [INAUDIBLE]. So let's say you're an organization that's got 250,000 SharePoint documents. To ask a user to go and apply a sensitivity label to each one of those documents would be a task that would be very boring, very mundane, and would never get done. But if you can build an AI and build models that will go-- will understand what your information is, so it's stored in all the different sites across your tenant. You can then have background processes that will go and search for matching documents, all the variations of a document, like a purchase order or a travel request or a HR review or something like that, and apply the appropriate sensitivity label to them. So that's one thing where they'd be scaling back. You might have heard about Project Cortex, which is a big new SharePoint development. Again, that depends on a lot of machine learning to understand about things like, what does an acronym mean? What terms does a company use inside the general course of day to day business? That kind of stuff has been tuned back, because it's still under development, and it's not a production system. A production system's like advanced threat protection, things that anything to do with security, we're absolutely sure that it has not been scaled back at all. That's certainly reassuring, then. Question regarding I think your second half of your presentation, shows this is from Lucas. Hi, Lucas. Lucas is one of our longtime [INAUDIBLE] members. He says, with the shift in moving everything toward ESE and the long history of exchange being a high value target for malicious actors and the condensing of access methods to graph, what efforts are happening in tandem to better secure homogeneous data? Would you like to define what you mean by homogeneous data? You mean the data belonging to what-- an individual? Can we have some more clarification? This is where a face to face meeting really [INAUDIBLE]. [LAUGHS] Yes, if we had had this in Teams. Let me see if Lucas can unmute himself. OK, he says, just data with a common storage methodology. You know, the thing is it's not going to get any worse than it is today. And it's probably going to get better, because, again, you will have extra intelligence that will be able to fill in the gaps where humans make mistakes. That doesn't mean that you're ever going to take humans out of the equation, because I don't think you will. You always need to have somebody looking after machines. Otherwise, we end up with Skynet. But I do think you'll get better protection over the long term. Of course, we'll have to wait and see, but that's my belief. All right. Brad says, to what extent do you think Microsoft will make the information it collects through the substrate available to third parties for analysis or be able to consume at the Microsoft machine learning offerings? Well, you know, the data is all in Graph. The Graph is publicly available. [INAUDIBLE] there are a huge number of public Graph API endpoints. So those endpoints are available to allow people to gather stuff and use them. So for example, you could use Graph Calls to grab all the Exchange storage information, SharePoint storage information, SharePoint [INAUDIBLE] usage information, stuff it into whatever repository you wanted to, like Splunk or anything else. You go and analyze it to your heart's content. You can do that. Those public APIs are all available. All you need to [INAUDIBLE] is a little bit of code. You can even do it with PowerShell. The question might be that some of the more interesting material might not be accessible, and that could be either because Microsoft has made its decision not to make that accessible, or they're working on the API. I mean there's a lot of Graph APIs in beta as well, so you end up with a B1 version and a beta version of-- sometimes you need to go to the beta version of the endpoint to get the-- get extended information. But I think they're really serious about making as much stuff available out of the Graph as possible. So that means that the question then becomes, firstly, what do I know? What do I think I need to know? Second thing is, where can I get the underlying data out of the Graph? Which one of the endpoints are-- which combination of endpoints, because a lot of the endpoints are pretty specific to certain kinds of data? And then the third thing would be, well, where do I put the data when I've retrieved it from the Graph? And then the fourth thing is, well, once I put the data somewhere safe, what do I do with it? How do I analyze it? But the data is there. It's in the Graph. It's going to be in the Graph. That's why it's a single API. That's the beauty of it. All right. If anybody wants to ask any more questions, please put those in the Q&A right now. I'm going to ask one question here, Tony. Given your interaction with clients you consult with through social media, I guess right now, what's the-- what's the biggest thing you're asked about with regards to Office 365 management in terms of this crisis? Is there-- is there any-- is there anything that people are coming to you and asking you about repeatedly right now during this crisis, as it relates to Office 365? Some questions about license management. You know, a company might have made a big investment in licenses, and they've allocated them. And all of a sudden, they need more licenses. They don't want to go and give Microsoft a whole hunk of change, so it's just a-- there's been a number of questions, though. How do I identify people who aren't using licenses, because I'd really like to reuse those licenses. So that's one thing I've seen. I've seen a lot of questions asking about why things aren't working. And some of the reasons why things aren't working is that there are these transient errors, or this Microsoft just thrusted something back. An example of that is that Microsoft did introduce in Teams this notion of suggested entries in your activity feed, which is kind of like information that we picked out of all of the teams that you subscribe to, that you're a member of, that we think would be interesting for you. Well, those type of notifications have disappeared for the moment, because that feature was turned off. They also have to turn off things like the read receipt feature in Teams. In Europe, that's coming back. So people have been asking, why aren't things working? And in some cases, it's a matter of, well, try it again in a few minutes. In other cases, it's, well, you know, that feature, by the way, has just been turned off for the moment. Microsoft hasn't done a great job, I've got to say, of communicating the exact features that have been turned off or the ones that have been slowed down that made some public commentary about things like the definition of beta recordings going to 720 people. At the level of detail that causes people to worry via helpdesk reports, they haven't really given as much information as I would have liked. All right. Yeah, I would think that last one is very pertinent. The first one you mentioned, license management-- are folks concerned about, like, a-- like in a month from now or a couple weeks from now, getting a really big bill from Microsoft? Well, there's a couple of things. The first thing is that they may find that they have a whole heap of users who need to now use a particular thing. So you might, for example, find that you want to have users using-- I mentioned conditional access policies. That's [INAUDIBLE] early on. OK, so what conditional access policies do I need? Well, now do I need Azure AD premium licenses? Let's have a look at what we thought in the past versus what we need to use. Who needs to get that protection. Another thing, too, is that a lot of the features that you'll hear Microsoft making a big deal of are actually Office 365 E5 features. So people say, well, do we need that? Do we really need that, or is it a must have? Is it something that we can live without? And if we need-- if some people need it, well, how many E5 licenses do I need? Should I buy Microsoft 365v5, or do I just need Office365? So licensing is a horrible, complex area. And, you know, you should-- it's like you're probably-- you talk to your bank manager if you're going to get a loan. Go talk to a licensed professional if you're going to sort out your licensing, because they're real now. I think there are-- I think there's a whole group of Gartner analysts dedicated to just license management, so. Yep. That's definitely a complex area. The stuff that you can learn-- you can spend a whole pile of money that you don't need, but the other thing, the other caution I give is that you can actually incur a liability that you don't realize. And that is when the administrator might enable a feature, and they don't realize that that feature requires a particular license. And then there's a lot of places you see in the Microsoft documentation, where they say, well, by the way, we don't have the capability to turn features on and off, because the license of mobile, but we will probably have it in the future, so you can get yourself into a situation where two things happen. One is you've incurred a liability for a whole pile of licenses, and the second thing is that, all of a sudden, when Microsoft does come up with a code to control access to a feature and the license on a license basis, they enable that. You lose a lot of functionality that, perhaps, the business processes were built around that. That also speaks to the need to understand what features you're using inside Office 365. Understand the licenses you need for those features. And make sure that you have those licenses in place and allocated to the right people. Fun. All right, I don't see any other questions coming in right now. Tony, I appreciate your time on this. I think this is really valuable information. I've had a few private chats, folks already sharing their appreciation, so I'm going to just share my appreciation for your time and educating us about this, especially as you mentioned, Microsoft hasn't made a lot of public comments about the service interruptions or what things have turned off. So this has been really helpful. Well, to be fair, they've been keeping the things going, so I wouldn't be too hypercritical. I swear to god, they've kept things going, you know? Yes, exactly. Well I appreciate time. Those on the phone, I really appreciate your time and attention to this. If I can figure out how to get the recording after here, I will attempt to send that out to those who gave their email when they signed in. And then just for one other piece-- two pieces of information, as I mentioned, Tony here is one of our TEC 2019 and our upcoming TEC 2020 speakers. So make sure you check out theexpertsconference.com. A lot of this type of information is what we share through that conference. It's very much a TEC conference, not a West conference. And so make sure you take a look at that. And then we also are planning to do one more of these on April 15. Focus very specifically on your Active Directory, and we'll be bringing in another expert, another TEC speaker, Sean Metcalf, to talk specifically about Azure Active Directory and some of the things you really need to keep your eye on right now. We're all really busy trying to enable that remote workforce. What are those things within Active Directory that you really have to keep your eye on? All right, well thank you, Tony. Thank you, everybody. And enjoy the rest of your day.
How to realize the full benefits of Office 365
Learn how to balance Office 365 data security and compliance to reap the full benefits of the cloud platform and maximize your investment.
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Lieutenant Mike Bland is a 21-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and is currently assigned to the Community Safety Partnership Bureau (CSP Bureau). He began his policing career in 2001 as a patrol officer, and in 2006, he was promoted to Police Officer-III as a Police Academy Instructor. In 2007, he was promoted to Detective and assigned investigations related to vehicle thefts, burglaries, robbery, and those crimes with a nexus to criminal street gangs.
In 2012, Lt. Bland was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and subsequently selected to supervise the 77th Area Vice Unit. While assigned to 77th, he assumed the role of Detective Supervisor (in 2013) and guided investigators as part of the Juvenile Detective and Autos Detective Sections. In 2014, he was assigned to Northeast Area, and achieved the rank of Detective-III, where he supported investigators assigned to the Burglary Detective Section.
In 2015, he was selected as a member of the Strategic Planning Unit and participated in the development and implementation of the Department’s first strategic plan, LAPD in 2020, considered a roadmap designed to transform Los Angeles into the safest big city in the U.S. In 2016, as a member of Community Policing and Policy Group, Lieutenant Bland was assigned as the Officer-in-Charge of the Youth Programs Unit, where he managed the day-to-day operations of Department-sponsored youth programs, most notably, the Cadet Leadership Program. Through his work with the City’s youth, he learned that “kindness is not weakness,” which is a perspective that guides his actions to this day.
In 2019, Lieutenant Bland was promoted to Lieutenant and served as a patrol watch commander assigned to Southwest Area. Then in 2020, he was selected to the newly formed CSP Bureau, where he maintains a leadership role in the establishment and ongoing evolution of CSP’s relationship-based policing model that has proven effective in building public trust and reducing crime.
Lieutenant Bland earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, as well as a master’s degree in Public Administration from the California State University, Long Beach. Additionally, he is a graduate of the LAPD Leadership Development Program, the Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute, and most recently, the SCI Public Safety Leadership Program. He recognizes the power of education and maintains a strong commitment to the development of others through his work as a part-time professor of Criminal Justice at Rio Hondo Community College.
Thank you for your service!
University of Southern California
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Notice of Non-Discrimination
Officer Spotlight - El Monte Police Chief Ben Lowry was a 20-year law enforcement veteran who was appointed to lead the El Monte Police Department in June 2022. Tragically, Chief Lowry passed away in October. He was 45. Thank you Chief Lowry for your service. Read more.
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The basic molecules that make up our cells are carbohydrates, nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins. A fundamental principle of human disease is misregulation of one of these basic building blocks of cells; in our lab we focus on how cells deal with problems that occur in proteins. Some of the human conditions linked to these problems include Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and various cancers. Cells have specialized machinery to deal with proteins that are problematic. In general, we call these systems "protein quality control systems". Our lab is interested in the molecular details of how these protein quality control systems operate.
Quality control of cellular proteins
Generally, we are interested in how protein quality control systems function. We have a few fundamental questions we are trying to address: On a molecular level, how do these systems select targets? What makes a target protein? What unknown pathways in cells could be regulated by these systems?
Quality control throughout cells
There are a large number of integral membrane protein quality control systems in eukaryotes. We are interested in what these (relatively) unknown systems are doing.
