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A small faith mission with a small support base, and 200+ English tracts online for you to download - translate - and print. Costs of sending tracts overseas are prohibitive. We are happy to fill orders for tracts if you cover the minimal fee and postage. by Bruce Pringle Order this tract now, at $10.00/100 copies (or 200 for $20.00, 500 for $50.00, etc.) Demon Oppression and Possession A young man, who was in the process of renouncing very heavy involvement in pornographic literature, suddenly lost his powers of concentration and spoke of the severity of pains in his head. Although married, pornography had been his steady, lustful diet for several years. As a married man and a Christian, he knew deliverance was a necessity. Consequently, he came to this counselor for help with his captivating dilemma. Now he sat clutching his head with his hands and was unable to speak. In a prayer of renunciation over demonic powers and claiming the blood of Jesus Christ the pressure was gone and relief was immediate. Oppression by demonic forces is real, wicked and harmful. Ernest Gruen in his book Freedom to Choose relates how the oppression of demons can change Holy Spirit thoughts to demon thoughts. This is of course only as a person opens his mind to wrong thinking. The author also points out how our thoughts, if controlled by something or someone other than Christ, can lead to the epitome of wickedness. A few examples will suffice. Love is from God, whereas, demon thoughts, the opposite of love, are unforgiveness, resentment, bitterness, jealousy. If the evil thoughts are not controlled, hatred will be the result. Thus, it is shown that thought suggestions, not dealt with, can lead one to destruction. A second example of the progression from a demon thought to demon control is the opposite of God's peace. Demon thoughts, which are the antithesis of peace are: nervousness, tension, worry, fretting, confusion and restlessness. If not alleviated, fear becomes the habit. The oppression of fear if not corrected can lead to a nervous breakdown. The Word of God seems to support the fact that bodily sickness is often from oppression of demons. Peter speaking in the household of Cornelius says, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him." Other areas of oppression from demons as revealed in the New Testament are: dumbness (Matthew 9:32,33), blindness (Matthew 12:22); insanity (Luke 8:26-35); personal injuries (Mark 9:18); supernatural strength (Luke 8:29); and the affliction of physical defects and deformities (Luke 13:11-17). In comparing obsession and possession Bancroft writes: The first step on a demon's part to gain control is termed obsession. It is defined as the 'state or act of being influenced by an evil spirit'. This influence is exercised by an external spirit, antecedent to possession. This is the initial state of demon influence. Possession is the result of obsession or attack after entrance is gained by a demon. Possession is the act of occupying, or taking or holding complete control. Possession by a demon is probably one of the worst situations any person can find himself in. Possession means to have an evil spirit, to be under the influence of a spirit. The word used in the New Testament is really the term "demonized". "The chief characteristic of demon possession", says Unger, "is the automatic projection of a new personality in the victim. During attack the victim's personality is completely obliterated, and the inhabiting demon's personality takes control completely." Herskovits speaking on demon possession states: One cannot escape the reality of the personality change associated with the experience of possession - change in customary behavior, timbre and pitch of glossolalia, capacity to walk on burning coals, self-castigation and extraordinary bodily strength. This is said to be due to his possession by the god, who "comes into his head" and takes over the control of his body. Dr. Koch says that psychiatry does not have the answer for demonic possession because to them it does not exist. Possession is a spiritual phenomenon and the Biblical perspective is the only point of view to use in dealing with it. Koch gives eight symptoms of possession. He bases his points on the story of the Gadarene demoniac of Mark 5. They are: vs. 2: possession with an unclean spirit vs. 3: enhanced motorial powers - no one could bind him vs. 4: paroxysm - he breaks the shackles and strikes himself with stones vs. 6: disintegration - desire for and fear of help vs. 7: resistance - opposition to Jesus vs. 7: hyperaesthesia - he recognized the deity of Jesus and His authority as judge vs. 9: physical alteration - change of voice vs. 12: occults transference - entrance into the swine.

Not long ago, I received a notice regarding a 14-day belly-fat study sponsored by Curves and the Health & Wellness Center of Alexandria, Virginia. I was curious to sample the services and facilities of Curves, so I responded to the advertisement. Also, a belly-fat study sounded like an excellent complement to the medical advise of my rheumatologist. During a routine visit in September, my rheumatologist inquired as to my exercise level and food choices. My initial reaction was one of guilt for becoming increasingly sedentary. However, my very smart rheumatologist quickly changed the focus of the conversation. She explained that abdominal fat (adipose tissue) produces specific proteins or cytokines (TNF-a and Interleukin-1) which are involved in systemic inflammation (as is associated with rheumatoid arthritis). Some of the newer drugs for RA, including Enbrel, Humira, and Remicade, work to counteract interleukins and TNF-a. However, MS patients are restricted from using these drugs due to MS-like neurological side effects. Thus the non-pharmaceutical, anti-inflammatory prescription for reducing the production of these cytokines is to focus on reducing abdominal fat through exercise and nutrition. This puts me, the patient, in charge of using alternative or natural methods to control the symptoms and dangerous effects of chronic disease. I'd say that I'm fortunate in that several of my doctors welcome an integrative medicine approach to disease management; however, my health insurance doesn't. For example, I do not have insurance-covered access to licensed dietitians or physiotherapists, although their guidance and expertise would be invaluable in helping to limit the effects of chronic disease. Unfortunately, you must be diabetic to have dietitian services covered by insurance and the only approved treatment for obesity is the extreme solution of gastric-bypass surgery. The Patient as CEO of Personal Health and Wellness In an ideal patient-centered healthcare system, the individual (ie. patient, consumer, client, CEO of one's own body, whatever you prefer to call yourself) should seek to obtain the most accurate and appropriate information available with which to make decisions regarding his/her choices in achieving a healthy body or treating a specific disease or disorder. Although the CEO of a corporation does not need to obtain an education or degree in electrical engineering to run a company which uses computers, modern lights, or copy machine technology, he would be wise to harness the expertise of those who do have the knowledge and skills to maintain the desired electrical or technical systems required to facilitate the functions of the corporation. Likewise the patient does not need to have a medical degree to be wise enough to seek guidance and care from a qualified, educated, and licensed medical or health professional. License vs. Certification In general, a license is a government-issued permission allowing the recipient the privilege to conduct business or engage in an activity which is otherwise prohibited. A licensing board determines the conditions and limitations which must be met to allow participation in certain professions or activities. Certification differs from licensing in that it is not issued as a permission to engage in certain activities. Certification serves to set standards, educate practitioners, increase competency, and to verify completion of a specific course of study. The difference between license and certification can be significant when the patient-CEO is seeking the advise of a qualified healthcare practitioner. For example, consider the difference between dietitian and nutritionist. Dietitian vs. Nutritionist Dietitians have a Bachelor's degree specializing in foods and nutrition, and have completed an accredited internship at a hospital, or a graduate degree associated with an accredited hospital. They must pass a national registration exam and maintain their registration through continuing education. As dietitians are members of a regulated profession, they are held accountable for their conduct and the care they provide. The term 'nutritionist' is not a professionally-regulated term and there are no minimum qualifications for an individual to call himself a nutritionist. Some nutritionists may give their businesses fancy names like "The National Nutrition Clinic" or "International Nutrition Center," but the truth is anyone can open up shop as a 'nutritionist' -- including the 16 year-old kid at the health food store. What is Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)? According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a component of the National Institutes of Health, CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine. Conventional medicine is medicine as practiced by holders of M.D. (medical doctor) or D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) degrees and by their allied health professionals, such as physical therapists, psychologists, and registered nurses. Some health care providers practice both CAM and conventional medicine. While some scientific evidence exists regarding some CAM therapies, for most there are key questions that have yet to be answered through well-designed scientific studies -- questions such as whether these therapies are safe and whether they work for the diseases or medical conditions for which they are used. The list of what is considered to be CAM changes continually, as those therapies that are proven to be safe and effective become adopted into conventional health care and as new approaches to health care emerge. - Complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine. An example of a complementary therapy is using aromatherapy to help lessen a patient's discomfort following surgery. - Alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine. An example of an alternative therapy is using a special diet to treat cancer instead of undergoing surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy that has been recommended by a conventional doctor. - Integrative medicine combines treatments from conventional medicine and CAM for which there is some high-quality evidence of safety and effectiveness. Integrative medicine neither rejects conventional medicine nor accepts alternative therapies uncritically. As part of the Department of Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson, the Program in Integrative Medicine seeks "to lead the transformation of healthcare by creating, educating, and actively supporting a community of professionals who embody the philosophy and practice of Integrative Medicine." Alongside the concept of treatment, the broader concepts of health promotion and the prevention of illness are paramount. Currently, there is no accrediting agency with the authority to endorse a comprehensive education in integrative medicine. Integrative Medicine is not without critics as is evident in this post by Panda Bear, MD, this post at Respectful Insolence, and this post by The Physician Executive. And Musings of a Dinosaur discusses CAM here, here, and here. I would like to suggest that much research is being done which explains, or at least supports, the beneficial claims of some alternative approaches, including nutrition, acupuncture, deep tissue release, and others. A book which I have found to be both highly educational and somewhat practical is "Prescription for Nutritional Healing" by Phillis A Balch, CNC and James F. Balch, MD. Research at NCCAM confirms many of the nutritional claims presented in this book now in it's 4th edition. Back to the Curves/Health & Wellness Center Study When I answered the advertisement, the woman on the phone told me that I needed to attend a Seminar on Monday night before beginning the study. Since I teach lessons every weeknight, I could not attend but was scheduled an appointment to see the doctor instead. I was told that the doctor would want to conduct a pre-study analysis which seemed reasonable to me. At the Health & Wellness Center, a video of a lecture was playing in the waiting room. I found that a little annoying while trying to concentrate on filing out all of the paperwork and then reading the handout of recommended dietary guidelines. During the appointment, an assistant measured my weight and height (I was not asked to remove my shoes), asked for a urine sample in a non-sterile container (no instruction given or disinfectant wipes provided for a 'clean catch' sample), took my blood pressure while laying down and then while standing upright (no time elapsed to allow arm to recover between pressure readings), and finally a Heart Rate Variability test while laying down and then standing up (I was told this registered my heart's ability to respond to stress). While waiting for the doctor, I continued to read the literature provided and make note of the posters and notices placed on the walls. One large poster illustrated the acupuncture points used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. [I have a friend who is an acupuncturist and her treatments have helped me tremendously in dealing with pain and stiffness.] However, no diplomas or certifications were prominently displayed in Dr. Berg's office. One of the first things that the doctor discussed after introducing himself was the urine test which showed a pH level of 7.0 and elevated leukocyte level. I was told that my pH was completely neutral which needed to be addressed and that the elevated leukocyte level indicated a possible urinary tract infection. The first thing I asked was "what is a normal pH level for a regular person and then what is a normal pH level for someone who takes the medications I do?" It was at this point that the doctor looked down at my forms and replied, "Oh, you are taking a lot of medications. What are these for?" The red flag began to rise. I referred to the form where I had carefully listed each medical conditions including multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. I also stated cheerfully that, yes, I had double-dipped in the autoimmune pot. Then the doctor showed me a graph which illustrated the results of the Heart Rate Variability test. Apparently, my heart did not show optimum strength and resiliency. The doctor explained it was like 'I had one foot on the gas pedal while the other foot was on the brake pedal.' The doctor further explained that I likely had problems with my adrenals and thyroid. He encouraged me to attend the next seminar he was offering on Saturday morning in order to get the full amount of information I would need to complete the study. I agreed to attend. But I'll tell you now that if the advertisement had mentioned a Seminar, I would not have responded. Due to recent experience at unrelated seminars (1,2), I have become quite suspicious of such offerings. At The Seminar At