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December 4, 2022
December 4, 2022
What on earth is Lottery Online
March 15, 2022
Lawmaker Blasts Legislature After Redistricting Proposal Fails: were Too Stupid To Work Together
Buying Or Selling A Business: New Purchase Price Allocation Rules From 1 April 2021
Provider Relief Fund Reporting Requirements And Auditing
Statements From The Board Of Trustees And President
All IPC Health services are available over the phone or via a video call. The Deer Park and St Albans campuses are still open for physical appointments if necessary but the Sunshine campus is closed temporarily. If you need face to face treatment this will be at one of their other campuses.
In a year unlike any other, legislative leaders have been thrust into the spotlight—guiding their chambers through a global pandemic’s myriad challenges. At NCSL Base Camp last week, five legislative leaders shared what they learned about leading and legislating beyond crisis. Lawmakers continue to allow local officials to lower vehicle speed limits, while they raise limits on highways and interstates. A new challenge is reining in the surge in speeding brought on by the pandemic in some states. As Halloween approaches, complete with a rare blue full moon, a group of private partners has launched a website that breaks down how to get in the spooky spirit while minding health officials’ safety recommendations.
The MORE Act is expected to pass through the Democrat-controlled House, but the Senate isn’t expected to take it up any time soon. In May, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stifled laughter as he mocked cannabis banking provisions Democrats included in their coronavirus relief proposal. As the vote has drawn near this week, the GOP has gleefully bashed the bill as a frivolous distraction. “The far left needs to sort of cool their jets right now,” Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) said during a press conference on Tuesday. 2020 was a difficult year for many Americans—and not just because of Covid-19.
As the COVID-19 pandemic worsens due to new South African, UK and Brazilian variants, and a vaccine becomes accessible, employers across the globe are asking whether they can require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The new Act makes some significant changes to current trust law, and everyone who is involved with a Trust needs to know and understand the new legislation and its implications. Businesses talking formally or informally to their competitors need to take care, as engaging in cartel conduct is now a criminal offence. From 8 April 2021, the Commerce Amendment Act 2019 comes into effect, and an individual who deliberately engages in cartel conduct commits a criminal offence.
For example, a business is unable to pay if it needs to sell its trading stock outside the course of its business to obtain the funds. Progressive House Democrats have warned that they could withhold their vote for the legislation if the upper chamber removes the wage hike. “The president supports exactly what Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont does, that is increasing the minimum wage for the American people who are trying to make ends meet. And he thinks that long overdue,” she added.
As we battle COVID-19, we understand that this causes an economic disruption that may result in some of our clients having temporary financial difficulties. If you’re like millions of Americans financially impacted by the national emergency, we have some options for mortgage relief. $1 billion to fund 100,000 emergency housing vouchers allocated to public housing agencies and targeted to people experiencing homeless or at risk of homelessness or fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence. My first bill in my first term in Congress was the Main Street Revival Act to help grow our economy and create jobs. Each year, I have worked on this bipartisan bill which would let small businesses located in struggling areas elect to defer paying payroll taxes for their first year, helping them get off of the ground. SNAP) eligibility’s three-month time limit and ensure that all people have access to nutrition assistance while seeking full-time work.
The Louisiana Legislature is primed to end its special redistricting session on Friday with lawmakers planning to vote on all of the six maps before them. Republicans in the Louisiana Legislature approved two, identical congressional maps on Friday that maintain the status quo of a single majority-Black district while nibbling along the edges of the existing boundaries. After months of gathering voter opinions and weeks of deliberation, Louisiana legislators delivered plans Friday that protect themselves from being turned out of office by voters for the next decade.
Federal Trade Commission – The FTC sued Whole Leaf Organics for marketing CBD products as a cancer treatment. The lawsuit seems to escalate the federal government’s efforts against unsubstantiated CBD claims. In a bipartisan vote, the US House of Representatives on Monday approved reform of federal banking rules that would finally allow legal marijuana businesses to access banks. The complex is being built by University Housing Solutions, a Columbus-based student housing development company. A long-time business collaborator with the University, UHS built the Harry G. Johns Living Learning Center and John R. Fox Hall in 2011.
The Board anticipates the selection of the final candidate in the first quarter of 2020 so as to allow transitional planning prior to the next academic year at Central State. President Jackson-Hammond’s tenure has undoubtedly marked a period of growth and prosperity for our University and we are all eternally grateful for the course on which we have been set because of her leadership and vision. To that end, the Central State University Board of Trustees declares to our beloved “Madam President,” mission accomplished! Over the remainder of this academic year we will have designated opportunities for the campus, greater community and the State of Ohio to celebrate the accomplishments of our 8th President of Central State University. The agreement was announced today by CSU President Cynthia Jackson-Hammond and Mitch Stevens, President of Union Privilege, a nonprofit organization founded by the AFL-CIO to provide top-quality consumer benefit programs exclusively to union members and their families.
(Sec. 5108) This section requires the Inspector General of the VA to review the administration of the VA’s website on staffing and vacancies, develop recommendations for the administration of such site, and submit a report on its findings. (Sec. 5106) This section extends through FY2022 the authority for the VA pilot program on counseling in retreat settings for women veterans who are newly separated from service. (Sec. 5105) This section reauthorizes through FY2022 grants that go to Veterans Service Organizations for the transportation of highly rural veterans to VA medical centers. (Sec. 5101) This section extends through FY2022 the authority for collection of co-payments from veterans for hospital care and nursing home care. This division extends authorities for various Department of Veterans Affairs programs. (Sec. 2601) This section specifically includes in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program covered outpatient drugs that are used in medication-assisted treatment for opioid-use disorders.
For now, President Joe Biden has seemed to pass the buck to the states, telling governors they can use recovery funds to help those struggling with unemployment. According to an Aug. 19letter by Labor and Treasury Department officials, states can use $350 billion of pandemic funds that Congress allocated in the American Rescue Plan to continue paying unemployed workers. The letter says that in areas where unemployment remains high, “it may make sense for unemployed workers to continue receiving additional assistance for a longer period of time,” which would allow those individuals to find a job. Emergency relief services are delivered by community organisations and help people address immediate basic needs in times of crisis. Emergency relief supports people experiencing financial distress or hardship and who have limited means or resources to help them alleviate their financial crisis. Establishes a review committee in the Department of Health charged with making recommendations to prevent further maternal mortality.
Then-president Donald Trump also faced criticism for not having a federal strategy to combat the pandemic such as nationwide mask mandates on transportation, a testing strategy, health guidelines, providing medical-grade protective gear, and having an effective vaccine distribution strategy. On January 20, the day after Joe Biden was inaugurated, he warned that the death toll could exceed 500,000. However, according to Snopes, Biden inherited a vaccine distribution strategy from Trump, and disease expert Anthony Fauci said that his administration would incorporate some aspects of that Trump-era strategy in its ongoing work.
Illinois retailers sold more than $117 million worth of recreational marijuana products in January. Optimi Health Corp. was granted a dealer’s license by Canadian officials allowing for regulated possession, production, assembling, sale and delivery of psilocybin. Pakistan’s minister of science and technology helped inaugurate a pilot project for cannabis processing. Bermuda House of Assembly is set to take up a cannabis legalization bill. Michigan regulators published FAQs on the transfer of regulatory responsibilities for some aspects of the hemp industry.
Permits a person who holds a Level One or alternative Level One license to receive a Level Two license on successful completion of at least three but no more than five years, or on grant of reciprocity by the Public Education Department. Requires the Public Education Department and Children, Youth and Families Department to develop a system, usable by both, to track children moving between schools and CYFD services. Clarifies that the Student ID number assigned to each student must be unique.
Lawmaker Blasts Legislature After Redistricting Proposal Fails: were Too Stupid To Work Together
Support for eligible businesses impacted by the lockdown and trading restrictions from 20 July 2021 to 26 July 2021 . Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research institute, reported that nearly one in five adults with children reported that their families sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat in the last seven days according to data collected from the USDA between December 9-21. Black and Latino adults more also more than twice as likely to report that their families did not get enough to eat than White families.
Among other things, the bill legalized the production of hemp, which contains high levels of cannabidiol, or CBD. (THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical in cannabis that does that.) Instead, CBD is marketed for everything from helping to relieve pain and inflammation to reducing stress and anxiety. Amends the Emergency Medical Services Act to require the Department of Health to coordinate with local and regional emergency medical services on the development and implementation of “ST segment elevation myocardial infarction” triage and transport plans.
PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts. Some CBD manufacturers have come under government scrutiny for wild, indefensible claims, such that CBD is a cure-all for cancer or COVID-19, which it is not. We need more research but CBD may prove to be a helpful, relatively non-toxic option for managing anxiety, insomnia, and chronic pain. Without sufficient high-quality evidence in human studies, we can’t pinpoint effective doses, and because CBD currently is typically available as an unregulated supplement, it’s hard to know exactly what you are getting. CBD has been touted for a wide variety of health issues, but the strongest scientific evidence is for its effectiveness in treating some of the cruelest childhood epilepsy syndromes, such as Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome , which typically don’t respond to antiseizure medications. In numerous studies, CBD was able to reduce the number of seizures, and, in some cases, stop them altogether.
(Sec. 172) This section allows a higher rate of spending for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing for the Elderly programs to maintain project rental assistance for the elderly, and continue the Integrated Wellness in Supportive Housing demonstration program. (Sec. 167) This section allows appropriations to be used to provide assistance to Sri Lanka without being subject to certain congressional certification requirements. (Sec. 155) This section extends the authority of the Department of Education to use mandatory funds for account maintenance fees payable to guaranty agencies. (Sec. 150) This section extends the availability of funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to replace a mine safety research facility. (Sec. 136) This section provides appropriations for the Executive Office of the President to provide administrative support for a presidential transition. (Sec. 132) This section allows a higher spending rate for the Small Business Administration to accommodate increased demand for 7 small business loans and the Small Business Investment Company program.
Buying Or Selling A Business: New Purchase Price Allocation Rules From 1 April 2021
Watercare Services Limited is responsible for providing water and wastewater services to the greater Auckland region, and employs a large number of people across many different teams. New York Post editorial board is calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul for more transparency about her office’s relationships with marijuana industry campaign donors. Mexico’s Senate majority leader said lawmakers will prioritize marijuana legalization legislation this session. Alaska regulators are proposing changes to rules for enforcement action processes for violations of marijuana laws. Cannabis shop co-owned by Virginia’s Senate president pro tempore is selling mislabeled products containing amounts of delta-9 THC that are illegal in the state. Canadian regulators’ decision to deny healthcare professionals’ applications to use psilocybin as part of training to administer psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is being challenged.
On 8 August, the Government’s abortion reform bill passed its first reading by 94 to 23 votes. Politicians followed a conscience vote instead of voting according to party lines. In mid-February, Education Minister Chris Hipkins proposed merging the country’s sixteen polytechnics delta 10 thc legal into a “NZ Institute of Skills and Technology” in response to deficits and a slump in domestic enrolments. This proposed NZ Institute would also take over the enrolment and management of apprentices and industry trainees from the country’s eleven industry training organisations.
Prime Minister Ardern also announced that the number of NZDF personnel in Afghanistan would be reduced from 13 to 11 by March 2020. While National has cautiously supported the Government’s policy, the party’s defence spokesperson Mark Mitchell has voiced concerns that the Iraqi withdrawal was too soon. On 5 March 2019, the New Zealand Parliament unanimously passed the Crimes Amendment Bill, which repealed Section 123 of the Crimes Act.
It does, however, indicate that in principle, providers of professional advisory services will generally be under an obligation to use reasonable care and skill, but are not responsible for providing a perfect result unless that has been expressly provided for. In other words, fitness for purpose warranties will not always be readily implied. In Global Switch Singapore Ltd v Arup Singapore Pte Ltd, the Singapore High Court dismissed a US$17.5m claim brought by Global Switch against Arup Singapore, over alleged failures of duty that led to a data centre outage. Global Switch claimed that it was Arup’s responsibility to design a chilled water system to cool the data centre in a way that reflected the needs of Global Switch. The Court found no implied fitness for purpose because the high threshold for implying a term was not met and the contractual documents were not clear as to the standard of design or purpose that was required. The absence of sufficient clarity meant an implied term “was too vague and ambiguous to succeed”, and was not required for business efficacy.