the Seminar, Dr. Eric E. Berg discussed the influence of hormones on the storage of body fat as is discussed in his recently published book, "The 7 Principles of Fat Burning." To accompany the book, Dr. Berg has made available an online software program, called the "Fat Burning Tracker," which purports to track the hormonal influences of specific foods and activities. It was at the seminar that I first learned Dr. Berg is a chiropractor, a minor detail which had been glossed over until this point. During the demonstration portion of the seminar, Dr. Berg illustrated a system of muscle-testing various points on the body to locate energy blockages which help to determine weakness in a correlating endocrine system. After further research, I have identified Dr. Berg's technique as Contact Reflex Analysis (CRA), a system of analysis using reflex points on the body and muscle testing which seems to be rooted in the theories of Applied Kinesiology. CRA is not widely accepted in conventional medicine as is evident in this article by Stephen Barrett, MD - "Contact Reflex Analysis is Nonsense." Also during the seminar, I browsed the "7 Principles" book and noted that much of the material seems to have been taken from Guyton/Hall - "Textbook of Medical Physiology" and Faigin - "Natural Hormonal Enhancement". To promote and ensure the success of this latest book, Dr. Berg employed the services of Gilleard Market Research. I have to admit that the 'Fat Burning' site is very snazzy and presents an interesting approach to educate the user on the interactions of nutrition, hormones, and health. The Health and Wellness Center and BRT The Health and Wellness Center is owned and operated by Dr. Eric Berg, D.C. He is a Certified Doctor of Chiropractic by the Virginia and California Boards of Medicine. [California license expired in 1995.] Dr. Berg is the developer of the Body Restoration Technique. The Northern Virginia center is the main training and intern location for over 1,000 healthcare practitioners around the world. The practitioners working at The Health and Wellness Center have been hand-picked and have achieved master-level certification in the BRT technique. When a client comes to our office, we consult them and recommend the best method approach using foods, exercise and nutrition. Our policy is that we never take on a patient who we can't help. Although Eric Berg does have a valid license to practice Chiropractic Medicine issued by the Virginia Department of Health Professions, its current expiration date is March 31, 2008. Dr. Berg has been under investigation by the State Board of Medicine regarding his unique techniques and has been instructed to "cease and desist the use of, and any and all advertising pertaining to, BRT, NAET, CRT, ACG" among additional requirements to keep his license.Here's a selection of techniques and certifications referenced in Berg bios: - Certified - Doctor of Chiropractic - Developer - Body Restoration Technique (removed) - Certified - Contact Reflex Analysis - Certified - Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique - Certified - Jaffe-Mellor Technique - Certified - Acoustic Cardiograph - Inventor - Digital Endocardiograph - Inventor - Acoustic Heart Monitor - Advisory Panel - The Health Sciences Institute - Guest Article - The Natural Health Association - Member - American Association for Health Freedom - Member - The Endocrinology Society (no such org in US?) - Member - The Endocrine Society (unconfirmed) - Member - Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation - Member - Citizens Commission on Human Rights - Member - Association for Better Living and Education - Associate - Clinical Electromedical Research Academy Various Websites dedicated to the work of Dr. Eric Berg: - http://www.drberghealthytips.com/ (removed) - http://www.bodyrt.com/ (removed - 'under construction') - http://www.berghealthytips.com/ (removed) Here are various concerns expressed online by others regarding adjacent businesses headed Dr. Eric Berg and Karen Berg (his wife): - Scientology involvement since 1995 - Eric Berg and Karen Berg - Concern over BRT legality issues discussed on Chirotalk Forum (July-September 2004) - Concern (no date) over possible connection between the Health & Wellness Center and the Scientology Mission in Alexandria, VA (removed) - Concern in February 2005 over The Mission of Alexandria operating a sauna to perform purification rundowns. (removed) The suspicion was that the Health & Wellness Center was uniquely equiped to prep clients to partake in the purification rundown. [I do not know if this occurs. No mention of sauna treatments were presented during the seminar.] - Concern in November 2005 over possible connection between Health & Wellness Center and the Scientology Mission in Alexandria, VA First of all, I don't wish to get involved in a discussion regarding the teachings or techniques of Scientology or the practices and techniques of trained Chiropractors. However, I do see some validity and benefit to Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine and I have found huge relief in the unique deep-tissue massage and range-of-motion techniques of Thai Yoga Massage. Finally, I hope that all readers can agree that our choices of food and exercise affect our health and well-being. However, if medical professionals and health insurance companies continue to avoid involvement with scientifically-sound integrative medicine treatment options, it is reasonable to think that more patient-CEOs will unwittingly seek the guidance of self-proclaimed 'experts' on any number of specialties and treatment modalities. Regarding the dietary guidelines of the belly-fat study, I have proactively decided not to make drastic changes in my diet (such as drinking a cranberry juice/lemon juice/apple cider vinegar concoction) which may or may not put undue strain on my liver. As it is, my blood is monitored regularly to detect any potential problems with liver functions caused by pharmaceutical medications. I don't need to make things worse.

Hope for Empowerment, |Silvio Gaggi | Decentering the Subject in Fiction, Film, the Visual Arts, and Electronic Media, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997 Gaggi's point of departure is the seeming crisis of the postmodern subject. Since Lacan, Derrida, Foucault, and to a lesser extent, Lyotard, the subject is generally viewed as a construction coming from outside man rather than an ontological a priori. The concept of the self seems to be imprinted by language into our thinking. The way we see and feel ourselves is the result of influences and discourses from the world surrounding us, rather than from some preexisting entity within. Alongside this theoretical challenge to the subject, there is also the more recent, more pragmatic attack from theorists such as Jameson and Baudrillard. They have observed that in a world where media images are becoming more and more important, these images exert a growing influence on how we see ourselves, and how our self is constituted. No wonder critics have posed the question of whether the subject is still valuable as a theoretical concept. If the subject is a construction that is decentered, fragmented, and altogether unstable, why should we accord it a special value? Gaggi mentions a building, an automobile, and a computer - all of which we can construct and destroy without moral regret. If we regard the self as a mere construction, is this not equal to opening the gates for a totalitarianism where human beings no longer count? Gaggi believes otherwise. The traditional subject has been deconstructed, not destroyed, and through this deconstruction its phallocentric, logocentric, and carnivorous aspects have been laid bare. Now we have the opportunity to reconstruct from the bits and pieces of the traditional subject a new, more tolerant and democratic subject. Very likely, a not insignificant part of this reconstruction will take place in the media. For this reason, Gaggi claims that: critical analysis of representation, representation of the subject in particular, remains an urgent issue. The critic's role is examining how texts speak to the social subject, how they imply or construct a subject to which they speak, or how they deconstruct that always spoken subject. (xi, xii) This is the strategy Silvio Gaggi pursues through most of his book. He analyzes subject construction and deconstruction in selected examples of painting and visual art, literature, film, and electronic media. Each chapter is devoted to a different art form, concentrating on a few paradigmatic works. Gaggi contrasts the photography of Cindy Sherman and Barbara Kruger with fifteenth-century paintings such as van Eyck's Wedding of Arnolfini. He analyzes the "subject of discourse" in works by Conrad, Faulkner, and Calvino and explores how the subject is dynamically represented in films such as Coppola's One from the Heart and Altman's The Player. Why these works are so paradigmatic or even why they have been chosen for analysis is not always clear. But, then again, this non-methodology is becoming a habit in contemporary criticism. In the wake of the Canon debates, the reader is simply not supposed to pose any questions regarding the grounds for selections within, or even subjective takes on, the written corpus. Most of the discussion of hypertext is based on Landow's work with Intermedia, a hypertext system developed at Brown University (101). Therefore, what we get is a very conventional, almost traditional, enumeration of claims put forward in early hypertext criticism. For those readers seeking a nice and neat overview, this may be convenient, but people who are up to date with the subject will experience deja vu. Very briefly: hypertext is supposed to reduce the sense of primary texts and thus decenter the canon. The distinction between text and context and reader and writer is lost. Every reader is empowered in that she can append her own comments and responses and add links at will. Due to the ease of collaboration, learning and writing become a communal rather than an individual endeavor. In this way, the transition from text to hypertext may change our consciousness possibly to the same extent as did the transition from oral to written culture. For Gaggi, hypertext involves a paradoxical relationship to the subject (114). The reader of hypertext or the user of networks is both empowered and enfeebled at the same time. She is empowered because she can move freely within the electronic space, access information of all kinds, and communicate with diverse individuals and groups, regardless of their physical location. At the same time, individual identity diminishes due to the separation from one's name and material body. Wonderfully indifferent to race, gender, beauty, and station in life outside the Web, the network absorbs the individual into an interactive dialogue in which the conversation assumes a life of its own and threatens to eclipse the participants who provide its content. (xiii) However, the discussion becomes more animated when it gets to hyperfiction and more particularly Michael Joyce's self-proclaimed hypertextual classic Afternoon, a story. Gaggi's critique of Joyce's work is devastating. When he discusses his own reading experience, Gaggi denies the surplus value of the format: One becomes involved in Afternoon in much the same way one becomes involved in conventional stories, except that navigating one's way through it is more demanding and confusing (124). But his critique reaches a more personal level when discussing the overall structure. "Sometimes lexias get linked in ways that don't make sense, or, if they do, it may be a strange sense that they make." Moreover, as a reader one cannot but link these remarks to an earlier passage, when Gaggi discusses the negative potential of hypertext: Although the reader's ability to make choices seems to indicate control and empowerment, that empowerment may be specious. The complexity of the web and the possibility of having to make decisions without sufficient information regarding where any choice may lead can result in a disorientation that precludes meaningful freedom (104). Aside from Afternoon, Gaggi extensively discusses Stuart Moulthrop's Victory Garden. Although the analysis itself is thorough and at times absorbing, the fact that he does not go beyond these "canonized" works left me with a bad taste. On the book's cover Emory Elliott, the series editor, writes: Gaggi also observes the impact of literature created on computer networks, where even the limitations of CD-ROM are lifted and the notion of individual authorship may for all practical purposes be lost. Unfortunately, that is about all Gaggi does observe. For about half a page, he discusses the new possibilities of on-line artistic and literary collaboration. But that is as far as he gets, which, to me, hardly seems worth mentioning on a cover, except, of course, for marketing reasons. Finally, I would like to dig deeper into a message more implicit than explicit in From Text to Hypertext, one expressing fear and hope at the same time: fear of control, hope for empowerment. When reading Gaggi, one becomes increasingly aware of the author's sense of unease about the current crisis of the subject, particularly as it has been used against poststructural ideas. Attacks on postmodernism and poststructuralism have been increasingly common, choreographed in part by the conservative political establishment, part of a continuing attack on intellectuals, artists, and the academy itself. (144) At the same time, Gaggi seems to fear the consequences of Baudrillard's hyperreality. He seems to be afraid that the deconstructed subject will be recuperated by the wrong people and thus, "regardless of the ethics and politics of those who theorize the subject, license the construction of social subjects who behave and consume in ways most beneficial to those who control representation." In this context, the passages dealing with the negative side(s) of television are undoubtedly the juiciest of the whole book: In television it is the proliferation of irrelevant choices that produces a specious freedom that obscures increasingly powerful constraints on imaginable possibilities. Ninety cable channels might broadcast shows that entertain but none of which contain serious social or political analysis. Thus, viewers are provided with an illusion of freedom that is really equivalent to a grocery aisle filled with different brands of laundry detergent. (120) The controlling forces, "Madison Avenue, MTV and reactionary political groups" (sic.) seem to have a stranglehold on culture and ideology. A typical example is the Gulf war, which - according to Gaggi - can be seen as an attempt "to recoup the control of reality and representation that was traumatically lost in Vietnam." However, Gaggi has high hopes regarding the potential of hypertext to "supplant MTV, which, for all its efforts to create spectacular visual effects and shocking content, has, for the most part become highly conventionalized and uninteresting" (120). For the first time since the 1960s, there is an opportunity for culture to be produced from the bottom up rather than be imposed from the top down. Thus, there is an important difference between Baudrillard's hyperreality of mass media and the hypertextuality of electronic networks, although they are often discussed in the same breath. In hypertext we have at least the possibility of a democratic world created by the interaction of great numbers of participants, instead of a few powerful controllers.

Keene Haywood (University of Texas at Austin) The emergence of Google Earth and Google Maps in 2005 redefined and opened the door to what is possible on the geospatial web. These powerful technologies have enabled geospatial data to be easily visualized and shared in ways that were very difficult- if not impossible- before. The possibilities for using geodata in disciplines outside of the traditional geosciences is now greatly expanded, allowing these technologies to be a platform for data visualization, presentation, discovery and storytelling. Specific examples, resources and discussion about these possibilities are presented in a comprehensive fashion so that educators may better understand the emergence of this broad, rich field and further apply these technologies to their teaching and research, both within their classrooms and beyond. Brave New Worlds These new products from Google are not the only web mapping technologies available, but they opened the flood gates and had wide adoption for the development of what is now commonly called the Geoweb. Yahoo!, OpenStreet Maps, and Microsoft’s Bing Maps have also developed 2D web mapping technologies, and Microsoft, NASA, and ESRI offer 3D Globe applications, as well. However, Google’s offerings have arguably been the most instrumental in moving web mapping into the mainstream. Today, geospatial data is being used in innovative ways to tell stories and visualize images, video, data and animations. This discussion focuses primarily on the use of Google Earth and, to a lesser extent, Google Maps as the potential for new storytelling within a geographic context. Google Earth’s 3D experience, animation and touring capabilities make it especially compelling. Google Earth and Maps were chosen because they are free, cross platform, and have a broad and deep user base at the time of this writing. The focus here is on examples of this technology for storytelling to highlight its potential as an emerging technology that occupies a unique niche in the online world. Lifting the Lid on Earth In order to understand why Google Earth has such compelling storytelling capabilities, it’s worth taking a look at the features that make it unique. For this overview, the focus is on the stand alone Google Earth application. The browser plug-in will also be addressed, but for the authoring of geo-stories, the stand alone application is needed. Viewers of these tours can see the work using the browser plug-in. As of this writing, Google Earth is at version 5. This was a major release which was publicly available in February 2009. There are five major features/capabilities which came out in this release: - The ability to explore both Mars and the Universe through the Google Earth application. The Moon was recently added, as well, allowing viewers to virtually explore these extraterrestrial bodies, just like one can do with Earth in the application. - Another major feature was the incorporation of underwater terrain data which now allows a user to fly underwater in 3D. This portion of the Google Earth is commonly referred to as Google Ocean and, with its release, a other ocean-oriented content was also released, all of it accessible through the same interface of the application. The Google Ocean layer has to be activated to see this content. - A timeline feature that allows one to animate changes in geodata over time was improved for easier use and control. - Google added their stockpile of historical satellite imagery to the application which can be activated in the Timeline feature to see changes in satellite imagery over time. Google has added all the historical imagery they have for this feature. Some areas may have more historical imagery than others. This is especially useful for educators who want to show changes through time on the landscape. - One of the biggest improvements is the Touring feature. While Tours of geographic content have been around for a while in Google Earth, this improved feature set has made authoring Tours very easy; it has also made the ability to create sophisticated Tours a relatively straightforward affair. The improved Tour feature along with the historical imagery capabilities and the underwater terrain addition has the potential for the greatest use by educators. Google Maps – The 2D Map Web App is Becoming One with 3D Google Earth Google Maps has rapidly evolved since its launch in 2005 to become an almost ubiquitous tool for Netizens needing maps. Increasingly, Google Maps is becoming a more interactive and user friendly web application that allows the most novice mappers to create maps quickly and easily. Integrated into the services of a user’s Google account is the MyMaps feature. MyMaps allows users to log into their account and create customized maps which can be shared, edited, and opened for collaboration. An important feature to mention is the ability to import Google Earth KML files into a 2D Google Map. The import feature is found at the lower left of MyMaps when one is editing or creating a new Map. Google Maps is now able to support large data sets of points, lines, polygons, and overlays in a KML file. Initially, Google Maps could only load small sets of points, polygons, and lines, but increasingly, it is able to handle larger datasets as Google expands Maps’ capabilities. It should be noted that the latest release of the Google Maps API (v.3) will allow more seamless transition between the 2D Google Map and the 3D Google plug-in. It will also offer the ability to view 2D maps in a pseudo 3D mode for oblique viewing angles. Another unique feature that began life in Google Maps (but has also migrated over into Google Earth) is StreetView. This allows users to see a street level panorama of photo images from one’s location. These images are stills pulled from video captured within 360 degrees. Also, user photos taken in this same area can also be shown through StreetView, giving additional content and context for the location the user is currently exploring. Google Earth adopted this feature, as well, and gives one a more immersive 3D view of an area with a photographic overlay. This is another example of the two mapping applications becoming more unified in their feature set. - The Henry Hudson Map – This Google Map provides rich detail of the Henry Hudson voyages to the New World and gives lots of additional information within a geographic context. Google Maps provides a great anchor for telling this story of discovery and is a great example of what is possible with Google Maps. - Hey What’s That? – This Google Map project allows users to pick a place on the planet and then see which major landmarks are within a 360 degree view. This is particularly handy for features such as mountains. It gives distance, heading, and more information about what one is looking at through the map interface. - MashedWorld.com – This site gives users the ability to embed more than one map into their website or blog. It allows one to use map views such as StreetView, and also use map views from different services, such as Microsoft’s Bing Maps Birds’ Eye view which is a nice complement to 2D Google Maps. The service is free; just cut and paste code in your own site to enable. - Thematic Mapping – Themed maps have long been a staple to cartographers and geographers. Up2Maps.net is a new site that allows one to upload, download, share and visualize thematically-based maps. - Other options – CNET recently reviewed a number of services that give users the ability to easily create, share and embed maps. Getting Around the Globe – a Few Tips for Navigating and Touring Google Earth The stand alone application of the 3D Google Earth is not an overly complicated program to master. However, many of its features are not intuitive, so it’s worth one’s while to look over the Google Earth User Guide for more information. Pay specific attention to the navigation features and the interface. Two particularly important areas are the Tour creation and familiarity with KML and KMZ file formats, which are detailed further below. For authoring Tours or creating movies (done with Google Earth Pro or screen capture software), it may be beneficial to use a joystick controller which can give you smooth control over your movements in Google Earth. A particularly good tool for this is 3DConnexion’s SpaceNavigator, whose drivers are built into Google Earth providing plug and play capability. Typical joystick controllers can also be used for the controlling the built-in Flight Simulator, a full-featured simulator which can be activated under the Tools Menu. Tours are created by clicking the small tour icon button at the top of the application window. A small controller Heads Up Display (HUD) appears at the bottom left of the 3D Viewer window. Clicking the Record button will capture all movements and audio as you navigate Google Earth. You then have the ability to redo the tour or save it. Once saved, it can be emailed to others for viewing or embedded into websites using the Google Earth plug-in. Very sophisticated tours can be done with this tour. These are authored automatically in KML and can only be viewed with Google Earth or the plug-in, so they are proprietary. However, the KML can be further edited by coders, if desired. A nice feature of Tours is that they can be paused and the user can go off and explore other areas in Google Earth. Hitting the play button picks right back up where the Tour left off. This is extremely useful and convenient for users. It’s also important to become familiar with the two main file formats of Google Earth. These are called Keyhole Markup Language (KML) files and Keyhole Markup Language Zipped (KMZ) files. Keyhole Markup Language is a scripting language based on XML and is how all content is geographically scripted or marked-up for display in Google Earth. Its name comes from the company, Keyhole, which developed the Google Earth technology. It was purchased by Google and rebranded as Google Earth. A KMZ file is just a compressed (or zipped) archive of a KML file. KMZ files can be imported and decompressed within Google Earth. These cannot be indexed online and searched. KML files are uncompressed and can be indexed and searched if placed online. KML files can be edited within Google Earth and also in any text editor used for HTML or script authoring. KML files are the native file format for Google Earth. Google Earth – The 3D Globe As a Storytelling Canvas The refinements and progress of development in Google Earth and Maps illustrate that these platforms are maturing and becoming ideal tools for creating interactive content that is anchored to geographic information. Additionally, their increased ease of use, low cost (free), wide adoption, and cross-platform compatibility further strengthen their use as avenues for storytelling, particularly in academic settings where budgets are constrained and multiple OS platforms may be used in labs and on campus. - Earth Pad (collaborative mapping) – This site shows how it’s possible to find, annotate and share locations within a collaborative environment between people with Google accounts. - Earth Atlas – This site allows one to upload their own KML/KMZ files for visualization with the Google Earth plug-in, or to view certain public databases which overlay pie charts and 3D graphics onto the globe for thematic viewing. - KML Factbook – The CIA Factbook containing a wide range of information is now available for customizing and downloading of KML/KMZ files. This is a good tool for putting together information about countries and visualizing this information within a 3D environment of the Google Earth plug-in. - Multiple Google Earths – This is an example of what is possible and is purely an experimental use of the plug-in. It shows how one can put up multiple instances of the plug-in onto one webpage. This is quite processor- and memory-intensive if more than about four globes are show at once. - MyMaps with GE Plug-in – Again, another experimental use of the plug-in. This one shows how it’s possible to visualize the custom-made maps in your MyMaps account within Google Earth using the plug-in. - EarthSwoop – Nice community site where people can upload, view and share places of interest found on Google Earth. The places are visualized through the GE plug-in. - Dreaming New Mexico presentation – This was one of the first examples of the Google Earth plug-in, appearing just after it was publicly launched. This project uses the GE plug-in in the context of a slideshow presentation within the web browser. The slides are actually views from within Google Earth using the plug-in. The site shows the potential uses (and sites of) green energy in New Mexico. - Mars Tour podcast – Another example of what is possible. This person took an NPR podcast and timed it with a Google Earth tour that he created. - YouTube synchronization – This example syncs a YouTube video of the Vatican with a tour using the plug-in. - Google Earth Tour Gallery – Google’s own gallery of projects people have submitted. - Interactive trips and photo galleries – @Trip.com is a website that enables members to upload their geotagged images and GPS track logs to create travel stories or journals with the Google Earth plug-in. See Figure 2. - Snoovel.com – This German website allows you to create and edit Google Earth Tours using its Tour Director feature. A unique feature is the ability to incorporate 3D objects and other types of multimedia. Potential for Visualization, Animation, Gaming and 3D Environments Another area where the Google Earth platform is proving to be valuable is in the visualization of panoramic imagery, such as the type created with a Gigapan System or other spherical panorama stitching applications (i.e. Autopano Pro Giga and PTGui Pro software). The end result images from devices like this can be seen in the Gigapan and 360cities.net layers within Google Earth or at the Gigapan.org and 360cities.net websites. The 180 degree panorama images and the 360 degree spherical images give users a real world immersive experience within Google Earth. The websites for these technologies give tutorials and instructions on how to create spherical panoramas and then how to embed them into Google Earth so users are not dependent on Google hosting their images in the 360cities.net layers within Google Earth. The Gigapan Systems website also gives users tutorials in how to do this. Note: These layers are controlled by Google and only certain content may be seen in these layers. As Google Earth and Maps begin to merge, another area of Google Earth is also gaining prominence. This is the ability to embed 3D objects with the Google Earth environment. Using tools like Google’s Sketchup, authors can create 3D objects ranging from the simple to the complex. These can be shared via the 3D Warehouse from within Google Earth or loaded as KML files. Many major cities now have a great deal of 3D building imagery. Animations and games are also using 3D objects. Moving forward, the Google Earth of tomorrow will have