Regional coordinators will work with each college president as well as key community stakeholders to design and implement programs based on community need as well as current research. Central State University is proud to announce its partnership with Propel Center, a new global campus headquartered in Atlanta that will support innovative learning and development for Historically Black Colleges and Universities nationwide. Central State will collaborate with Propel Center and the entire HBCU community to bring leadership and career development programming to its students.
The seven-member Task Force will gather and review pertinent information from multiple areas of Central State and make recommendations based on the members’ decades of higher education experience, the current climate, and the current position of the university. Instead of articulating my vision, I spent the next several months in deep discussions about tests, quarantines, public distancing, sanitation, cbd fruchtgummis sarah’s blessing erfahrungen and hygiene. From this experience, I learned in real time what it meant to remain focused on the big picture, move the organization forward, and at the same time make unpopular decisions. The decision to disrupt lives through layoffs, furloughs, and other actions were some of the toughest in my decades in higher education. These decisions were necessary for the sustainability of the institution.
As a result of the pandemic’s effects on education, legislatures in at least 37 states are considering bills that would expand or introduce private school choice programs. As the pandemic disrupted work life, many legislative offices and individual staff found creative ways to remain social during these unsociable times. The Texas governor defunds state legislative staff and a couple of states look at using state budgets to restrict gubernatorial power during emergencies. During legislative sessions this year, states continued to ease regulations and other hurdles immigrant workers face when trying to break into the U.S. labor market. Meet Jessica Harmon, director of the Office of Fiscal and Management Analysis in the Indiana Legislative Services Agency. Inspired by a grad school professor’s passion to provide lawmakers with credible, objective research, she’s worked in public service ever since.
Provider Relief Fund Reporting Requirements And Auditing
As the political landscape continues to change and the pandemic becomes more controlled, retailers can expect a renewed focus on state and local changes. Hot topics for retailers are expected to include predictive scheduling, minimum wage, overtime, paid leave, and pay equity. As long as health agencies are advising most members of the public to wear face masks—which could be into 2022—retailers likely will encounter some customers who refuse to wear them. Unfortunately, retailers that adopt a strict “no mask, no service” policy also may face legal challenges. Customer opposition to face masks can raise thornydisability and religious accommodation issues, and can lead to litigation. However, retailers have had some success in defending these lawsuits in court.
The program provided up to 53 weeks of additional aid for those who had exceeded state allowances. Emergency relief organisations can be the first point of contact for an individual with complex needs, allowing for referral to more intensive support such as financial counselling or mental health or alcohol and other drugs support. This early intervention with a wraparound approach can lead to better outcomes and future self-sufficiency for individuals and families. The sisters, who started developing the line early last year, already had in-house expertise on creating and marketing beauty products through their family business, The Advantage Co., which manages a portfolio of beauty, fashion and jewelry brands and restaurants. They worked directly with hemp farmers to source the CBD and with Advantage Co.’s lab and scientists to formulate the products. The CBD floodgates opened after President Donald Trump signed the Farm Bill into law in December.
But without stringent federal oversight, few in the CBD business will voluntarily opt-in to tests of their product labeling’s accuracy. And e-commerce sales of CBD have grown this year amid the coronavirus pandemic. Congress hasn’t yet explicitly excluded or included who would be eligible for hazard pay. But the broad outlines indicate that nurses, doctors and other frontline medical personnel as well as janitors, maintenance workers, grocery clerks, delivery drivers, postal workers, border patrol officers, truck drivers, transit employees, etc. would be included. For example, studies have consistently shown that where cannabis is legalized,Medicaid and Medicare costs go downas well as the use of expensive prescription drugs as patients choose cannabis in favor of other drugs that have debilitating and sometimes deadly side effects. Aid for hemp businesses is becoming more clear, as the USDA announced its guidelines to apply for federal loans.
Conducted by Economic Modeling Specialists International in Moscow, Idaho, the study demonstrates how the value of public universities in Ohio positively influences both the lives of students and the state’s economy. The 14 universities serve a range full spectrum cbd oil drug test risk of industries in Ohio, support local businesses and benefit society as a whole from an expanded economy and improved quality of life. The benefits also extend to the state government through increased tax revenues and public-sector savings.
On Tuesday, the Cannabis Information Project held a national webinar featuring dispensary stakeholders, patients and doctors to discuss how the industry has responded to the challenges brought on by the coronavirus crisis. In addition, Virginia is one signature away from having the strongest decriminalization law in the nation — with only a $25 fine. Meanwhile in Vermont, the speaker of the House expects lawmakers to return to work on the bill to legalize cannabis sales in August. This week, the alcohol brand powerhouse increased its stake in Canopy Growth by 5%, bringing its total ownership up nearly 39%.
Funding for the regulator would come from registration and licencing fees as well as levies. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment recently opened consultation on options to increase regulation on engineers in light of reports following the CTV building collapse and contamination of Havelock North’s drinking water. Under the Act, building consents will only be required for the installation phase, with processing times reducing to 10 working days .
Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Jefferson Hughes will be allowed to try a defamation lawsuit he filed in 2020 against The Times-Picayune and The Advocate over the wording of a 2019 opinion piece that criticized him. A Republican state lawmaker from Kenner who last summer voted to uphold Gov. John Bel Edwards’ veto of a bill targeting transgender children is facing a recall petition cbd gummies thc free from right-wing opponents. The Ukrainian community at LSU took to Free Speech Alley on Friday to protest the Russian attack on their country as well as to spread awareness of the deadly conflict and the danger it poses to other countries, including the United States. Louisiana receives half its revenues from the federal government – more than any other state but Wyoming and Alaska.
Virtual homecoming activities are currently being planned, and participants should expect a variety of engaging entertainment and fellowship opportunities for students, alumni, and the greater Central State community. Forty-five percent of our huile de cbd canada students come from Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Chicago and Detroit. When you review the COVID-19 cases in those locations in comparison to Wilberforce, OH, the risk is significantly less than in those major metropolitan areas.
This free trade agreement is worth NZ$970 million and will eliminate tariffs on all New Zealand exports including honey, wine, kiwifruit, onions, most industrial products. In addition, a range of dairy and beef exports will be tariff free after a period of 15 years. Farmers, tradespersons and agricultural sector professionals claimed that the so-called “Ute tax” discriminated Ute users due to the lack of electrical alternatives. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ardern defended the Government’s commitment to the environment and brushed off suggestions of a rural-urban divide in New Zealand.
Statements From The Board Of Trustees And President
This week, we’re seeing headlines about a hemp’s exclusion from USDA coronavirus relief, a CBD recall and Kristen Bell’s new CBD line. There’s a lot of credit unions that have filled the void and serviced a lot of these operators. But a lot are getting charged onerous fees to have accounts at these firms and they’re not able to do merchant processing. There’s not as many unbanked cannabis companies as there has been in the past, but there’s still a lot of underbanked companies. Appellants simply request to be included in the general applicant pool for consideration on the merits of their applications, which were, in fact, timely and complete. As the coronavirus outbreak has wreaked havoc on states across the country, some have turned a hopeful eye to hemp to boost local economies.
Bank of America will continue to devote the necessary resources to help ensure your personal safety, while maintaining the services you count on. With this in mind, we have temporarily closed some of our financial centers, which may result in longer wait times at other locations. For the most efficient experience, you can schedule an appointmentahead of time. Remember, you can enroll in online bankingto manage your accounts, make loan payments, pay bills, and more at your own convenience.
We will continue to focus on ensuring business continuity and adequate support for our stakeholders who require assistance during this time. Congressman Evans believes the scale of the current housing crisis, deepened by the ongoing pandemic, deserves a stronger federal response to provide comprehensive relief for homeowners and renters. Congressman Evans calls for immediate action to deliver direct financial assistance to American families in need. The $100 billion in emergency rental assistance passed by House Democrats in May in the Heroes Act would provide short-term and medium-term rental assistance and could also cover utilities, rent and utility arrears and fees, and security deposits. Most low-income renters in Philadelphia receive no government assistance, driving many to rely on alternative arrangements to secure shelter, such as moving in with family or seeking placement in shelters. Resorting to such crowded conditions could increase the spread of COVID-19.
Access to and affordability of prescription drugs have long ranked among lawmakers’ top concerns. With most 2021 state sessions now in full swing, the search continues for policies that will lower drug costs for states and consumers alike. Fred Risser was first elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 1956, the same year President Dwight D. Eisenhower took the oath of office. Risser, who retired at the end of last year at age 92, talks with NCSL about his career, his insights as a World War II veteran and the legislative changes he’s seen.
This guide gives an overview of the rapidly evolving laws concerning marijuana and CBD oil. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (also referred to as ”MLPF&S” or “Merrill”) makes available certain investment products sponsored, managed, distributed or provided by companies that are affiliates of Bank of America Corporation (“BofA Corp.”). MLPF&S is a registered broker-dealer, Member SIPC and a wholly owned subsidiary of BofA Corp. Our PPP loan forgiveness portal is now open and includes a simplified forgiveness application for PPP loans of $150,000 or less. We will email clients with a link to access our loan forgiveness application over the coming weeks, when the application becomes available to them. So it’s important you know and trust who you are sending money to and never use it with others who you don’t know, or to pay for goods and services you have not yet received.
With enrollment in Affordable Care Act health plans at an all-time high, policymakers are implementing changes to make coverage more affordable and to give consumers more time to sign up. Many programs meant to support youth who wind up in the system were extremely limited or shut down. But some states managed to pass reforms that help more kids avoid the system altogether, which saves the states money and spares the youths from being dogged by a criminal background. Adjusting clocks ahead or back to accommodate the coming and going of daylight saving time is opposed, even despised, by majorities in recent surveys.
They are a quick way to get people to websites, promotional codes and mobile payments. COVID-19 has sped the use of Quick Response codes, with an increasing number of businesses using QR codes for contactless encounters and transactions. However, hackers are aware of the rise, which could mean how to use cbd oil for anxiety QR code security threats to consumers who use them. Other scammers have used real information to infect computers with malware. For example, malicious websites used the real Johns Hopkins University interactive dashboard of coronavirus infections and deaths to spread password-stealing malware.
At WIU, he successfully managed a budget of nearly $224 million during a period of unprecedented fiscal challenges. “We will have an inclusive comprehensive process including faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community stakeholders,” Dr. Thomas wrote in a letter to university stakeholders. “Rest assured, I am committed to maintaining the high-quality education and the family environment for which Central State University is known,” he said in a video posted today on the university website and on social media. Although public health concerns forced the university to move the commencement online, the virtual ceremony ultimately reached a record 62,913 viewers and inspired 580 shares on Facebook.
Tompkins Wake chief executive Jon Calder is calling on other Waikato law firms to support the Law Society’s Gender Equality Charter. At an Institute of Directors lunch earlier this month, Calder spoke about his firm’s commitment to the Charter and the work it is doing to meet the Charter requirements – and issued a challenge. The High Court has declined to set aside a council’s statutory demand for a $415,493.45 debt for development contribution levy.
Gabbard is widely portrayed as an apologist for America’s enemies and has been accused of being a “Russian asset”. When asked about her coverage in the mainstream media, Gabbard has said “We have seen for a long time how the mainstream media has been complicit in further pushing and pursuing the foreign policy establishment narrative.” In 2017, Gabbard, as co-chair of the Post 9/11 Veterans Caucus helped introduce the Forever GI Bill to extend and improve the GI Bill benefits granted to veterans, surviving spouses, and dependents. In 2016, Gabbard worked successfully with John Kline (R-MN) to amend the National Defense Authorization Act to allow military retirees living more than 100 miles from a military treatment facility to re-enroll in TRICARE Prime, reversing a 2013 policy that eliminated such access. The sex worker advocacy group Decriminalize Sex Work gave her a grade of A- on sex work decriminalization, making her only presidential candidate to get a score above a B-.
Whether public health guidance regarding wearing face masks changes in the future remains to be seen. Retailers may want to keep apprised of the latest public health guidance on that issue. In October 2019, Gabbard described Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a “radical Islamist megalomaniac” and accused his government of supporting the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State terror organizations.
Clarifies requirements of a conditional prescription certificate to prescribe psychotropic medications and the types of licensed clinicians who may act as supervising clinicians for a psychologist with a conditional certificate. Protects confidentiality of victims, of or non-law-enforcement witnesses to assault with intent to commit criminal sexual penetration, stalking/aggravated stalking, criminal sexual penetration or criminal sexual contact. Increases the portion of the Severance Tax Permanent Fund required to be invested in the Small Business Investment Corporation from one to two percent of the Fund’s market value.
Businesses and citizens that feed the government with their tax dollars will struggle to make ends meet in whatever the new economy evolves into. This struggle for jobs and the negative impact the stay-home mandate has had on small businesses will inevitably hurt a government’s tax revenue stream — which, unfortunately, means significant cuts and more financial heartache are on the horizon. Being deemed essential is an incredible responsibility for a young industry.
Founded as CBDistillery in 2015, the company initially sold pure, hemp-derived CBD extract in powders that could be added to food and beverages or mixed in with oils and lotions. Follow the governor on social media in order to get the latest news and information. Mandates Educational Retirement Board, State Treasurer, Public Employees Retirement Association and State Investment Council to present the agency’s current annual financial audit to the State Board of Finance within six months after the report is due to the State Auditor. Relates to county government; removes requirement that county subdivision ordinances be filed with the State Records Administrator. Relates to the special districts called Infrastructure Development Zones and the method of notice required for public hearings and the inclusion of territory within the zone. Creates a nonreverting Advanced Mapping Fund to be administered by the Office of the State Engineer and funded by appropriations, donations, income from investment and money otherwise accruing.
Since the imposition of social distancing requirements, travel restrictions, and widespread stay-at-home and economic shutdown orders, almost22 millionAmericans have filed for unemployment compensation, while some businesses have closed their doors permanently. The most recent legislation—the CARES Act—provides $1.8 trillion in direct aid to individuals and businesses, the largest stimulus package in U.S. history. The CA COVID-19 Rent Relief program provides financial assistance for unpaid rent to eligible renters and landlords who have been impacted by COVID-19. Also, lawmakers added the $300 weekly enhancement and made changes to the pandemic programs. And Trump waited to sign the bill until after benefits had lapsed for millions more out-of-work Americans. When Congress passed the last relief bill extending the unemployment programs, some of the jobless had already started exhausting their pandemic benefits, which were created last March.
The opposition National Party supported the bill’s passages into law despite some disagreements with the Government. On 19 December, the Government announced that it would be voting in favour of the UN’s Global Compact for Migration. Foreign Minister Peters justified the decision on the grounds the Compact was not legally binding and would not hinder New Zealand from setting its own migration policies. The Government’s decision was criticised by the opposition National Party, which claimed it would violate New Zealand’s sovereignty.
Amends the Public School Code to require the Public Education Department to consult with tribal leaders, members, and families of students when considering opening or closing a school on tribal lands. Amends the New Mexico Bank Installment Loan Act of 1959 and the New Mexico Small Loan Act of 1995 to clarify some existing provisions and adds a series of new requirements regarding the making of precomputed loan transactions and reporting to the Financial Institutions Division. Provides that the two district court judges shall be appointed by the District and Metropolitan Judges Association. Replaces the member from the Court of Appeals with a magistrate judge appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Adds tribal judges to the persons who are to receive education and training from the Judicial Education Center at UNM’s Institute of Public Law.
This page provides information and answers to frequently asked questions for those wishing to obtain a permit to grow hemp. On October 28th, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture approved interim rules pertaining to the federal industrial hemp program. They also included procedures for approving state industrial hemp plans, a necessary step before Texas can implement its industrial hemp program. These rules are subject to change until they have been published in the Federal Register. Popularly known as the “2018 Farm Bill,” the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 made significant changes to how CBD is viewed at the federal level.
She also indicated that the direct payments could be delayed by weeks as Democrats figure out the best path forward for the $15 minimum wage measure. Erik Altieri is the executive director or National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws . As long as cultures have consumed cannabis, the practice of sharing a joint or a pipe among friends has been a common social practice. But given what we know about COVID-19 and its transmission, we believe that it is mindful during this time to halt this behavior. You can use CalFresh to help buy food at grocery stores, farmers markets, and online. If you need help finding food or other essential services, call 211 to speak to someone who can help.
So federal agencies have been slow to regulate the booming industry — leading to a deluge of tinctures, smoothies and lotions that trusted tests have shown contain no CBD at all. ’ ” recalled Samantha Miller, who hosted the event at her split-level house, wedged between redwoods and a creek below. A headstrong biochemist, she had been growing marijuana since the age of 14 and had just quit a six-figure job to start her own cannabis testing lab. Will Congress pass a phase-four coronavirus relief package and ignore the sacrifices of essential workers?
It is important for contractors (especially in construct-only contracts with limited temporary design) and consultants to identify if they have unwittingly taken on a fitness for purpose warranty. Depending on the level of professional indemnity cover the party holds, it may only respond where a claim arises from professional negligence and the policy may be invalidated altogether. Contractors, especially design and build contractors, should err on the side of caution and assume they are taking on a fitness for purpose obligation when carrying out design work. While some overseas design and build contracts (i.e. JCT and ICE) expressly exclude fitness for purpose obligations, the New Zealand Standards suite does not.
He previously served as senior director of stores in North America for Nike, and as vice president of stores for DTLR/Villa, a leading footwear and apparel retailer. Desai said states need to create more incentives to bring patients and consumers into the regulated market. When the CBD Candy weather was fair, it was smooth sailing; but when the water grew choppy, investors started taking a harder look at the company especially once it defaulted on an interest payment. Cue up a board of directors investigation and exit stage left to the chief executive, Hadley Ford.
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The school year is upon us! Right before the kiddos of Charleston headed back to school this week, the city held its annual First Day Festival. Yesterday's festival included face-painting, boat riding, and aquarium exploring! Along with these fun activities, students received school supplies donated by the community. Hawkes donated school supplies ranging from notebooks to colored pencils … Continue reading First Day Festival Celebrates Education
I’m Lovin’ Volunteering
June 10, 2016 HawkesLearning Leave a comment
Last month, volunteers from Hawkes spent their Sunday morning at Charleston's Ronald McDonald House cooking breakfast for the families staying there. Pancakes, bacon, sausages, fruit, and more were cooked and served up on a beautiful May day. Volunteers tested out their pancake-flipping and fruit-slicing skills, but more importantly, they got to spend time with a couple of … Continue reading I’m Lovin’ Volunteering
March 23, 2016 March 23, 2016 HawkesLearning Leave a comment
Last weekend, Hawkes volunteers teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to help build a local house. The building was in the beginning stages, so volunteers helped with adding some support to the start of the future home's floor on the foundation. Volunteer Venessa said, "I learned how to properly hammer a nail, and it’s actually more difficult … Continue reading Make volunteering a habit: Hawkes volunteers with Habitat for Humanity
Hawkes Volunteers at Local Nonprofit
March 16, 2016 December 19, 2018 HawkesLearning Leave a comment
This past weekend, we volunteered at Windwood Farm Home for Children, which provides kids with a variety of residential and community-based programs that work with families to ensure safety through supportive interventions. It was a beautiful day for volunteering! Hawkes donated plants and soil for the landscaping project in front of the main building. Thankfully Marcel knows how … Continue reading Hawkes Volunteers at Local Nonprofit
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Matteo Farina; his Catholic faith was his strength as he fought brain cancer throughout his teenage years.
Matteo Farina was born in Avellino, Italy, on September 19, 1990. It was apparent early in his life that Matteo possessed a deeply spiritual side. He would recite the Rosary every day, read the Gospel, and he developed a devotion to St. Padre Pio and St. Francis of Assisi.
This all happened before he was nine years old. He made his first confession when he was eight and, on June 4, 2000, received his First Holy Communion. He would go to confession once a week and attend Eucharistic Adoration as often as he could.
On May 10, 2003, the Archbishop of Brindisi, Ostuni Settimo, confirmed Matteo. His sister, Erika, acting as his sponsor, stood behind him with her hand on his shoulder. Matteo had a dream several years earlier in which St. Pio came to him and revealed the secret of Christian happiness. Padre Pio asked Matteo to spread the message to others. The announcement was, “You must understand that who is without sin is happy, then you have to teach it to the others so that we can go all together happily in the heavenly paradise.”
This dream led Matteo to realize that his vocation was to evangelize, and he wrote, “I hope to succeed as an “infiltrator” among the young people, telling them what God wants. I look around me, and I want to enter in young people’s lives quietly like a virus, infecting them with an incurable illness called love.”
Matteo’s cancer first surfaced when he was 13 years old. Severe headaches and problems with his vision began to occur. His parents and his Uncle Rosario traveled with Matteo for health checks in Avellino and Verona, and those visits were followed by a journey to Hanover for a brain biopsy. It was discovered his brain was filled with malignant cells.
His strong faith and love of life never fades. He smiles at everyone, and even when recovering from surgeries, he tries to cheer up other patients. He would say, “It is useless to despond. We have to be happy and transmit happiness. The more happiness we give people, the more people are happy. The more they are happy, the more we are happy.”
In January 2005, he goes to Germany for a craniotomy operation to remove a third-degree brain tumor. He spends over a month in Milan receiving chemotherapy treatments and returns home on April 2, 2005. This was the date that Pope John Paul II died. Doctors believed the cancer was in remission, but at the end of 2007, his condition grew worse. By October 2008, his mom insisted he receive Anointing of the Sick.
It was during these teen years that he met a girl named Serena. They fell in love and always strived to have a chaste relationship. Serena remained at Matteo’s side until the end. He said of Serena that “she was the most beautiful gift the Lord could give.”
He underwent another operation, but by February 2009, his arm and leg were paralyzed, and he needed a wheelchair to get around. In late March 2009, he developed a high fever and was admitted to the hospital. Archbishop Talucci visited him and gave him an Easter blessing.
However, doctors could do no more. Matteo received his last Holy Communion on April 13, 2009, and died one week later, on April 24. He was 19 years old.
Matteo Farina’s mission may be summed up in his own words, “My God, I have two hands, let one of them to be always clasped to You in order to hold You closer in every trial. And let the other hands fall throughout the world if this is Your will…as I know You by others, so let others know You through me. I want to be a mirror, the clearest possible, and if this is Your will, I want to reflect Your light in the heart of every man. Thanks for Life. Thanks for Faith. Thanks for Love. I’m Yours.
Matteo’s reputation for personal holiness had been witnessed by many. He was declared a Servant of God on April 11, 2016. On May 5, 2020, Pope Francis declared him a person of “heroic virtue” and gave him the title of Venerable Matteo Farina.
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Home » Personal Finance » Warning issued to Britons about yet another National Insurance phone call scam
Warning issued to Britons about yet another National Insurance phone call scam
June 11, 2022
Phone Scams: Woman reveals Premium Bonds were targeted
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The new phone scam that is circulating around has the fraudsters claiming to be from HMRC claiming that there is a “problem” or “issue” with the taxpayers National Insurance number. The scammers then say that the National Insurance number will be “suspended” as it is believed to be fraudulent. Twitter users have reported that the messages have both been recorded and delivered by the fraudster on the other end of the phone.