more than just rich 3D terrain, it will have buildings and objects. Finally, rich geospatial visualizations are one of the main strengths of Google Earth. Currently, one of the most impressive examples is the Map The Fallen project, which maps casualties of the wars in Iraq and Pakistan. It tells a poignant and powerful story purely with the data it visualizes, including arcs across the globe connecting the places of where a fallen soldier perished to their home town, while liking out to various public databases where this information is found. Integration with Traditional GPS and GIS Finally, Google Earth and Google maps have ushered in a new era of geographic visualization by rapidly expanding what is called the Geoweb. The Geoweb and geo visualization are becoming powerful areas of development, and research giving users much broader leverage of geographic content that can be mashed up, shared, and visualized in ways that were either impossible or very difficult a few years ago is now becoming available. It’s important to note that geospatial visualization has been with us since humans first wanted to know about their surroundings and map the lay of the land. The concepts are not new, but the tools and means to do them easily certainly are. These new tools are democratizing the process, resulting in an explosion of geographically based content now made available on the Web. More traditional areas of geo-visualization have been cartography, geographic information system (GIS) analysis, and more recently, Global Positions Systems (GPS), which collect geographic content that can be visualized with tools like Google Earth and Google maps. Data from these traditional geo-systems can now be shared and visualized easily creating geo-story opportunities that are unprecedented. A plethora of software now supports geotagging of media content, such as photographs. Almost all of these offer some level of support of visualizing the locations of images by exporting of KML/KMZ files that can be loaded into Google Earth or Google Maps through the MyMaps feature. For photographs, iPhoto 09 (Mac only, no Google Earth KML support yet) and Picasa (PC only for geotagging, Mac geotagging coming) are major examples of desktop apps that offer the ability to geotag your images, but others exist, too. Websites such as Flickr, Locr, and Panoramio also offer this capability. For using GPS data to geotag images, programs such as HoudahGeo (Mac), GeoSetter (PC), and RoboGeo (PC) offer good features and support for both data collected with GPS data loggers or traditional hand held GPS devices. There are other utilities to handle this, too, and more seem to appear on a regular basis. On the Web, sites like gpsvisualizer.com, everytrail.com, and mygeodiary.com offer the ability to link photos and GPS data together and to create KML files for visualizing in Google Earth. In the area of GIS, there are a number of tools emerging that can take GIS data and easily export it for visualization within Google Earth, including Microsoft’s Explorer and Esri’s ArcGIS, another 3D geo-browser. An important distinction to make between a GIS and tools like Google Earth is these 3D globes are geo-browsers, much like a web browser is for viewing content online. Geobrowsers do not support geographic information analysis, but rather offer a platform for visualizing the end result of analysis and enabling easy sharing and viewing of these outcomes. Several examples of GIS integration with Google Earth include the MapWindow GIS (Win) plug-in Shape2Earth, the plug-in Arc2Earth, for use with ESRI’s ArcGIS (Win), and the newly released Cartographica, a Mac only GIS that can import and export KML files . Several other GIS platforms that support KML files are: the open source GIS GRASS, and MicroImages’ TNTmips, a full featured GIS. ESRI’s ArcGIS supports the export of KML files, as well, but the plug-in mentioned above offers more options and better customization options of the KML. Together, these tools and technologies enable the Google Earth experience to be easily incorporated into the mature tech realm of GIS, helping to bridge the gap between traditional geographic analysis and end result visualizations that can be shared and edited with ease. The emergences of Google Earth and Maps have ushered in a new era of geo visualization and the geospatial web. As these technologies mature, expect further integration and sophistication of GIS, GPS, and Geoweb projects. Tools for Everyone Additionally, the excellent Google Earth Outreach Group has provided extensive videos, examples, and tutorials for how to use Google Earth. They have also created a Google Spreadsheet called the Spreadsheet Mapper, which enables users to upload large amounts of georeferenced data that can be customized, edited, and then exported as KML. Finally, Google provides a Google Earth API code playground that allows one to copy, paste, change, and experiment with KML to see what it can do. This is an excellent resource. A particularly helpful tool for non-programmers is a Google Gadget which allows one to embed a Google Earth Tour in a website. The Gadget creates all the code; just cut and paste to the desired website. The user needs to have the plug-in installed and the KML/KMZ file needs to be uploaded to a server for web access. This is an indispensable tool for those wishing to create and share elaborate Google Earth Tours. It’s important to keep in mind that these tools and technologies have opened the door for geographic visualization beyond the traditional geosciences. Today, the humanities and social sciences can equally benefit from geo-storytelling and visualization, as many areas deal with geographic information. Disciplines such as anthropology (incl. archaeology), urban studies (incl. architecture), literature, and information design can stand to benefit greatly as tools like Google Earth become ubiquitously embedded in the web. They provide low overhead learning curves for non-technically minded researchers and teachers. These resources offer a range of options and opportunities for educators to quickly dive into Google Earth and Google Maps to begin mapping projects that can offer compelling stories for teaching, training, presentation and research. This is one of the richest areas of the web at the moment. This will only get larger as more people realize the power and potential of geographic visualization in a range of disciplines. For a more academic take on the geospatial web and the geo visualizations, the publications listed below offer some additional insight. Sharl, Arno and Tochtermann, Klaus, eds., The Geospatial Web: How Geobrowsers Social Software and the Web 2.0 are Shaping the Network Society, (London: Springer-Verlag, 2007). Dodge, Martin, McDerby, Mary and Turner, Martin, eds., Geographic Visualization: Concepts, Tools and Applications, (West Sussex, England: John Wiley and Sons, 2008). At the time of this publication Keene Haywood was charged with researching and exploring emerging technologies that have potential for integration into teaching and research at UT-Austin. He worked closely with faculty and staff giving presentations, consultations, and training on emerging technology. His specialties include digital video production, geospatial technologies, and emerging media technology. Prior to UT, Keene worked for The National Geographic Society and The Nature Conservancy of Texas. Keene holds a Ph.D in Geography from the University of Texas, an MFA in filmmaking from Montana State Univ. and an MA and BA from the University of Miami, Florida.

Ask a question or Order this book Browse our books Search our books Book dealer info ALCIATI, ANDREA; [ALCIATUS ANDREAS] Iudiciarii [Judiciarii] Processus Compendiu[m], Atque Adeo Iuris... Procedure Manual Attributed to Alciati Alciati, Andrea[s] [1492-1550], Attributed. Hegendorph, Christoph [1500-1540], Editor. Iudiciarii [Judiciarii] Processus Compendiu[m], Atque Adeo Iuris Utriusq[ue]; Praxis. Locis tam Multis, Tamq[uam] Insignibus Integritati Suae Restitutis, Fere ut Nov[um], Ac Pene Aliud Opus hoc Nostrum Iudicet, Qui Primo Illi Coloniensi Contulerit. Accessit huc & Iuris Discendi Methodus, & De Artibus Iurisconsulto Futuro Necessariis, Oratio Elegantissima, Authore Christophoro Hegendorphino. Paris: Apud Ioannem Parvum [Chevallon], 1537. [viii], 271 ff. Signatures M and N (ff. 97-104) bound in reverse order. Octavo (6-1/2" x 4"). Contemporary vellum, raised bands and early hand-lettered title to spine, another title to foot of text block in early hand, ties lacking. Light soiling, rubbing to extremities with some wear to spine ends, top edge of front board and corners, a few worm holes to boards and front pastedown, partial crack between text block and rear free endpaper. Attractive crible initials. Toning, faint dampstaining to endleaves and a few text leaves. Early owner signature to foot of title page, annotation in his hand to endleaves, interior otherwise clean. $1,500. * An important Italian humanist and professor of law at Avignon, Bologna, Milan, Padua, Ferrara and Bourges, Alciati was one of the first jurists to base his interpretation of civil law on the history, languages and literature of antiquity, and to conduct original research on the texts rather than merely copy earlier glosses. His work was deeply influential and his services were retained by the kings of France and Spain, as well as by several Italian princes. As one would expect, there was a large market for his works. In addition to those published by Alciati there are several unauthorized publications based on lecture notes compiled by his students. First published in Cologne in 1530, Iudiciarii Processus Compendium, a treatise on procedure in civil and canon law, appears to fall into this latter category. Some sources say it is not based on Alciati's work and is the work of an anonymous author. It was nevertheless a popular work that went through several editions and issues over the next 30 years. OCLC locates 3 copies of this imprint, 1 in North A Offered for US$ 1500.00 by: Lawbook Exchange - Book number: 56118

French 347. Literature, the Arts and Society from the Dreyfus Affair to Vichy Emphasis on representative shorter works in prose, theatre, poetry and cinema. Readings may include Proust, Apollinaire, Colette, Césaire, Sartre and the surrealists. Consideration of issues such as the decline of the realist novel, cross-pollination in the arts, the communal loss of innocence after the “Great War,” and the birth of négritude.

Hoping for a better month now that June is here. The old saying that things come in three's was proven wrong in May. All that I can say is that my family is finding strength together and are forging ahead. What did May bring?? First, our friends 14 year old daughter died early in May. She actually out-lived the doctor's predictions by about 10 years but it still isn't an easy thing to deal with especially for her brothers and sisters. The next was my father-in-law who died just over a week ago. He underwent surgery a few weeks ago and all seemed to be fine. On Saturday, May 22 he had a heart attack and died. Sunday, May 23 my cousin died. My aunt has now outlived all of her children. ...to bring May to a close, they found an aneurysm in my mothers brain. We will find out in a couple of weeks what the options are. I'm sorry for bringing this all out here but my wife is out with the children so I just needed to let my guard down and let my emotions go. I will aim for an upbeat end of June summary. I'm so sorry to hear all of this, keltic. You've come to the right place though. Vent. No one here will mind. I'm hoping you and your family/friends will get through this. "I am a Canadian by birth, but I am a Highlander by blood and feel under an obligation to do all I can for the sake of the Highlanders and their literature.... I have never yet spoken a word of English to any of my children. They can speak as much English as they like to others, but when they talk to me they have to talk in Gaelic." -Alexander Maclean Sinclair of Goshen (protector of Gaelic Culture) Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing? Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing? Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning? ~ J.R.R. Tolkien :'( Hope this doesn't continue. May your June be much better. Eventually there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. Time can only go one way, and you will get through it! Here's an old piece I finally wrote down in 1997 that I tend to live by during the hard times The hallway A long finite corridor How finite one cannot say At one end, a doorway one-way doors all along the way Go through a door and one cannot come back The glass wall behind one moves perpetually forward one cannot slow down and one cannot go back Some of the corridor is lighted, while more is dark and morbid How far to the end? Noone can know Until it comes Perpetually walking forward and occasionally looking back counting the days With that glass barrier always at one's back Wow. I can't imagine how you're feeling right now, Keltic. I'm glad you brought this to us. I will definitely pray for you, your family and your mother, my friend, and I know that many of our brothers and sisters here on CR will be praying as well.

WW: How do you describe the book/CD format of ALARM? Mike Daily: It's like an [art] installation. It's multimedia. But at its core, I see this as a book. The CDs weren't meant to be a book-on-tape, read-along kind of thing. Do you consider yourself part of the tradition of the Beats? About 10, 15 years ago, I read a lot of Beat stuff. But the Beats weren't quite as visual with a lot of their literature or poetry. I've been more influenced by the MC and freestyle element of performing. Where guys are doing their stuff in a rapid-fire format. A lot of verbiage. Driving a narrative. What I've been trying to do is more of storytelling theater. You still call ALARM a "novel." What makes it a novel? With my first book, too, having the word "novel" on the cover was a conscious play on words—using the word "novel" as something new. I try to bend genres. What does writing from the fictional perspective of Mick O'Grady allow you to do that writing from an autobiographical perspective wouldn't? That's what made this game, this fiction game, so compelling. Being able to fictionalize in the gaps, make stuff up as needed. Making a bridge between fiction and reality. Do you live vicariously through fictional Mick O'Grady? Mick O'Grady might be a distraught entity. Mike Daily can be a distraught entity. But Mick O'Grady can be more cavalier. Because obviously with fiction you can smooth things out or make something less rough and more free-flowing; you can edit a character. You can't do that in real life. Mike Daily will read from ALARM at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm Monday, June 25. Free. He'll also perform selections from ALARM at 9 pm Wednesday, June 20, at Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th Ave., 248-1030. $5.