Twitter user, Nick Fletcher tweeted that he received the recorded phone message on 9 June.
Mr Fletcher said that the scammer had stated that his National insurance number and his passport would be suspended as there was a “problem” with his National Insurance submission.
Mr Fletcher immediately knew it was a scam and ended the call. At the end of his tweet, Mr Fletcher added: “Seriously, who falls for this sh*t?”
Another Twitter user had also received a fraudulent call with the same premise.
Another Twitter user had also received a fraudulent call with the same premise.
Under the account @KBelle_Arts, the user claimed that the call she received had claimed that her national insurance number had been used “fraudulently”.
The user then questioned the scammer on the phone asking them to explain what the call was about; however, the fraudster couldn’t answer the question.
In the tweet, @KBelle_Arts said: “Scammers need to try harder to make their scams more believable. I just had a call from “HM Revenue & Customs”, about my national insurance being “fraudulent “.
The user also added that there were “several other red flags” which indicated that it was a scam with the main being that the call was made from a mobile number.
In a follow up tweet, the Twitter user said: “HMRC would never call me, if they needed to contact me, it would be through the Jobcentre, not directly.”
A third user under the name of @HHeart76 also tweeted a warning on 7 June.
They shared a London phone number saying that the caller was “really into the conversation” until the Twitter user had some fun and gave them the postcode of “SC4 MM3R”. The scammer then swore and ended the phone call.
Just last week another warning was given: Britona reported that they had received a “sinister call” which ordered the taxpayer to press one or have legal action taken out against them.
The scammers often use the tactic to make someone panic so they will comply with the fraudsters wishes or will accidentally reveal information which would put their finances at risk.
Many share their experiences on Twitter encouraging others to share so they can raise awareness and help people to be able to recognise a scam if they receive one.
The multiple Twitter users that highlighted the scam last week reported it to the UK’s national fraud & cyber reporting centre Action Fraud.
With the cost of living crisis currently putting a severe strain on people’s finances, Action Fraud is concerned that many may be more vulnerable to fall for calls, texts or emails of this nature.
Every few weeks, the fraud group renews the statement: “HMRC won’t notify you of a tax rebate, or ask you to share personal/payment information by email or by phone”, and encourages those who are suspicious to report the incident to either Action Fraud or to the tax authority.
If you receive a suspicious text you can also report it, free of charge, by forwarding the text to 7726 which is the number for the National Cyber Security Centre and Action Fraud.
Cyber Protect UK stated that by doing this, Britons have already helped remove and shut down over 12,000 scams already this year.
Source: Read Full Article
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The Inter-American Development Bank’s energy portfolio includes a wide array of investments aimed at improving the energy security of its member countries by exploiting both conventional and renewable sources. In 2007 the Bank approved US$2.5 billion in energy-related operations. Many of these loans will support high-priority gas and electricity infrastructure projects. For example, the IDB approved: A US$32.7 million loan for a wide-ranging investment program to strengthen Nicaragua’s electricity system.
March 24, 2008
The Inter-American Development Bank was created in 1959 to help accelerate the economic and social development of its member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and to promote regional integration. The Bank has 47 member countries: 28 in the Western Hemisphere, 16 in Europe, as well as Israel, Japan and the Republic of Korea. The Latin American and Caribbean countries as a group hold half the shares in the institution.
March 24, 2008
The Inter-American Development Bank, the main source of multilateral development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean, plans to allocate US$12 billion for infrastructure projects in the region by 2010.
IDB loans for social development in Latin America and the Caribbean totaled $1.8 billion in 2006
February 27, 2007
The Inter-American Development Bank targeted $1.8 billion to social development investments in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2006, with an emphasis on poverty reduction and expanding opportunities for the majority. The IDB last year launched its Opportunities for the Majority initiative and renewed its commitment to support its member countries in the region to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
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We haven't had a May 1st like this in years. The massive upheavals shaking the United States, from Los Angeles to San Francisco, from Atlanta to New York, are more than protests against the "not guilty" verdict in the trial of the policemen who brutally beat Rodney King. The verdict touched off a rebellion whose energies spring from many sources. As rebellion spread, first flaming across Los Angeles and then exploding across the United States, the angry cry that has accompanied it "NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!" refers not only to the verdict but to life in America, especially life in the central cities during these last years of the Reagan-Bush administrations. "NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!" is an outcry of fed-up rebellion against systematically unjust state policies of slashing wages, welfare programmes and decent paying jobs. It is also an outcry against the flagrant racism of this last decade of economic repression and especially that of the Bush presidency born wrapped in the racist iconography of Willie Horton. The American "years of lead" have weighed most heavily on the people now in revolt. Their fires, it seems, are melting the lead, those years are over.
As in the Watts Rebellion of 1965, the anger boiling out into the streets has been expressed primarily in massive direct appropriation and the burning of almost two thousand buildings in Los Angeles. While mass media reports have tended to emphasise scattered incidents of brutality - such as a truck driver being dragged from his vehicle and beaten - the vast majority of actions have been directed against business property. Based on past experience, it is highly likely that the actual number of crimes against individuals has actually decreased during the rebellion.
As in the rebellions of the 1960's, reports and interviews have portrayed, mixed in with the anger, a carnivalesque atmosphere of community appropriation as thousands of citizens have collectively smashed down the glass and steel separating them from the things they need. This appropriation was systematic and spread well beyond South-Central L.A., where the rebellion began, into high-priced shopping malls and boutiques such as those of wealthy Beverley Hills.
All these "Riots", denounced by President Bush as an impermissible breakdown in law and order, have actually been creating new laws of distribution and a new kind of money-less order in which vast quantities of wealth are being, very quickly, transferred from the businesses which have, to those who do not. Beyond such direct appropriation, however, we must also see the political statement of the burnings: the demand for an end to the institutions of exploitation themselves. Sociologists may well label these rebellions, as they did those of the 1960's, "commodity riots" but we must also recognise that the rupture of the merchantile circuits of capitalist society is a political blow to its lifeblood.
Riot = business governmental and media derogatory term for “popular rebellion”
Looting = business governmental and media derogatory term for “direct appropriation” or “proletarian shopping”
Vandalism = business governmental and media derogatory term for “wiping out the institutions of exploitation”
Law = euphemism for the rules of capitalist exploitation
Remarkable in the dynamics of the rebellions has been the failure of the forces of mediation. When the verdict came in on the night of Wednesday the 29th, every respectable "community leader" in Los Angeles, from black Mayor Bradley on down, strove to avert rebellion by channelling anger into manageable channels. Meetings in churches were organised, passionate gospel music was mixed with equally impassioned speeches of outrage - all designed to permit a powerless, cathartic venting of emotion. At the biggest meeting, covered by Network Television, the desperate Mayor went so far as to make an explicit plea for no action. Just as good business trade unions see their primary job as imposing contracts and maintaining labour peace, so did the good community leaders see theirs as the maintenance of "order". They failed.
Over and over again, such local leaders, city officials (including the notorious Chief of Police Gates) and the White House have tried to draw a line between a "lawless" few young thugs (the Willie Horton icon again) and the "law-abiding" majority of the community. But reports have made it clear that all kinds of people have been participating in the rebellion. Nor has this been a "black" rebellion, even though it began in a predominantly black neighborhood. Even the elite New York Times (1, May, 1992) has reported both of these phenomena, signalling to the ruling class the seriousness of the explosion:
"Some areas took on the atmosphere of a street party as black, white, Hispanic and Asian residents mingled to share in a carnival of looting. As the greatly outnumbered police looked on, people of all ages [and genders], some carrying small children, wandered in and out of stores and supermarkets with shopping bags and armloads of shoes, liquor, radios, groceries, wigs, auto parts, gumball machines and guns. Some stood patiently in line to take their turn."
Like the Brixton "Riots" in the early 1980's, this has been a multiracial community uprising. What some have called the "impossible class" and others "the tribe of moles" has coalesced and surfaced once again - against a police and against an economic system which have done their best to make their lives miserable.
A Riot in a Community
is Like
Across the country, these scenes have been repeated on a smaller scale and have been supported by dozens of other kinds of demonstrations protesting against the injustice of the Rodney King verdict and articulating at least some of the outcries of the rebels. Here in Austin, capitol of the state of Texas and home to the University of Texas, high-tech electronic firms and a sizeable population of blacks and Mexican Americans, news of the uprising in Los Angeles also brought people spontaneously out of their homes and jobs and into the streets. Within hours, first at the downtown, central police station and then at the state capitol building, a cross-section of the city - of all colours and ethnic backgrounds - was speaking out angrily about the developing events. In both gatherings, chants of "NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!" echoed those of Los Angeles.
Everywhere people are meeting, discussing, arguing, debating and taking action as the struggle circulates across the nation. In school classrooms and in open areas to which they have marched, in elementary schools and universities, students are participating in this discussion and organizing for action. A week ago the nation watched as two natural earthquakes shook Northern California and wondered if "the big one" would be next ["The Big One" is the long-predicted large-scale earthquake which will cause massive destruction along the San Andreas fault in California]. Today a social earthquake in Southern California has sent shockwaves rippling across the continent, making us all wonder if the revolutionary "big one” is far off.
United States
1990s
LA riots
Distorted by the bourgeois press, reduced to a mere 'race riot' by many on the left, the L.A. rebellion was the most serious urban uprising this…
A brief account of the six days of rioting which set Los Angeles aflame following the acquittal of four police officers who were filmed beating…
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Often-times in recovery, being sober seems to be the aim. Yes, it is a crucial and a fundamental part (the beginning aspect) of starting the journey to full scale “recovery,” but the independent process of avoiding drugs and alcohol is nowhere near true freedom.
I’m often reminded of how being “just sober” sucks. I have half a decade without drugs and alcohol, but sometimes I’m more miserable than I ever was when I was getting high. The difference between then and now is that I have tools to get back to true freedom–where all the nonsense I am putting myself through mentally has no validity. It is not the mere fact that I am away from mind-altering substances, but it is because of the spiritual actions that can free my mind from itself.
Do you remember when you were a child? When the smallest things could mesmerize you? From being outside sweaty, running around and playing with bugs in the mud, to laughing at farts (I still do that) and wrestling with your friends. There is such a calm presence with children because they haven’t yet been mentally affected by themselves. They don’t care about yesterday or tomorrow. They don’t care about what he or she thinks. They don’t worry about paying bills, providing for anyone, or how their stocks are doing. Children are truly free.
So, I guess in short, being spiritually free is just trying to be a child again. It is not worrying about anything but what’s in front of you now. That’s why at Real Deal we say: “sober is just the beginning.” Because a life without drugs and alcohol sucks. But a life with true freedom is the most beautiful thing in existence.
Other Cool Reads:
Chillin’
Sober and Social
We are a program of change. However, you must make the first move. We are here for you confidentially 24/7.
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Late last year, a veteran of communist politics in Aotearoa/New Zealand decided to contribute to a march for the traditional working-class demand for reproductive rights by standing outside it with a sign bearing only the words “WOMAN = ADULT HUMAN FEMALE” – a dogwhistle for anti-trans feminists (or “trans-excluding radical feminists”, TERFs). Another veteran from the same organisation now has the same phrase at the head of her Twitter biography – displacing all mention of her record as a socialist and a union organiser. And they’re not the only ones. How has the motivation to punch down on trans people – and defend the “free speech” of fascists and others who do so – come to substitute for the fight for workers’ power and a post-capitalist world in the minds of veteran activists?
Daphna Whitmore and Don Franks are veteran socialists and union organisers, who were founding authors of the blog Redline when it was set up in 20121. Whitmore’s Twitter account identifies her as part of the “Left Network for Free Speech” (LNFS). The Redline post in which this “Network” was announced says:
As partisans of the working class, we know that the working class has historically been denied democratic rights, including free speech. Even after hundreds of years of struggle, workers today face being fired for expressing, in their own time and on their own computers, views which their employers disapprove of.