Vet Aptly Reprimanded After Killing of Puppy (CN) - A veterinarian whose "restraint technique" on a puppy led to its death was properly reprimanded, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled. Eric Bloomfield treated a Shih Tzu puppy named Toby and two other puppies in August 2007. The puppies' owners brought them in for their regular vaccinations and de-worming. Bloomfield asked the couple if Toby had any behavior issues or showed dominance. They replied no. The vet stated that Toby was dominant and showed the couple a dominance-submission technique. He grabbed Toby by the scruff of the neck and pinched his snout. Toby urinated, defecated and began bleeding from the mouth. Later that day, Toby died of a non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema. In 2010, the couple complained to the New Hampshire Board of Veterinary Medicine. Bloomfield moved for a dismissal, arguing that at the time, it was not "known sufficiently in literature" that Shih Tzu puppies were that sensitive to muzzling techniques. The board denied Bloomfield's motion. After a one-day hearing, the board determined Bloomfield did not display "unfitness or incompetency to practice the profession," but that he had made other mistakes. The board stated that Bloomfield failed to respect the owners' opinions and failed to conduct an exam on Toby before the demonstration. Also, the board ruled that "the restraint was excessive, especially given the breed." Bloomfield failed to convince the board to reconsider its reprimand, so he took the case to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, which agreed with the board in a decision written by Justice James P. Bassett. He cited the following testimony of the board's investigator: "To restrain a puppy to the point where it's urinating and defecating and continuing to restrain it through the whole episode, I would consider excessive for any puppy." In addition, Bassett agreed with the board that Bloomfield's actions constituted "unprofessional conduct" and that the term is not unconstitutionally vague. Bassett also refuted Bloomfield's argument that the board should have relied on expert testimony, noting that six veterinarians sit on the board. "The respondent's violations - excessive handling of Toby, not respecting the owners' opinion that Toby had no dominance issues and failing to conduct an initial examination - are not so complex as to be outside the competence of the Board to decide in the absence of expert testimony," he wrote.

Dosage Form: Injection Pralidoxime Chloride INJECTION Pralidoxime Chloride Description Pralidoxime Chloride Injection (auto-injector) provides Pralidoxime Chloride in a sterile solution for intramuscular injection. Each prefilled auto-injector provides a dose of the antidote, Pralidoxime Chloride in a self-contained unit, specially designed for automatic self- or buddy- administration by military personnel. Pralidoxime in the auto-injector may also be administered by qualified civilian emergency responders who have had adequate training in the on-site recognition and treatment of nerve agent intoxication in the event of an accidental release of nerve agent. The recommended procedure (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION) is to inject the contents of the auto-injector into the muscles of an outer thigh. After an auto-injector has been activated, the empty container should be disposed of properly (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION), it cannot be refilled nor can the protruding needle be retracted. When activated, each auto-injector dispenses 600 mg of Pralidoxime Chloride in 2 mL of a sterile solution containing 20 mg/mL benzyl alcohol, 11.26 mg/mL glycine in Water for Injection, USP. The pH is adjusted with hydrochloric acid. The pH range is 2.0-3.0. The product is pyrogen free. Pralidoxime Chloride is a cholinesterase reactivator. Chemical Name: 2-formyl-1 methylpyridinium chloride oxime (pyridine-2-aldoxime methochloride). Also referred to as 2-PAM Chloride. Pralidoxime Chloride occurs as an odorless, white, nonhygroscopic, crystalline powder which is soluble in water to the extent of 1 g in less than 1 mL. Stable in air, it melts between 215°C and 225°C, with decomposition. The specific activity of the drug resides in the 2-formyl-1 methylpyridinium ion and is independent of the particular salt employed. The chloride is preferred because of physiologic compatibility, excellent water solubility at all temperatures, and high potency per gram, due to its low (173) molecular weight. Pralidoxime Chloride - Clinical Pharmacology Pralidoxime Chloride is a cholinesterase reactivator. The principal action of pralidoxime is to reactivate cholinesterase (mainly outside of the central nervous system) which has been inactivated by phosphorylation due to an organophosphate pesticide or related compound. The destruction of accumulated acetylcholine can then proceed and neuromuscular junctions will again function normally. Pralidoxime also slows the process of "aging" of phosphorylated cholinesterase to a non-reactivatable form, and detoxifies certain organophosphates by direct chemical reaction. The drug has its most critical effect in relieving paralysis of the muscles of respiration. Because pralidoxime is less effective in relieving depression of the respiratory center, atropine is always required concomitantly to block the effect of accumulated acetylcholine at this site. Pralidoxime relieves muscarinic signs and symptoms, salivation, bronchospasm, etc., but this action is relatively unimportant since atropine is adequate for this purpose. Pralidoxime is distributed throughout the extracellular water, it is not bound to plasma protein. The drug is rapidly excreted in the urine partly unchanged, and partly as a metabolite produced by the liver. Consequently, pralidoxime is relatively short acting and repeated doses may be needed, especially where there is any evidence of continuing absorption of the poison. The minimum therapeutic concentration of pralidoxime in plasma is 4 μg/mL, this level is reached in about 16 minutes after a single injection of 600 mg Pralidoxime Chloride. The apparent half-life of Pralidoxime Chloride is 74-77 minutes. It has been reported that the supplemental use of oxime cholinesterase reactivators (such as pralidoxime) reduces the incidence and severity of developmental defects in chick embryos exposed to such known teratogens as parathion, bidrin, carbachol and neostigmine. This protective effect of the oximes was shown to be dose related. Indications and Usage for Pralidoxime Chloride This auto-injector for Pralidoxime Chloride is specifically indicated for intramuscular use as an adjunct to atropine in the treatment of poisoning by nerve agents having anticholinesterase activity. The Pralidoxime Chloride auto-injector is contraindicated in patients who are hypersensitive to any component of the product. Pralidoxime is not effective in the treatment of poisoning due to phosphorus, inorganic phosphates or organophosphates not having anticholinesterase activity. Pralidoxime has been very well tolerated in most cases, but it must be remembered that the desperate condition of the organophosphate-poisoned patient will generally mask such minor signs and symptoms as have been noted in normal subjects. Because pralidoxime is excreted in the urine, a decrease in renal function will result in increased blood levels of the drug. Thus, the dosage of pralidoxime should be reduced in the presence of renal insufficiency. Information for Patients: The Pralidoxime Chloride auto-injector should be self- or buddy- administered by military personnel or administered by qualified civilian emergency responders only after the following events have occurred: - individual has donned his mask subsequent to recognizing the existence of a chemical agent hazard in his area - some or all of the symptoms of nerve agent poisoning cited below are present: - unexplained runny nose - tightness of chest with difficulty in breathing - pinpointed pupils of the eye resulting in blurred vision - drooling, excessive sweating - nausea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps - involuntary urination and defecation - jerking, twitching, and staggering - headache, drowsiness, coma, convulsions - stoppage of breathing Appropriate steps must be taken to insure that personnel equipped with auto-injectors understand their indications and use including review of symptoms of poisoning and operation of the auto-injector. Treatment of organophosphate poisoning should be instituted without waiting for the results of laboratory tests. Red blood cell, plasma cholinesterase, and urinary paranitrophenol measurements (in the case of parathion exposure) may be helpful in confirming the diagnosis and following the course of the illness. A reduction in red blood cell cholinesterase concentration to below 50% of normal has been seen only with organophosphate ester poisoning. When atropine and pralidoxime are used together, the signs of atropinization (flushing, mydriasis, tachycardia, dryness of the mouth and nose) may occur earlier than might be expected when atropine is used alone. This is especially true if the total dose of atropine has been large and the administration of pralidoxime has been delayed.2, 3, 4 The following precautions should be kept in mind in the treatment of anticholesterinase poisoning, although they do not bear directly on the use of pralidoxime; since barbiturates are potentiated by the anticholinesterases, they should be used cautiously in the treatment of convulsions; morphine, theophylline, aminophylline, succinylcholine, reser-pine, and phenothiazine-type tranquilizers should be avoided in patients with organophosphate poisoning. Carcinogenesis, Mutagensis, Impairment of Fertility: Since the Pralidoxime Chloride auto-injector is indicated for short-term emergency use only, no investigations of its potential for carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, or impairment of fertility have been conducted by the manufacturer, or reported in the literature. Pregnancy Category C: Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with pralidoxime. It is also not known whether pralidoxime can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity. Pralidoxime should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed. It is not known whether this drug is excreted in human milk. Because many drugs are excreted in human milk, caution should be exercised when pralidoxime is administered to a nursing woman. Forty to 60 minutes after intramuscular injection, mild to moderate pain may be experienced at the site of injection. Pralidoxime may cause blurred vision, diplopia and impaired accommodation, dizziness, headache, drowsiness, nausea, tachycardia, increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure, hyperventilation, and muscular weakness when given parenterally to normal volunteers who have not been exposed to anticholinesterase poisons. In patients it is very difficult to differentiate the toxic effects produced by atropine or the organophosphate compounds from those of the drug. Elevations in SGOT and/or SGPT enzyme levels were observed in 1 of 6 normal volunteers given 1200 mg of Pralidoxime Chloride intramuscularly, and in 4 of 6 volunteers given 1800 mg intramuscularly. Levels returned to normal in about 2 weeks. Transient elevations in creatine phosphokinase were observed in all normal volunteers given the drug. A single intramuscular injection of 330 mg in 1 mL in rabbits caused myonecrosis, inflammation and hemorrhage. When atropine and pralidoxime are used together, the signs of atropinization may occur earlier than might be expected when atropine is used alone. This is especially true if the total dose of atropine has been large and the administration of pralidoxime has been delayed.2, 3, 4 Excitement and manic behavior immediately following recovery of consciousness have been reported in several cases. However, similar behavior has occurred in cases of organophosphate poisoning that were not treated with pralidoxime.3, 5, 6 Drug Abuse and Dependence Pralidoxime Chloride is not subject to abuse and possesses no known potential for dependence. Manifestations of Overdosage: Observed in normal subjects only: dizziness, blurred vision, diplopia, headache, impaired accommodation, nausea, slight tachycardia. In therapy it has been difficult to differentiate side effects due to the drug from those due to the effects of the poison. Treatment of Overdosage: Artificial respiration and other supportive therapy should be administered as needed. Pralidoxime Chloride Dosage and Administration Exposure to nerve agents possessing anticholinesterase activity (organophosphate type) MILD CASE—headache, blurred vision, mild muscarinic signs MODERATELY SEVERE CASE—excessive sweating, lacrimation, salivation, diarrhea, tightness in the chest For optimal reactivation of organophosphate-inhibited cholinesterase, atropine and pralidoxime should be administered as soon as possible after exposure. Depending on the severity of symptoms, immediately administer one atropine-containing auto-injector, followed by one pralidoxime-containing auto-injector. Atropine must be given first until its effects become apparent and only then should pralidoxime be administered. If nerve agent symptoms are still present after 15 minutes, repeat injections. If symptoms still exist after an additional 15 minutes, repeat injections for a third time. If after the third set of injections, symptoms remain, do not give any more antidotes but seek medical help. Directions for Use: When, as described above, auto-injector use is indicated, proceed as follows: VERY SEVERE CASE — Cyanosis, Respiratory Embarrassment, Coma Initial measures should include removal of secretions, maintenance of a patent airway and, if necessary, artificial ventilation. Atropine should not be used until cyanosis has been overcome since atropine produces ventricular fibrillations in the presence of hypoxia. Morphine, theophylline, aminophylline, or succincylcholine are contraindicated. Tranquilizers of the reserpine or phenothiazine type are to be avoided. "Pralidoxime is most effective if administered immediately after poisoning. Generally, little is accomplished if the drug is given more than 36 hours after termination of exposure. When the poison has been ingested, however, exposure may continue for some time due to slow absorption from the lower bowel, and fatal relapses have been reported after initial improvement. Continued administration for several days may be useful in such patients. Close supervision of the patient is indicated for at least 48 to 72 hours. If dermal exposure has occurred, clothing should be removed and the hair and skin washed thoroughly with sodium bicarbonate or alcohol as soon as possible. Diazepam may be given cautiously if convulsions are not controlled by atropine."7 IMPORTANT: PHYSICIANS AND/OR OTHER MEDICAL PERSONNEL ASSISTING EVACUATED VICTIMS OF NERVE AGENTS, SHOULD AVOID EXPOSING THEMSELVES TO CONTAMINATION BY THE VICTIMS' CLOTHING. How is Pralidoxime Chloride Supplied Pralidoxime Chloride is supplied in aqueous solution prefilled in the auto-injector (600 mg, 2 mL) for military use and for use by qualified civilian emergency responders. Auto-injectors are supplied through the Directorate of Medical Materiel, Defense Supply Center Philadelphia or other analogous local, state or federal agency. When activated, each auto-injector dispenses 600 mg of Pralidoxime Chloride in 2 mL of a sterile solution containing 20 mg/mL benzyl alcohol, 11.26 mg/mL glycine in Water for Injection, USP. The pH is adjusted with hydrochloric acid. The pH is 2.0-3.0 The product is pyrogen free. Store at 25°C (77°F); Excursions permitted to 15-30°C (59-86°F). [See USP Controlled Room Temperature] Keep from freezing. Meridian Medical Technologies, Inc. Columbia, MD 21046 Printed in U.S.A. - Landauer, W.: Cholinomimetic tetrogens. V. The effect of oximes and related cholinesterase reactivators, Teratology 15:33 (Feb.) 1977. - Moller, K. O., Jenson-Holm, J., and Lausen, H. H.: Ugeskr. Laeg.123:501, 1961. - Namba, T., Nolte, C.T., Jackrel, Jr., and Grob, D.: Poisoning due to organophosphate insecticides. Acute and chronic manifestations, Amer. J. Med. 50:475 (Apr.) 1971. - Arena, J. M.: Poisoning. Toxicology. Symptoms. Treatments, ed. 4, Springfield, Ill., Charles C.Thomas, 1979, p. 133. - Brachfeld, J., and Zavon, M. R.: Organic phosphate (Phosdrin®) intoxication. Report of case and the results of treatment with 2-PAM, Arch. Environ. Health 11:859,1965. - Hayes, W. J., Jr.: Toxicology of Pesticides, Baltimore, The Williams & Wilkins Company, 1975, p. 416. - AMA Department of Drugs: AMA Drug Evaluations, ed. 4, Chicago, American Medical Association, 1980, p. 1455. Pralidoxime Chloride injection |Labeler - Meridian Medical Technologies, Inc.| More about pralidoxime - Other brands: Protopam Chloride