Leaving the power to decide what is acceptable speech in the hands of employers and the state disempowers workers and oppressed sections of society such as women, Maori, gay people and migrant workers… Free speech is necessary to expose racism, sexism and bigotry. In contrast, ‘hate speech’ restrictions don’t challenge these ideas. ‘Hate speech’ laws in practice are an arbitrary tool that are used to impose social regulation. They can be used to silence progressives on a range of issues.2
Given their defence of free speech as a weapon in defence of the interests of workers and gay people, it is strange that almost all the articles posted by the LNFS on their Facebook page since it was founded are in defence of Israel Folau – the millionaire athlete who was released from his contract with the Australian Rugby Union after violating his contract by making religiously-based homophobic social media posts – or of “gender-critical” (i.e. transphobic) commentators and academics. The link between these and working-class activism seems thin, to say the least.
Free-speech absolutism on the Left has had a historical record of degenerating, first into tolerance for Right-wing ideas, then actual sympathy with them. The classic historical example of this is the Revolutionary Communist Party in Britain, originally a split from the Socialist Workers Party. This organisation – always somewhat of an outlier on the British far-left – began to be distinguished in the mid-1980s by opposing the consensus that fascist movements such as the British National Party should not be given platforms on campus. This clearly prefigures the LNFS’ insistence that state action against “hate speech” in fact makes things worse, as well as its concern about “academic mobbing” of professors who promote transphobia.
The subsequent transformation of the RCP into an outright Right-wing libertarian outfit is quite notorious. Opposing the liberal consensus had become for them an end in itself, detached from socialist principle. The organisation itself wound up in the 1990s, as their Living Marxism magazine was sued out of existence for denial of the horrors of attempted genocide during the Yugoslav civil wars. They cropped up later in the form of the “Institute of Ideas”, promoting climate-change denial through documentaries such as The Great Global Warming Swindle. They continue to exist as Spiked, a libertarian Right-wing website funded by American billionaires the Koch brothers, some of whose writers have recently been elected to the European Parliament for the Brexit Party.3
It is interesting to note that the place where this degeneration began – minimising the threat of fascism in favour of the supposed greater threat of liberal “thought policing” – is a very common trope on the anti-liberal Left, the kind of people whom Fightback has criticised in our previous articles on Conservative Left and Red-Brown tendencies. As we have previously stated, this kind of underestimation of the fascist threat – or even seeing fascist movements as having a positive side, in mobilising opposition to a centrist/liberal consensus – was the kind of thinking from Communists which led to the victory of Hitler in Germany.
The most shocking and disturbing thing on the LNFS Facebook page, however, is the un-ironic posting of this image4:
This is an extremely common meme in online “free speech” circles (and was recently quoted by none other than Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter). But this is not a quote from the 18th century French writer Voltaire at all. It is in fact a quote from Kevin Alfred Strom, an American neo-Nazi writing in 1993. The clue to whom he was really referring is given in the following, full version of the meme:
There is no reason to believe that Whitmore, Franks et al. were aware of the true nasty nature of this meme. But in a way, that makes it even worse. Fightback has previously characterised the spread of “Red-Brown” ideas as like a “zombie plague”, in that socialists or others on the Left who start descending into Right-populist or even fascist politics don’t even realise that they’re doing so. It is a case of losing one’s political (or even moral) compass.
Unfortunately, trans-exclusive ideas are not confined to the comrades of Redline/LFNS. TERF politics are very strong on the British left, and one union activist recently arrived from Britain tried earlier this year to defend the free speech of transphobes on the “Unions NZ” Facebook group.6 Prominent veterans of the socialist movement in New Zealand – such as Unite Union stalwart Mike Treen and retired academic David Bedggood7 – have also made social media or blog posts opposing “transactivism” or defending local anti-trans activists such as Renee Gerlich. Such comrades often try to justify themselves by arguing that they are against discrimination against trans people, but that “transactivism/the transgender movement” goes too far. These are not dissimilar in form from the arguments against Gay Liberation from 1970s Communists, which are still used by fringe Stalinist groups like the “Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist)”.
This is particularly ironic in an era where some of the staunchest young communists in Aotearoa/New Zealand identify as trans, non-binary or in some other way “genderqueer”.9 As we noted in “Against Conservative Leftism”, incomprehension of new ways of living which have become common among young people in the era of neoliberal globalisation is a common feature among many veteran activists.
Beyond that, many activists have pointed to an extremely strong link between anti-sex-worker (sex-worker-exclusive radical feminism, or SWERF) and anti-trans politics. English sociology professor Sally Hines put it like this on Twitter:
If someone is a trans exclusionary feminist they will almost certainly have anti-sex work and anti-porn politics – and vice versa. The constant is a denial of body autonomy and a feminism that insists it knows what is best for other women (even when told otherwise).11
It is no coincidence that, due to social exclusion from other work, trans women have been disproportionately represented among sex workers. It is rumoured that several prominent TERFs in New Zealand developed their hostility to trans people after getting a hostile response to their anti-sex worker activism.
English trans musician “DeadBitBabe” also comments:
SWERF’N’TERFS can’t acknowledge the autonomy of sex workers because to them power only comes from maintaining the integrity of their fantasy construction of a female body… Are the cries of Lesbian erasure not strangely reminiscent of the fascist’s cries of white genocide?
The “lesbian erasure” trope is an interesting one. The AfterEllen website recently published an article entitled “A Butch Eradication, Served With a Progressive Smile”, claiming that the network of lesbian spaces and business which had been built up since the 1980s had collapsed due to an increasing tendency of “butch” (masculine-appearing) lesbians to identify as trans men. The author laments:
Our lesbian spaces are already dead. Our bookstores, our dances. Everything we built is dead and taken over by the trans nightmare.
If nothing else, this is a change from the usual TERF narrative, which tends to ignore the existence of trans men and non-binary people altogether, and instead to whip up moral panic about trans women “colonizing” or even “raping” cis women’s spaces. What should really make people stop and think about both these TERF narratives is how similarly they resemble fascist narratives about “The Great Replacement”, as made notorious by the manifesto of the terrorist who murdered 51 Muslims at prayer in Christchurch earlier this year.
Following the analysis of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, Fightback has previously argued that fascist politics everywhere can be characterised as a movement led by the insecure and frightened middle-class. People who may have worked hard to build a little privilege for themselves under capitalism become terrified that an ethnic or cultural Other (classically, “the Jews”) might take it away from them. The AfterEllen article quoted above mourns for the death of a network of lesbian/woman-identified small businesses. In most cases TERFs tend to be older, whiter feminists who have had some success in academia, writing, or in the bourgeois lesbian community (the most globally prominent example being Germaine Greer).
Analysing TERF politics as a variety of fascist ideology might seem shocking or over-the-top; particularly because to do so would require us to categorize many veteran socialists in Aotearoa/New Zealand to have slipped over into the “Red-Brown” camp. But defining fascism as a movement in defence of the threatened privilege of the downwardly mobile middle class seems to make the parallel unavoidable. As does the habit of TERF ideologues of suggesting that trans people are part of some kind of conspiracy of “elites”, as in the tweet reproduced below:
The full antisemitic force of that term “elites” can be grasped when you read a transphobic academic explicitly name George Soros, the Jewish liberal billionaire who has become a common bad guy in fascist conspiracy theory, as a guilty party. “Deadbitbabe” on Twitter again:
Real talk: the primordially whole female body is to TERFs what the primordially whole nation and its people is to fascists… A mythological fantasy that serves to displace all sorts of anxieties.
The anarchist-communist website LibCom puts it more bluntly: “Transphobic feminists are, for all practical purposes, the women’s division of the global far-right.” Given this, the support given by the fascist and religious-fundamentalist Right for TERFs, described in other articles reprinted in this issue, begins to look less like an “enemy’s enemy” situation and more like a meeting of ideological bedfellows.
Perhaps the final word can be left to the author of the blog nothingiseverlost, in a criticism of the similar descent of the socialist-feminist academic Nina Power into TERF and other forms of right-wing politics: “you never seem to get people becoming less sympathetic to the far-right at the same time as getting into “gender critical”/trans-exclusionary versions of feminism.” It is extremely interesting that Power’s main move in defending her dabbling with transphobic and fascistic memes is an invocation of … free speech.
What is to be done?
Fightback has previously discussed what we see as another irruption of Right-wing ideology into socialist circles, here and elsewhere in the Western world – the demonization of the Syrian revolution. The repetitive argument from such people is that the Syrian people fighting against the Assad regime and its Russian allies are not “real” subjects of liberation (such as, to take a more popular example, the Palestinian people), but instead pawns of some Zionist-jihadi-US State Department conspiracy against Syria’s “national sovereignty”. The really perverse issue is that some of the TERF-adjacent leftists we have quoted– and we might name David Bedggood here – have agreed with us in staunchly rejecting this dehumanizing rhetoric when used against the Syrian people in struggle… only to use similar rhetoric against trans people in struggle.20
At the very least, what this can tell us is that “it’s difficult to be right about everything”. But it also warns us against a sectarian response to SWERF/TERF ideas on the Left – that is, refusal to deal with anyone who might hold such views at the moment. We all live under a suffocating blanket of capitalist ideology, in which it becomes “natural” for different groups of the oppressed to be suspicious or hostile towards each other. Even with the best intentions, it can be very hard to consistently hold to a materialist analysis which can clearly identify patterns of oppression, exploitation and privilege, and not be confused by the “DARVO” (“Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender”) tactics habitually used by fascist movements and domestic abusers.
Fightback believes that to effectively fight capitalism today means to fight fascism, the most dangerous form of capitalist ideology, which is currently on the rise. To fight fascism, we must have a united front of working and oppressed people. To have a united front we cannot tolerate racism, misogyny, transphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, state-worship or any other ideology which suggests that some oppressed people are “deserving targets” within our united front, because that is literally the thin edge of the Fascist wedge.
The Left has had far too much opportunism recently – refusal to face Right-populist or even fascist ideas within the movements for fear of alienating people, of breaking up the mass movement. We need to hold to a practice of honest, sharp criticism of SWERF and TERF ideas where-ever they are raised, even by “comrades” or “good Leftists”, as contrary to the unity of all the oppressed we need to build a better world. We also need to centre the experiences of trans people and sex workers within our movement in such debates – nothing should be “about them, without them”.
At the same time, it is crucial to build the biggest possible anti-fascist, anti-capitalist united front – which will mean sometimes linking arms with SWERFs, TERFs and even partisans of Bashar al-Assad against a common enemy. No-one said it was going to be easy.
Special thanks to Sage Anastasi, Lisandru Grigorut and Anne Russell for their help with this article.
1 The founders of Redline were former members of the Workers Party of New Zealand – the organisation from which Fightback is also descended. We are aware of the historical ironies involved.
2 For refutations from the Left of the case against hate-speech restrictions, see Max Rashbrooke at Overland (liberal) and R. Totale at LibCom (anarcho-communist).
4 If this image is taken down before then, it was accessed July 13, 2019.
6 This post raised strong negative feedback and has since been deleted by the group administrators.
7 Treen has republished several anti-“transactivist” articles on social media, including those from Redline. Bedggood is the author of this blog post.
9 Not to even mention the contribution to the Communist movement over decades by “transactivists” such as the late Les Feinberg.
11 Hines even suggests that SWERFs and TERFs might be brought together under the label “Genital-Obsessed Feminists”.
20 An excellent article on LibCom shows how a Red-Brown conference in Sweden brought together transphobic speakers with some of the most notorious defenders of Assad, such as Eva Bartlett and Vanessa Beeley.