The Health Careers Committee provides students with access to current information on many health careers. Interested students should contact Eric Dewar (the chair of the Health Careers Committee), during their first semester at Suffolk. A student-run Health Careers Club exists to foster interaction among students with interests in the health careers. Interested students should contact the club through the Department of Biology. The admission requirements for medical schools throughout the country are being liberalized, but the changes are not uniform, and the rates of change are not the same. The trend is toward less emphasis on science courses that tend to be repetitious and more upon the humanities and social science subjects. Students are being encouraged to attain in a broad liberal arts background as well as basic education in the sciences, particularly in the might of the overhaul to the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) in 2015. Nevertheless, nearly all medical colleges still require one year of general chemistry and one year of organic chemistry, one year of physics, one year of biology, one year of English composition, and one year of English literature in pre-medical preparation. Further coursework in Psychology and Sociology is also required for the 'new' MCAT. We also recommend taking Anatomy and Physiology I-II and Biochemistry before the MCAT if feasible. Catalogues of some medical schools indicate that an applicant can be approved for admission after three years of college work. However, the number of applicants far exceeds the number of students to be admitted. Only students with the strongest academic record, MCAT scores, and promise of success as a doctor are selected. Most dental schools set as a minimum requirement for admission the inclusion of one year of general chemistry and one year of organic chemistry, one year of biology, one year of physics, and one year of English composition. We also recommend taking Anatomy and Physiology I-II and Biochemistry before the DAT (Dental Admissions Test) if feasible. While some dental schools set 60 semester hours as the minimum quantity requirement, the crowded condition of the professional schools allows them to be more selective in their admissions; in practice, students with a bachelor's degree are given preference. The applicant may be required to present himself or herself for an interview before his or her admission status is determined. The minimum academic requirements for admission to a school of veterinary medicine parallel those of dental and medical schools. However, since there are far fewer veterinary colleges than medical or dental schools, the opportunities are more limited. Consequently, the customary requirement for admission is the completion of the baccalaureate. In addition, most veterinary schools are state universities which give priority for admission to residents of the state. Veterinary schools require a course in “Animal Husbandry," “Experience on a Farm,” or work in a veterinary clinic as a prerequisite to admission. Suffolk University does not offer these courses, but they may sometimes be obtained at another institution during the summer. Prospective students should apprise themselves of the specific requirements of the various veterinary schools as early in their undergraduate program as possible. Colleges of optometry, like other professional schools, base their admission standards on the academic records of their applicants. The requirements for admission to the schools and colleges of optometry are not identical. Typically, the requirements include courses in English, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology or zoology. Some schools and colleges have varied requirements in psychology, the social sciences, literature, philosophy, and foreign languages. The pre-optometry requirements for almost all accredited colleges of optometry represent a minimum of two academic years of study. It is recommended that Suffolk University students who plan to study optometry pursue a commonly required freshman year in which they include in their programs the Seminar for Freshmen, First-Year English, Introductory Mathematics, General Biology, and Inorganic Chemistry. In their sophomore year, pre-optometry students should study General Physics, Calculus, Second-Year English, Logic, Speech, and courses from the Humanities or Social Sciences. The student should be acquainted with the requirements of the optometry college he or she expects to attend. Applicants for admission will complete the OAT (Optometry Admission Test) before their application. Health Careers Committee The committee's primary responsibility is to advise students interested in healthcare and to write recommendations for qualified Suffolk University students seeking admission to professional schools. As far as recommendations to such professional schools are concerned, only the Health Careers Committee represents Suffolk University. For further information, contact Eric Dewar (Biology Department).

Music maestros like Pt Channulal Mishra, Pt Ajay Pohankar and Shruti Sadolikar will be joined by younger musicians in celebrating a festival devoted to the romantic and mystical semi-classical genre, Thumri. The fourth edition of the three-day festival beginning here August 13 is being presented by Sahitya Kala Parishad and Delhi Government's Department of Art, Culture and Languages. Pt Ajay Pohankar, 65, who hails from the Kirana gharana and scheduled to perform on the second day of the festival hopes to regale listeners with a surprise. "I want it to be a surprise. I basically belong to Jabalpur but also sing the Purab and Punjab gharana styles. Having been a student of Hindi literature, I can compose my own thumris, even my mother Dr Sushila Pohankar used to compose them," Pohankar told PTI. Once considered a child prodigy, who at the age of 11 years was invited by Pt Bhimsen Joshi for "a mesmerising concert" the musician says he does not believe in just imitation. "I don't trust in copies but that does not mean I don't sing traditional thumris," says the veteran singer recalling the contribution of yesteryear greats like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir Khan and Barkat Ali Khan who influenced him greatly. While Girija Devi, considered the queen of Thumri and a regular at the festival will be giving the event a miss owing to ill health, other woman musicians like Shruti Sadolikar Katkar and younger musician Ashwini Bhide have been included in the line up. Shruti, who hails from the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, says the younger generations of musicians want to dive straight into semi-classical genres like thumri and khayal without a proper introduction of classical music. "During concerts of veteran musicians like Begum Akthar and Girija Devi, they do not advertise their expertise in classical music. It is so subtle just like an undercurrent, it is smooth like butter pleasing to the ear and has so much flavour," says the musician. Shruti, 62, who has access to rare bandish's of Jaipur Gharana, says she has composed thumris influenced from the haveli style of music, a genre which she has researched in depth. The musician has been lined up to perform on the opening day of the festival, which focuses on the "Purab Ang Gayak" style.

Patent application title: Polyester Compositions Having High Dimensional Stability Rodolfo Agustin Flores (Shelby, NC, US) INVISTA NORTH AMERICA S.A.R.L. IPC8 Class: AB32B516FI Class name: Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or component including a second component containing structurally defined particles mica Publication date: 2008-10-09 Patent application number: 20080248285 The present invention relates to thermoplastic compositions having; high dimensional stability at high temperatures. In particular it is directed to polyester compositions containing mica for use in dual-ovenable trays and clear lids for hot food containers. According to one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a polyester composition comprising a polyester containing greater than about 2 to less than about 10 weight % of a mica filler. According to another embodiment of the present invention the mica containing polyester is prepared by the addition of the mica during polymerization, using a buffer to minimize diethylene glycol formation. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the polyester composition containing greater than 2 to less than 10 weight % mica also contains an additive package of impact modifier, nucleating agent and pigment in a concentration from about 5 weight % to 20 weight of the total composition. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the polyester composition containing mica is thermoformed into a container, such as a food tray. 1) A polyester resin composition for thermoforming articles, comprising: at least 70 weight % polyester, and greater than 2, but less than 10 wt. % mica, said composition having a DEG content less than 0.8 wt. %. 2) The polyester resin composition of claim 1, further containing impact modifier, nucleating agent and pigment in a concentration from about 5 weight % to 20 weight % of the total composition. 3) The polyester resin composition of claim 1, wherein said mica is in the range of from about 10 to about 300 microns (μm). 4) The polyester resin composition of claim 1, wherein said mica is in the range of about 10 to about 100 μm. 5) The polyester resin composition of claim 1, wherein said mica has an aspect ratio of higher than about 10. 6) The polyester resin composition of claim 1, wherein said mica preferably has an aspect ratio above about 25. 7) The polyester resin composition of claim 1, wherein said mica most preferably has an aspect ratio above about 50. 8) The polyester resin composition of claim 1, further containing sodium acetate in the range of about 0.05 to about 0.2 wt. % of said composition. 9) The polyester resin composition of claim 1 wherein said polyester contains 85 mole % or more of polyethylene terephthalate. 10) A method of making polyester resin composition, comprising reacting dicarboxylic acid or dicarboxylic ester with diol in an esterification step to form monomer, blending mica at the beginning of said esterification step, and reacting said monomer/mica in a polycondensation step. 11) A method of making polyester resin composition, comprising reacting dicarboxylic acid or dicarboxylic ester with diol in an esterification step to form monomer, blending mica with said monomer at the end of the esterification step, and reacting said monomer/mica in a polycondensation step. 12) The method of making polyester resin composition according to claim 10, wherein said mica is slurried at a 30 to 40 wt. % concentration in ethylene glycol. 13) The method of making polyester resin composition according to claim 10, by further comprising adding sodium acetate as a buffer to reduce the DEG in said composition, in the blending step in the range of about 0.05 to about 0.2 wt. % of said composition. 14) The method of making polyester resin composition according to claim 10, wherein said mica is in the range of from about 10 to about 300 microns (μm). 15) The method of making polyester resin composition according to claim 10, wherein said mica has an aspect ratio of higher than about 10. 16) The method of making polyester resin composition according to claim 10, wherein said mica has an aspect ratio above about 50. 17) The method of making polyester resin composition according to claim 10, further containing sodium acetate as a buffer to reduce the DEG in said composition, in the range of about 0.05 to about 0.2 wt. % of said composition. 18) The method of making polyester resin composition according to claim 10, further containing impact modifier, nucleating agent and pigment in a concentration from about 5 weight % to 20 weight % of the total composition. 19) The method of making a polyester resin composition according to claim 11, wherein said mica is in the range of from about 10 to about 300 microns (μm). 20) The method of making a polyester resin composition according to claim 11, wherein said mica has an aspect ratio of higher than about 10. 21) The method of making a polyester resin according to claim 10, wherein said polyester contains 85 mole % or more of polyethylene terephthalate. 22) A thermoformable article made from a polyester resin composition, comprising polyester including greater than 2, but less than 10 wt. % mica, said mica is in the range of from about 10 to about 300 microns (μm), and having an aspect ratio of higher than about 10; and a buffer to reduce the DEG in said composition. 23) The thermoformable article of claim 22, wherein said buffer is sodium acetate in the range of about 0.05 to about 0.2 wt. % of said composition. 24) The thermoformable article of claim 23, further containing impact modifier, nucleating agent and pigment in a concentration from about 5 weight % to 20 weight % of the total composition. 25) The thermoformable article of claim 22, wherein said polyester contains 85 mole % or more of polyethylene terephthalate. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1) Field of the Invention This invention relates to thermoplastic polyester compositions having high dimensional stability at elevated temperatures. In particular it is directed to polyester compositions containing mica for use in dual-ovenable trays and clear lids for hot food containers. The compositions typically contain greater than 2 wt. % mica, but less than about 10 wt. %. Moreover, the size of the particles of mica are in the range from about 10 to about 300 microns, and it has an aspect ration of greater than about 10. Additionally, the compositions optionally contain sodium acetate in the range of about 0.05 to about 0.2 wt. % of the composition as a buffer. The mica is introduced during the process of making polyester either at the beginning of ester interchange or at the end of the ester interchange. 2) Prior art It is well known in the field of engineering plastics to use fillers in order to improve the physical properties of molded parts. Fillers increase the tensile strength, stiffness, impact resistance, toughness, heat resistance and reduce creep and mold shrinkage. Fillers are typically used at loadings of 20 to 60% by weight of the plastic. Typical fillers are glass fibers, carbon/graphite fibers, ground micas, talc, clays, calcium carbonate and other inorganic compounds such as metallic oxides. U.S. Pat. No. 3,764,456 to Woodhams discloses the use of micas with aspect ratios of greater than 30, and from 10 to 70% by volume, of a composite to improve the modulus and strength of the composite. U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,929 to Borman discloses polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) resins reinforced with mica coated with poly(tetrafluoroethylene) resin. The preferred amount of coated filler is 15 to 45 parts by weight of the total composition. Improvements in impact strength, heat distortion temperature and flexural strength were observed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,425 to Hekal discloses a method of preparing a resin having improved gas permeability by preferably using 30 to 50% by weight mica, of particle size greater than 100 microns, which is cleaved during melt blending to increase its aspect ratio. U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,941 to Ostapenchenko discloses polyethylene terephthalate (PET) compositions containing a small amount of a terpolymer of ethylene and reinforced with a mineral material having an aspect ratio of at least 10. The reinforcing filler is used at a 10-50 weight % level and the composition molded into thermoformed articles for use in automotive applications. U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,809 to Keep discloses a polyester composition for injection molded articles having low warpage. The composition is a blend of polyester, poly(cyclohexene-dimethylene terephthalate) with glass fibers and mica. The reinforcing fillers being in an amount of 10 to 25 weight % of the total composition. U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,747 to Simon discloses a composite material for use in a microwave oven by the inclusion of a particulate dielectric material having a dielectric constant in a range of 5 to 8 and a particle size of 1 to 10 microns. Mica is used at a 25 weight loading as an example. Japanese Patent Kokai Application 63-148030 to Hori et al. relates to a PET ovenable food tray containing 10 to 45 weight % mica having an average diameter of from 10 to 300 microns and an average aspect ratio from 10 to 45. The mica was used to improve the heat resistance of a thermoformed PET tray, to eliminate large thick spots that occur during thermoforming and to improve the gas (steam) barrier of the tray. Hori teaches that at mica levels below 10 weight % these problems are not solved. The preferred range is 20 to 40 weight % mica. Japanese Patent Kokai Application 2003-292 748 to Keiichi discloses the use of mica particles to reduce the gas permeability of PET bottles. The amount of mica used was in the range of 0.5 to 2 weight %, higher loadings produced hazy bottles. U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,401 to Dalgewicz et al. discloses a moldable polyester composition for containers having improved gas barrier properties and low thermal shrinkage. This was achieved by the controlled heating and cooling step in the thermoform mold. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,344,912 and 6,169,143 to Dalgewicz et al. disclose polyester compositions with improved impact properties, oxygen permeability and dimensional stability by including impact modifiers. Articles made from these compositions are useful for dual-ovenable containers. U.S. Pat. No. 6,576,309 to Dalgewicz et al. discloses polyester compositions with improved molding properties, high dimensional and temperature resistance. This was accomplished by blending an ethylene acrylate copolymer, and optionally a compatibilizer/emulsifier/surfactant, into the polyester. These compositions were used as dual-ovenable containers. Dalgewicz does not give any examples, but repeating his description gave thermoformed trays that were deficient in high temperature stability. There is therefore a need for a polyester composition that meets the stringent requirements of a dual-ovenable container. Dual-ovenable means that the food in the container can be heated in a microwave or conventional oven. There is also a need for a more thermal dimensional stability lid for hot food containers, for example domes used for cooked poultry. There is also a need for these articles to have improved oxygen barrier properties. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a polyester composition comprising a polyester containing from greater than 2 but less than 10 weight % of a mica filler. According to another embodiment of the present invention the mica containing polyester is prepared by the addition of the mica during polymerization, using a buffer to minimize the formation of diethylene glycol in the polyester According to another embodiment of the present invention, the polyester composition containing greater than 2 but less than 10 weight % mica also contains an additive package of impact modifier, nucleating agent and pigment in a concentration from about 5 weight % to 20 weight % of the total composition. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the polyester composition containing mica is thermoformed into a container, such as a food tray. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Contrary to the teachings of the prior art it has been found that significant improvements in heat dimensional stability of polyester articles can be achieved by the addition of low levels (greater than 2, but less than 10 weight %) of mica. A possible explanation is that there are functional groups (quaternary amino), or residual hydroxyl groups, present in micas that can effect a chemical reaction of the polyester at the interface. Generally polyesters or copolyesters can be prepared by one of two processes, namely: (1) the ester process and (2) the acid process. The ester process is where at least one dicarboxylic ester (such as dimethyl terephthalate, DMT) is reacted with at least one diol (such as ethylene glycol (EG)) in an ester interchange reaction. Because the reaction is reversible, it is generally necessary to remove the alcohol (methanol when dimethyl terephthalate is employed) to completely convert the raw materials into monomer. Monomers so prepared contain mixtures of short chain oligomers and in some cases small amounts of the starting materials. Certain catalysts are well known for use in the ester interchange reaction. In the past, catalytic activity was then sequestered by introducing a phosphorus compound, for example polyphosphoric acid, at the end of the ester interchange reaction. Primarily the ester interchange catalyst was sequestered to prevent yellowness from occurring in the polymer. Then the monomer undergoes polycondensation and the catalyst employed in this reaction is generally an antimony, germanium, or titanium compound, or a mixture of these or other similar well known metal compounds. In the second method for making polyester or copolyester, at least one dicarboxylic acid (such as terephthalic acid) is reacted with at least one diol (such as ethylene glycol) by a direct esterification reaction producing monomer and water. Monomer so prepared contains mixtures of short chain oligomers and in some cases small amounts of the starting materials. This reaction is also reversible like the ester process and thus to drive the reaction to completion one must remove the water. In most cases the direct esterification step does not require a catalyst. The monomer then undergoes polycondensation to form polyester just as in the ester process, and the catalyst and conditions employed are generally the same as those for the ester process. Suitable polyesters are produced from the reaction of a diacid or diester component comprising at least 65 mol-% terephthalic acid or C2-C4 dialkylterephthalate, preferably at least 70 mol-%, more preferably at least 80 mol-%, even more preferably, at least 90 mol-% of the acid moieties in the product, and a diol component comprising at least 65% mol-% ethylene glycol, or C2-C20 diglycols preferably at least 70 mol-%, more preferably at least 80 mol-%, even more preferably at least 95 mol-% of the diol moieties in the product. It is also preferable that the diacid component is terephthalic acid and the diol component is ethylene glycol, thereby forming polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The mole percent for all the diacid components totals 100 mol-%, and the mole percentage for all the diol component totals 100 mol-%. Where the polyester components are modified by one or more diol components other than ethylene glycol, suitable diol components of the described polyester may be selected from 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol; 1,2-propanediol; 1,4-butanediol; 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediol; 2-methyl-1,3-propanediol (2 MPDO); 1,6-hexanediol; 1,2-cyclohexanediol; 1,4-cyclohexanediol; 1,2-cyclohexanedimethanol; 1,3-cyclohexanedimethanol, and diols containing one or more oxygen atoms in the chain, e.g., diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, tripropylene glycol or mixtures of these, and the like. In general, these diols contain 2 to 18, preferably 2 to 8 carbon atoms. Cycloaliphatic diols can be employed in their cis or trans configuration or as a mixture of both forms. Preferred modifying diol components are 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol or diethylene glycol, or a mixture of these. Where the polyester components are modified by one or more acid components other than terephthalic acid, the suitable acid components (aliphatic, alicyclic, or aromatic dicarboxylic acids) of the resulting linear polyester may be selected, for example, from isophthalic acid, 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid, 1,3-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, sebacic acid, 1,12-dodecanedioic acid, 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, bibenzoic acid, trimelletic acid, or mixtures of these and the like. In the polymer preparation, it is often preferable to use a functional acid derivative thereof such as the dimethyl, diethyl, or dipropyl ester of the dicarboxylic acid. The anhydrides or acid halides of these acids also may be employed where practical. These acid modifiers generally retard the crystallization rate compared to terephthalic acid. Most preferred is the copolymer of PET and isophthalic acid. Generally the isophthalic acid is present from about 0.5 to about 10 mole %, and preferably about 1.0 to 7 mole % of the copolymer. In addition to polyester made from terephthalic acid (or dimethyl terephthalate) and ethylene glycol, or a modified polyester as stated above, the present invention also includes the use of 100% of an aromatic diacid such as 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid or bibenzoic acid, or their diesters, and a modified polyester made by reacting at least 85 mol-% of the dicarboxylate from these aromatic diacids/diesters with any of the above comonomers. The polyester used in this invention preferably have an intrinsic viscosity (IV) of greater than 0.6, and more preferably greater than 0.75. The higher molecular weight gives higher strength to the resultant articles. Higher IV polyesters can be obtained by solid state polymerization (SSP) of the lower IV polyester prepared by melt polymerization. Amorphous and or partially crystalline chips, prepared by standard melt polymerization procedures, are solid phase polymerized in one of the many ways known in the art, for example, by heating, with tumbling, in a batch vacuum tumble dryer or by passing continuously through a column in the presence of an inert gas, to increase the molecular weight. The type of mica used in the present invention is not limited to any particular types. Muscovite, phlogopite, biotite, paragonite or synthesized mica may be used. Surface treated (silane, titanate or amino-) micas may also be used. Wet ground muscovite is preferred. The average mica particle size used in the present invention is in the range of from about 10 to about 300 microns (μm), preferably in the range from about 10 to about 150 μm, and more preferably in the range of about 10 to about 100 μm. Articles molded from polyesters containing mica having a particle size less than about 10 μm exhibit insufficient thermal dimensional stability. Articles molded from polyesters containing mica particles greater than about 300 μm are inferior in appearance and contain voids which occur during the molding process. The aspect ratio of the mica used in the present invention needs to be higher than about 10, preferably above about 25, and most preferably above about 50. There is no upper limit on aspect ratio, but below about 10 molded articles from this polyester composition exhibit insufficient thermal dimensional stability. The amount of mica used in the present invention is greater than 2 but less than 10 weight % of the polyester composition. Below about 2 wt. % insufficient thermal stability in the molded article is exhibited, and above about 10 