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Down in the Valley
Down in the Valley
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Tobe is about 16, living with her dad and younger brother in LA's San Fernando Valley. She invites a gas station attendant named Harlan to come to the beach with her and her friends. He's from South Dakota, wears a cowboy hat, talks country, and has been a ranch hand. They have a great time, his simple expressions seem like wisdom, he's attentive and polite, and even though he's more than twice her age, she wants to spend time with him. When her father objects, she rebels. Harlan, meanwhile, thinks she's his soul mate, and he starts making plans to get her away from her father. Worlds are set to collide, but which ones?
Tobe is about 16, living with her dad and younger brother in LA's San Fernando Valley. She invites a gas station attendant named Harlan to come to the beach with her and her friends. He's from South Dakota, wears a cowboy hat, talks country, and has been a ranch hand. They have a great time, his simple expressions seem like wisdom, he's attentive and polite, and even though he's more than twice her age, she wants to spend time with him. When her father objects, she rebels. Harlan, meanwhile, thinks she's his soul mate, and he starts making plans to get her away from her father. Worlds are set to collide, but which ones?
Uploaded By: FREEMAN
August 22, 2020 at 03:56 AM
Director
Kat Dennings as April
Edward Norton as Harlan
Evan Rachel Wood as Tobe
David Morse as Wade
Tech specs
R
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R
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Reviewed by CityBoy44 10 / 10
Challenging and Rewarding
I had the opportunity to see this film at Cannes and then again at it's 'real' debut at the LA Film Festival. What a difference! Apparently the filmmakers were anxious to get to Cannes and had not finished the editing. Although I liked it before-- this version really hits the spot without the confusing extras that were still at Cannes. I'm glad I gave it a second chance and in fact I'm now anxious to see it again when it's released. The film is very layered and subtle. It is beautifully shot and the four main characters are original and yet painfully familiar in their alienation, anger, and despair. The Cowboy character played by Edward Norton seems so simple at first but as he is drawn into the family his character and the truth of his 'being' gradually unravels in ways that left me speechless at the end of the film. The character played by Rory Culkin, "Twig", says very little throughout the film and yet he conveys a sense of yearning and loneliness almost too painful to bare. But even he undergoes an unexpected transformation by the end of the film. My favorite though, was Evan Rachel Wood. I think she steals the show... without trying at all. Her emotions and rebelliousness are raw and totally authentic. She is a luminous creature on the screen. Her relationship with the Cowboy seemed unlikely at first and then became completely believable, especially in the bathtub scene. My main criticism is that the film is demanding. If you're not in the mood to sink into a fairly deep experience with some shocking moments and unpredictable outcomes--don't waste your time. This is a film for lovers of independent film and psychological kinds of cinema. There are also several scenes that border on surrealism. I'd be interested to know more about the making of this film and look forward to the DVD. I imagine this film may take awhile to be discovered but it holds tremendous rewards for those patient and thoughtful enough to venture into it.
Reviewed by jaredmobarak 7 / 10
I invited Tex to the beach
Down in the Valley
I'm not quite sure exactly how I felt about Down in the Valley. At many times I thought it was a gorgeous film, shot perfectly, but at others I felt uncomfortable and shocked. We are given a love story between a troubled young man and a high school girl trapped in a family that could self-destruct at any moment. These two have been on a journey to find themselves, and in each other's kindred spirits finds another to help steer them onto the right course. However, a relationship like this cannot last. Whether or not you throw in the hot-tempered father, the shy brother lacking in gumption, or the voice inside our lead's head, the tale is one ripe for tragedy. I guess that means it all hinges on the story that gets you from the beginning to the end and whether it is one that was worth the journey. Despite the numerous moments that seemed out of place, and those that stirred discomfort, I will have to conclude that the path is ultimately one I'm glad I took. The great moments were a sight to behold and the tough ones did their job because I still can't shake them.
If nothing else, the acting is top-notch. Evan Rachel Wood is truly amazing for a girl her age. From the little girl in Digging to China, to the rebellious teen in Thirteen, I can't believe how poised she is in all she does. Whereas someone like Anna Paquin fell off the map, as she got older, I think Wood will be around for quite awhile, and I can't wait for Across the Universe later this year. In this film, she encompasses the role of a young woman trying to break free from her stifling yet loose family life into a relationship that is too much for someone of her maturity to completely understand. When she slowly realizes what she is a part of, it is too late, and her mixture of fear with the love she still holds is heartbreaking. David Morse also brings a brilliant performance to the table. A long time character actor, he plays the formidable, sheriff type well, yet has the emotional range to portray the compassion he has underneath the rough exterior. His role is a man that is doing his best, but only when tragedy strikes does he realize how much love he has to give. Rory Culkin rounds out the supporting cast showing nice restraint in a confused young boy unable to differentiate good from bad as the good does what seems bad in order to protect and the bad puts on the façade of good to win him over.
In the end, the real force of the movie is Edward Norton. It's good to see that after his little hiatus from acting, he has come back better than ever. His character Harlan is a complex man with a past that has made him regress into the age of chivalrous western ranches. You can see it in his eyes that the world wronged him in some way and he needed to become a part of a moment in time where people mattered and not material objects. When he ends up in an old west film set and watches the extras dancing and enjoying life in its bear form, the ecstatic look on his face shows it all. Harlan doesn't know who he is and the love of this very young girl puts him into a world that threatens the façade he has worked hard to build. The drugs and the selfishness and the pain wreak havoc on his mind and he begins to let his past anger rise back to the surface. Every moment as he continues on his journey is true to him; when he changes reality to suit his survival, he believes every word he is saying. Something is broken in him, and no one could have portrayed it better than Norton.
I do think, though, that the acting is too good for the film. Morse and Norton are so effective in showing the dual nature of their characters that you end up feeling cheated never finding out what happened in their lives to get them to the points they are at when we are introduced to them. The script never allows us to see any of the characters' motivations, only the slice of life we are shown on screen. Is Harlan the son of a Rabbi? just a troubled youth with a criminal record? both? and if so what happened to make him try and forget it all? These are questions that the movie makes you ask, but never gives any answers to. To have a beautifully shot scene of Norton and Wood out in the country with a wonderful transition sequence involving a swing-set and then at the end progress to an outlaw gunfight chase is all at once jarring and effective, and yet insufficiently explained. These characters are so complex, I just wish the film did more to help us understand them all rather than just show us what happens when their cultures clash in the game of love. Definitely worth a look, but ultimately an underachieving film that had the makings for greatness.
Reviewed by keith-farman-1 9 / 10
Shane with attitude
Don't miss this elusive, allusive film if it hits a screen near you. See it before it becomes a cult movie. Profoundly American, it resonates with the contradictions of a culture whose real roots have been severed and is therefore struggling to live out its own mythology as a substitute. Desperately seeking sustenance and solace in a false memory of its real past.
There are echoes of Badlands in this story of an archetypal American drifter. Having no roots, personal, social or occupational, he tries to live by the simple, direct values of the mythical west whose fantasised reality he creates for himself. Harlan has cowboy skills that won't get him a job; and uncompromising personal and social attitudes of independence and individual freedom. If these were ever real in the wide-open spaces of the pioneering west, they have no place or space to be, in the claustrophobic urban, cheek-by-jowl industrial ugliness of contemporary America.
Ed Norton is one of the few actors around today who could sustain such a movie. And though all the supporting performances are excellent, Norton's powerful screen persona carries the weight of the film's strong atmosphere and tone. Norton's Harlan exudes danger. A sinister unpredictability of the superficially and misleadingly normal.
Evan Rachel Woods' rebellious teenager Tobe (short for 'October') impulsively invites gas station attendant Harlan to join her and her friends going to the beach. Just as impulsively, 30-something Harlan throws up his job and goes. Almost surprised by Tobe's overt sexual precociousness, Harlan's fantasised simple Texan cowboy self enters into a naïve, even tender romantic relationship with the half child, half woman, but fully sexual Tobe. In the process he befriends her introspective, almost autistic 13 year-old brother Lonnie (a first-class Rory Caulkin). None of this sits well with Tobe's father Wade, stepfather to Lonnie. Wade is a gun-collecting Vietnam war veteran turned prison warder whose short temper and aggressive but dangerously controlled and controlling personality, is both suspicious of and threatened by, Harlan's apparent openness, honesty and genuine feeling for both Tobe and Lonnie. His respectful attitude cuts no ice with the deeply suspicious Wade.
Jacobson's direction maintains a sense of distance from his characters by seldom going in close; concentrating largely on mid and two-shots. Exteriors stay long and convey a sense of expansiveness and scale reminiscent of traditional westerns, also used so effectively by Ang Lee in Brokeback Mountain. Elegant and simple editing creates an almost lyrical tone to Harlan and Tobe's burgeoning romance, which looks convincing yet carries an undertow of imminent menace. A superb and evocative soundtrack composed and largely performed by Peter Sallet, both musically and lyrically, reinforces this plaintive, elegiac tone. The apparent lightness of the unlikely romance is set against a brooding backdrop with more than a hint of an imminent storm. This is superb film-making, its various elements subtly blended together into a satisfying and affecting whole. Underpinned by Jacobson's own lean, expressive screenplay. In conception and execution this is very much Jacobson and Norton's (co-producer) film. Very personal.
A showdown with Wade sends Harlon off to re-visit his actual or fantasy past. We are left unsure. We become witness to the extent of his fantasised existence and this, with the sense of foreboding intimated earlier, turns the tone of the film darker and more disturbing. Throughout, recurring images echo the western fantasy Harlon lives out: escaping with both Tobe and Lonnie riding through the urban landscape, up to the hills; teaching Lonnie how to shoot; and playing out fantasy western scenes in his apartment. Shades of Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) here. A Shane with attitude. Harlan is highly skilled in the use of western-style handguns, quick-drawing and fast-shooting. It is no coincidence that guns convey a totemic power throughout the film both in Wade's love of collecting them and Harlan's passion for the skill in handling them. A gun figures in the critical dramatic event in the movie. This pivotal moment poses the thought that these essential tools of the pioneer opening up a vast and hostile country, become corrosive and subversive to the necessarily different basis of personal and social relationships in the densely populated urban setting of modern America. Right idea - wrong time.
The denouement of the film further blurs the line between fantasy and reality. Between old cherished verities and contemporary uncertainties. Again recalling Brokeback Mountain. Our feelings about Harlan, just like Lonnie who helps him against his stepfather, are deeply ambivalent. Like Tobe and Lonnie we have no frame of reference within which to judge Harlan appropriately. And to choose what Wade represents is unthinkable. As the brother and sister say their farewells to Harlan we are left with an impression not so much of an oddball with a deluded fantasy, as a man with a keen sense of a once genuine reality somehow misplaced in a time and place no longer capable of understanding or sustaining it.
A beautifully made, multi-layered film that engages and absorbs on a simple narrative level but which resonates with thoughtful and challenging ideas about today's America and its sense of cultural identity in relation to its past - real and imagined. A rare treat. See it.
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At the start of a new school year many educational leaders will begin to set goals for what they hope to achieve individually and also with the support of their team. Being able to lead collaborative teams is an essential component for establishing school improvement yet it can often be a challenging task getting individual teachers to work together.
As leaders, focusing on our own behaviours first we begin to set the conditions for building great teams. There are 4 ways that we can do this:
Trust and confidence: Trust is the number 1 asset for a successful leader. Without it we cannot progress. Trust inspires confidence. We need to engage in trust-building behaviours and minimise those actions that may be trust-reducing (see The Bank Balance and Staff Morale).
Communication: The way in which we communicate with our team can make or break its ability to function well. We need to select the appropriate communication channels when working with others and in doing so ensure that we make effective use of them. The type, amount and clarity of the information that we convey is closely linked to the trust that we establish with our team. The communication platform that we provide for team members to provide input to the work and performance of the team.
Networks: Our connections to information and other experts allow us to provide a wealth of support to teachers. Professional learning networks are an attribute of our knowledge base. Being able to provide our colleagues with knowledge, skills and training through our networks is invaluable.
Conflict resolution / tension reducing skills: Leading teams of adults is challenging. Our ability to handle conflict and tension that will arise from time to time between team members is vital in allowing a team to move forward and grow together. Avoidance of conflict and tension will only lead to frustration and anxiety within the team.
As we know a team is more than the sum of its parts and Together Everyone Achieves More. The leader is the glue in bringing the team together and helping it function effectively.
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Published by Richard Bruford
Richard is currently Head of School at Suzhou Singapore International School, one of China's leading international schools. He leads workshops across the Asia-Pacific region for the International Baccalaureate in the areas of pedagogical leadership and approaches to teaching and learning. Richard consults with schools on the topics of school improvement and effective implementation and use of technology. With a background in public and independent school education in the UK and Australia, Richard is enjoying his international school adventure in China. He is passionate about developing and supporting educational leaders, as it is essential to improving all schools. Richard is a proud family man and feels lucky to be married to Kim and father of their son Austin. In his spare time Richard enjoys to swim, bike and run and is a now retired football player and coach (with occasional guest appearances) View all posts by Richard Bruford
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Eric Volmers · Postmedia News | Posted: Sept. 27, 2022, 12:20 p.m. | Updated: Sept. 27, 2022, 12:20 p.m. | 4 Min Read
Hannah Emily Anderson in the film Dark Nature by Calgary filmmaker Berkley Brady.
It may be tempting to find symbolism in the uninvited guest that would often show up on the set of Dark Nature in the wilds of Alberta.
The horror film focuses on a group of women who go on a wilderness retreat with a therapist, only to discover they are being stalked by … something. In real life, the set of the indie film would occasionally be visited by a persistent grizzly bear when the production was filming near the Canyon Creek Ice Caves in Kananaskis in the fall of 2021. The crew attempted to ward it off by honking air and car horns to no avail.
The bear didn’t seem remotely fazed by the actors and crew who were on hand, but writer-director Berkley Brady said it didn’t seem particularly threatening, either. Nevertheless, having it appear near the set was thought-provoking.
“It was that time when he was getting ready to hibernate,” says Brady. “The grizzly bear came and wouldn’t really go away. He – he or she, I don’t know – wasn’t aggressive or menacing. Their sense of smell is so strong, he could smell all our food. We were definitely in his zone. With the grizzly bear coming and haunting us and looking hungry. I was like ‘What could this grizzly bear mean for us and me as an artist?’ Working hard and starving.”
Still, there is a certain irony to it. Brady and her cinematographer, Jaryl Lim, have a knack for making the natural splendour of Kananaskis look both beautiful and somewhat menacing, hence the title of the film. Dark Nature centres on a group of women who are all suffering from some form of trauma and hope the retreat acts as therapy to help them confront their pasts.
That includes Joy (played by Hannah Emily Anderson), who convinced by her best friend Carmen (Madison Walsh) to accompany her on the retreat after escaping an abusive relationship. Also on the journey is Tara (Helen Belay), who is a self-harmer; Shaina (Roseane Supernault), a no-nonsense soldier who is nevertheless suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and the group’s eccentric therapist Dr. Dunley (Kyra Harper). Joy begins to suspect something or someone, perhaps her abusive ex, is stalking the group but has a hard time convincing the others. Is she imagining it? Have the women’s fears manifested into something real and terrifying? Dark Nature, which will screen on Sept. 30 and Oct. 2 as part of the Calgary International Film Festival, does eventually become what Brady calls a “creature feature,” albeit one with some serious undertones.
“I started thinking ‘How could I make this story with this character horrific from the beginning?’ ” Brady says. “So I started thinking about domestic abuse being a sort of horror. That’s why I started the movie with the scene that starts it. OK, that’s the horror. I’m not going to tease out her abuse or what happened, let’s just get right into what happened and the fallout.”
“To me, it’s not about what happened, it’s more about the aftermath. There are a lot of horror movies about trauma. Trauma is such a zeitgeist-y topic the last couple of years. I wanted to avoid that and say ‘This is not about trauma so much as living with trauma and the effect that has on friendships and just day-to-day life.'”
The Metis filmmaker spent her early childhood near Edmonton before moving to Calgary at the age of six. She studied creative writing at the University of Victoria before receiving her Masters of Fine Arts at Columbia’s film program in New York City. Dark Nature is her first feature film, although she was involved in several short films and directed episodes of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network’s Secret History of the Wild West upon returning to Calgary. While she initially had plans to only stay in the city temporarily, she said she eventually realized this is where she wants to make films. She lives with her husband, Calgary cinematographer Ian Lister, and their six-month-old son Cullen. Dark Nature screened as part of Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival and appeared at the Cannes Marché du Film, which is the industry arm of the renowned film festival.
Brady names The Exorcist as one of her favourite films and has always been a fan of the horror genre. But she also wants to explore other stories.
“I’m not a snob in my tastes, I think if you like something you should celebrate it and just enjoy it,” she says. “At Columbia, I had some teachers who were all about popular movies and celebrated that. But I told one professor that I wanted to make a movie like Beaches meets Blue Crush in the snowboarding world and it’s still a movie I want to make. She was like ‘You don’t want to do that. You want to make a good movie, not a movie like that.’ No, I want to make a melodrama. I love to cry. I want to care about these characters and cry in the theatre.’ ”
Dark Nature screens Sept. 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Globe Cinema and Oct. 2 at 1:45 p.m. at the Eau Claire Cineplex as part of the Calgary International Film Festival.
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There could be a collision of flavor palates, and the habits of day-to-day living may be influenced by how it's always been done...just not necessarily your way.
One funny discovery I made while dating and then marrying my Latin husband was the gross underestimation I had about the role of bread with the daily meal. Growing up, my family occasionally had bread with dinner, and as a somewhat calorie and carb-conscious eater myself, my relationship with bread was almost always a guarded one.
But my husband loves bread. And who can blame him? He grew up on locally made artisan-style breads, the likes of which get featured in magazines and in windows of corner bakeries...the kind that makes passersby stop and breathe in the aroma of freshly baking bread.
Flour, salt and water, my husband says...it doesn't get more basic than that. And he's right. I suspect that, barring medical necessity, the whole gluten free, low-carb lifestyle has little chance of survival in any Latin household, or at least in our Latin household.
In fact, at our home in Galicia, there is actually a bakery that delivers to the various neighborhoods every day. The driver toots the horn and the neighbors come out with their euros to buy their fresh bread every morning. He will even bring you a cheese and a paper, if you let him know the day before.
Any Latin will probably tell you that a meal is, simply, not a meal without bread. My husband comes from Spaniards, where bread is used as the fourth utensil. But it's not just the Spaniards. I saw the same phenomenon in Rome with the Italians and in Paris with the French, and in Porto with the Portuguese. Even my Latino middle school-age students unanimously agree that bread is a non-negotiable staple of every meal.
Bread not only complements the meal, but it also sops up the juice and cleans the plate. I have even witnessed my husband dab his chin with the corner of a slice when caldo threatens to drip on his shirt.
"We need something in our hand," my husband says, "Otherwise, it's like something is missing." My suggestion of a knife only got me a raised eyebrow indicating that nothing could be more ridiculous.
A head scratcher like this is part of what makes cross-cultural relationships fun. My unnatural love for baked beans may be a head scratcher for him as well.
Nevertheless, I still don't eat bread with every meal (except in Spain). But I can't help but smile as I watch my husband and my mother-in-law, bread in hand, wipe with gusto, every last remnant of food or juice from their plate.
It certainly makes clean-up a lot easier.
Written by Kelly Rodriguez at 6:32 PM
14 comments:
Winnie June 8, 2013 at 8:34 AM
I enjoyed reading your article! I can relate as my LOVE of bread is over the moon, but carbs put and keep my weight on. It is my make up and so I try to watch my bread. I remember on my vacation in Paris getting hot bread each morning and how happy it made me. I recall as a young teen a friend inviting me to dinner and she was from India. She gave me bread and a stew like meal and no utensils. She demonstrated ripping the bread and using it to scoop the food up and eating it. It was new to me, but oh the fun! So glad you hubby can have his fresh bread daily! I just bought a cookbook called Artisian Bread in an hr, and the bread is fab. (sorry so long!)
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Kelly Rodriguez June 8, 2013 at 10:18 AM
Hi Winnie, thank you so much for your wonderful comments. My husband is right, in that bread is one of those universal items that transcend language and culture barriers. Breaking bread is so fundamental and integral to our interdependence and sense of community. I think I have too much American carb-phobia to truly enjoy it. And as someone who has always struggled with weight, I have the calorie monster taunting me at every turn. I am trying to be of the mindset where moderation is my mantra. I'll get there, and in the meantime, enjoy the bread along the way. See...I think mine is long too. ;-) Thanks again for visiting...your visits and comments are always so appreciated. :-)
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J June 8, 2013 at 10:34 AM
I'm definitely a "bread with every meal" kind of girl, but that's only because I love bread. I could live off of bread and butter if I knew I wouldn't be 600 pounds!!
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Kelly Rodriguez June 8, 2013 at 11:27 AM
Hi J! Welcome! :-) Bread can definitely be a slippery slope, and with butter...bring it. But, everything in moderation. At least, let's hope so. ;-) Thanks so much for visiting and following Besote.
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Tree June 8, 2013 at 9:08 PM
Definitely agree with the hubby.. as much as I "shouldn't" eat bread, I love it.. probably my favorite food.
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Kelly Rodriguez June 9, 2013 at 11:44 AM
Thanks so much for stopping by. Who can resist bread, especially those artisan breads that smell so good? I say, go for it and enjoy. Everything in moderation, right? Thanks again for visiting Besote. I hope you come back again soon.
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Unknown June 9, 2013 at 9:13 PM
I love bread! especially if it's paired with some delicious pasta, I simply can't resist! It just soaks up all the leftover yummy sauce on the plate :)
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Kelly Rodriguez June 10, 2013 at 5:04 AM
Hi Joan, thank you for stopping by. I couldn't agree more. There's something about pasta and a slice of Italian scali bread that just works. Thanks again for the comments. :-)And welcome to Besote.
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Justine L June 11, 2013 at 12:31 PM
Was working my way backwards a bit and had to comment on this, because YES! my father was exactly this way. Bread with EVERYTHING. It was the ultimate condiment AND utensil. My husband, though, is also this way, and he grew up in rural Vermont, where it was a meal because there wasn't much of anything else. Different reason, same outcome. And it means my house will likely never be gluten-free.
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Kelly Rodriguez June 12, 2013 at 2:07 PM
Nor will mine, Justine. My husband proudly celebrates his "peasant" roots and bread is one of the staples of such a life. It's a good life, indeed. Thanks so much for visiting. I hope you visit again soon. :-)
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Fawn Weaver June 11, 2013 at 4:47 PM
The bread is the best part! My grandmother, when we were young, would make skirt steak in an iron skillet with loads of butter. The butter would get brown and after the steak was pulled out, all the grandchildren would rush the stove with our slice of rye bread to take a swipe around the pan. By the time we finished, that pan was spic n' span :).
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Kelly Rodriguez June 12, 2013 at 2:09 PM
Fawn, what a sweet story. :-) Those juices are best. We all stick a fork in our bread and sop up the juices in the serving dish before taking it to the sink. Sometimes, it's the best part. Thanks again for your feedback. It is very appreciated. :-)
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Unknown July 3, 2014 at 1:28 PM
Ah, the bread smell. And I for one would LOVE to have a bread guy come around every morning.
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Kelly Rodriguez July 4, 2014 at 8:46 AM
The smell of bread baking could be one of the best smells known to humanity. No wonder it's popular in every culture.
The daily visit from the baker is a wonderful treat. And for those folks who are home bound for whatever reason, it's a real service.
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