wt. % the molded article exhibits increased brittleness. The mica is preferably slurried at a 30 to 40 wt. % concentration in ethylene glycol. This slurry is added at the beginning or end of the esterification step. To prevent an increase in the diethylene glycol (DEG) of the polyester a buffer such as sodium acetate may be employed, preferably in the range of about 0.05 to about 0.2 wt. % of the initial charge of raw materials. Although master batches containing up to about 30 wt. % mica can be prepared for let-down to the desired level during the molding process, it was found that superior properties were obtained when the required amount of mica was added during polymerization. With regard to dual-ovenable trays, there is no limitation with regards to adding plasticizers, nucleating agents, impact modifiers, mold release agents, stabilizers or colorants to improve the thermoforming process or the resultant properties of the trays. Nor are there limitations to the use of silane coupling agents or various types of dispersants in order to improve the bonding of the mica to the polyester matrix, or the dispersibility of the mica in the polyester during polymerization. With regard to clear food containers, these additives can also be used as long as they do not significantly affect the clarity. Typical additive packages for dual-ovenable trays are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,409,967 and 6,576,309 which are hereby incorporated by reference. Food containers such as trays and lids are generally manufactured by a thermoforming process, although injection and compression molding can be used. In the thermoforming process the polyester composition is melted and mixed in an extruder and the molten polymer is extruded into a sheet and cooled on a roller. Thermoforming, also called vacuum forming, is the heating of a thermoplastic sheet until it is pliable and stretchable, and then forcing the hot sheet against the contours of a mold by using mechanical force and vacuum. When held to the shape of the mold by atmospheric pressure and allowed to cool, the plastic sheet retains the mold's shape and detail. Improved heat resistance can be achieved by annealing the article in the mold at temperatures greater than 100° C., and preferably greater than 130° C. For clear articles it is important that the time and temperature in the mold is optimized to obtain the maximum crystallinity without haziness due to large spherulitic crystals. The articles of the present invention can also be manufactured with multiple layers, one of which is the polymer composition of the invention, by lamination of the sheets or co-extrusion of the sheet. The Intrinsic Viscosity (IV) of the pellets was measured according to ASTM D4603-03. The diethylene glycol (DEG) content (wt. %) of the polymer is determined by hydrolyzing the polymer with an aqueous solution of ammonium hydroxide in a sealed reaction vessel at 220±5° C. for approximately two hours. The liquid portion of the hydrolyzed product is then analyzed by gas chromatography. The gas chromatography apparatus is a FID Detector (HP5890, HP7673A) from Hewlett Packard. The ammonium hydroxide is 28 to 30% by weight ammonium hydroxide from Fisher Scientific and is reagent grade. The carboxyl end group (CEG) value of a polymer is determined by dissolving a sample of the polymer in reagent grade benzyl alcohol and titrating to the purple end point of phenol red indicator with 0.03 N sodium hydroxide/benzyl alcohol solution. The results are reported in millimoles sodium hydroxide per kilogram (mmol/kg) of the sample. The Heat Deflection Temperature (HDT) was measured according to ASTM D648-01, method A, at a stress of 0.455 Mpa. The specimens had a length of 127 mm, a width of 13 mm and a depth of 13 mm. The Deflection Temperature Under Load (DTUL) was recorded using a DMA Q800 instrument (TA Instruments, New Castle, Del., USA) by measuring the temperature at which the deflection of the specimen (thin film, 15 mm long, 13 mm wide and 0.5 mm thick) corresponded to the strain (0.121%) that would be induced with the ASTM load of 0.455 Mpa. The heating rate was 2° C./minute. The Storage Modulus was measured using a DMA Q800 instrument (TA Instruments, New Castle, Del., USA) on a thin film sample using a heating rate of 2° C./minute and a frequency of 10 Hz. The Tensile Properties were measured according to ASTM D638-03, using a Type I specimen. The Gardner Impact was measure according to ASTM D5420-04, using GA geometry. The oxygen flux of film samples, at zero percent relative humidity, at one atmosphere pressure, and at 25° C. was measured with a Mocon Ox-Tran model 2/20 (MOCON Minneapolis, Minn.). A mixture of 98% nitrogen with 2% hydrogen was used as the carrier gas, and 100% oxygen was used as the test gas. Prior to testing, specimens were conditioned in nitrogen inside the unit for a minimum of twenty-four hours to remove traces of atmospheric oxygen. The conditioning was continued until a steady base line was obtained where the oxygen flux changed by less than one percent for a thirty-minute cycle. Subsequently, oxygen was introduced to the test cell. The test ended when the flux reached a steady state where the oxygen flux changed by less than 1% during a 30 minute test cycle. Calculation of the oxygen permeability was done according to a literature method for permeation coefficients for PET copolymers, from Fick's second law of diffusion with appropriate boundary conditions. The literature documents are: Sekelik et al., Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, 1999, Volume 37, Pages 847-857. The second literature document is Qureshi et al., Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, 2000, Volume 38, Pages 1679-1686. The third literature document is Polyakova, et al., Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, 2001, Volume 39, Pages 1889-1899. The oxygen permeability is stated in units of nmol/m.s.GPa. A Differential Scanning Calorimeter (Perkin Elmer DSC-2, Norwalk, Conn., USA) was used the measure the relative crystallization of the polymers. 10 mg of the polymer was heated at 10° C./min. to 300° C., held at this temperature for 2 minutes, and cooled at 10° C./min. The peak of the crystallization exotherm on cooling (Tch) was measured. Polyesters (PET) were prepared using a conventional DMT process, followed by SSP, containing various fillers at different concentrations to give a final IV of 0.85. The suppliers of these fillers are given in Table 1. TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Filler Company Calcium Carbonate Nyacol, Ashland, MA USA Silicon Dioxide Nyacol, Ashland, MA USA Mica Georgia Industrial Minerals, Sandersville, GA USA Zinc Oxide Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany The filled polymers were molded into 0.5 mm thick films. The films were tested in the amorphous state, and after annealing for 150° C. for one hour in a vacuum oven. The storage moduli of these films were measured at 30° C. and the results set forth in Table 2. TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Storage Modulus, MPa Sample Amorphous Crystallized Control 531 1123 Calcium carbonate, 3%, 0.4 μm 495 1470 Calcium carbonate, 3%, 1.2 μm 650 1738 Calcium carbonate, 5%, 2 μm 681 1794 Silicon dioxide, 2%, 0.1 μm 620 1791 Zinc oxide, 2%, 35 nm 427 Not measured Mica, 2%, 5 μm 728 1373 Mica, 5%, 10 μm Not measured 2001 Based on the storage modulus (stiffness) of the annealed samples, which simulated the annealing process during thermoforming, additional samples of selected fillers were prepared with a 1 weight % loading. Specimens were prepared from these polymers and the heat deflection temperature (HDT) was measured. The results are set forth in Table 3. TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Filler Particle size, μm Aspect ratio HDT, ° C. Control 142.0 Mica 0.5 ~2 143.8 Mica 10 ~30 164.2 Mica 18 ~60 165.9 Calcium carbonate 2 ~1 162.6 The improvement in HDT was observed with mica when the particle size was greater than about 10μ, with as aspect ratio of greater than about 30. A polyester was prepared according to the procedure of Example 1 containing 1 wt. % of a 10 μm mica (aspect ratio˜30). Specimens were prepared from the amorphous polymer and polymer that had been annealed at 150° C. overnight in a vacuum oven. The tensile properties were measured and the results set forth in Table 4. TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Young's Modulus, Strain at Max. Sample Condition GPa Load, % Control Amorphous 1.06 8.4 Mica, 1% Amorphous 1.26 6.7 Control Annealed 1.27 14.4 Mica, 1% Annealed 1.40 15.9 An improvement in Young's Modulus was observed in both the amorphous and annealed mica samples. Three polyester resins, containing 2.1 wt. %, 10 μm mica, were prepared using a DMT process. Sample A was prepared with the addition of the mica slurry (30 wt. % in EG) at the beginning of ester interchange (EI) (with the initial charge of DMT, ethylene glycol and EI catalysts). Sample B was prepared with the addition of the mica slurry (30 wt. % in EG) after EI, prior to polymerization. Sample C was prepared in the same sequence as Sample B but with the addition of 0.1 wt. % sodium acetate, based on the weight of the initial charge, in the mica slurry. Sample D was prepared in the same sequence as Sample A but with the addition of 0.1 wt. % sodium acetate, based on the weight of the initial charge, in the mica slurry. The chemical properties of these polymers, compared to a control without mica, were measured, and the results set forth in Table 5. TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Sample IV, dl/g DEG, wt. % CEG, mmol/kg Control 0.55 0.7 23 A 0.55 1.4 39 B 0.55 3.8 89 C 0.56 0.5 21 D 0.61 0.8 18 Addition of the mica after EI gives high DEG (Sample B), which will lead to a lowering of the melting point and HDT, as well as an increase in CEG. The DEG and CEG were lowered by adding the mica at the beginning of EI (Sample A), but still gave DEG and CEG values greater than the control. It is believed that this increase is due to residual acidity in the mica. The addition of a buffer (Samples C and D) with the mica brought the DEG and CEG values back to normal. A comparison of the Gardner Impact of polymers with different micas at different loadings prepared by the melt polymerization/solid state polymerization route (MP/SSP) and compounding was made. Compounding used a ZSE-GL twin screw extruder (American Leistritz, Summerville, N.J., USA) with the 0.89 IV control polymer by the dry addition of the mica at the extruder throat. Discs were molded and crystallized overnight at 150° C. The results are set forth in Table 6. TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 Mica, μm Mica, wt. % Process IV Mean failure Energy, J Control 0 MP/SSP 0.79 1.47 10 2.1 MP/SSP 0.78 1.41 10 5.0 MP/SSP 0.74 1.08 20 5.0 MP/SSP 0.86 1.33 Control 0 Compounded 0.63 0.99 10 2.1 Compounded 0.64 1.11 10 5.0 Compounded 0.62 1.12 20 5.0 Compounded 0.61 0.99 The loss in Gardner Impact is probably due to the loss in IV during compounding. Master batches of polymer containing up to 20 wt. % mica have been successfully prepared. They were not tested due to this observation that compounding had such a significant effect on IV loss. The polymers containing 5 wt. % mica, 10 and 20 μm, prepared by MP/SSP in Example 4 were molded into films. These films were annealed for various times at 160° C. in an oven. The DTUL was measured on these films, and the results set forth in Table 7. TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 7 DTUL, ° C. 10 μm mica (aspect 20 μm mica (aspect Time, min. Control ratio ~30) ratio ~60) 30 104 105 117 60 110 118 123 90 114 130 139 The results demonstrate the advantage in annealed articles molded from larger diameter mica particles (higher aspect ratio). Films of thickness in the range of 0.4 to 0.5 mm were prepared from polyesters containing various size mica particles at different loadings. These films were annealed at 160° C. for 1 hour. The oxygen permeability was measured and the results set forth in Table 8. TABLE-US-00008 TABLE 8 Oxygen Permeability, Mica, μm Mica, wt. % nmol/m s GPa Control 0 11.8 10 (aspect ratio ~30) 5 8.70 20 (aspect ratio ~60) 5 7.82 10 (aspect ratio ~30) 10 6.12 These results show that these mica particles significantly reduce the oxygen permeability of the films, the larger aspect ratio particles being better at a given loading. The crystallization rate of polymers containing 1.0 and 2.1 wt. % of 10 μm mica (aspect ratio˜30) was measured, and the results set forth in Table 9. TABLE-US-00009 TABLE 9 Mica, wt % Tch, ° C. 0 182.1 1 191.6 2 207.9 Although this Example is outside the claimed range, it demonstrates the higher Tch with increasing mica content indicates a faster crystallization rate. This faster rate is of value in the annealing of thermoformed food trays. Thus it is apparent that there has been provided, in accordance with the invention, a process that fully satisfied the objects, aims and advantages set forth above. While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims. Patent applications by Rodolfo Agustin Flores, Shelby, NC US Patent applications by INVISTA NORTH AMERICA S.A.R.L. Patent applications in class Mica Patent applications in all subclasses Mica

US 4233334 A A new and improved fruit flavored, dry, powdered beverage mix adapted to bereconstituted in cold water, and the method of making same is provided. The powdered mix includes beaten cellulose pulp, which imparts an appearance and mouth-feel resembling freshly squeezed natural juice. 1. In a method of manufacturing fruit flavored, dry powdered beverage mix adapted to be reconstituted in water, admixing with said dry powdered mix at least about 0.7 weight percent of dry beaten cellulose pulp of Canadian Standard freeness of less than about 500, said dry cellulose pulp being derived by beating cellulose in water to said degree of freeness, removing excess water, and drying the resulting beaten pulp in contact with a particulate edible solid. 2. In a method according to claim 1 wherein said pulp is dried in contact with a particulate edible solid selected from the group consisting of sugar, citric acid, corn syrup solid, and mixtures of two or more of the aforesaid group. 3. In a method according to claim 1 wherein said pulp is dried in contact with sugar. 4. In a method according to claim 1 wherein said pulp is beaten to a Canadian Freeness in the range of 25 to 500. 5. In a method according to claim 1 wherein up to 15 weight percent of said dried pulp is mixed with said dry powdered mix. 6. A method of enhancing the taste and texture of a fruit flavored, dry powdered beverage mix of the type adapted to be reconstituted in water, said method comprising adding to said dry powdered mix 0.7 to 15 weight percent of dry beaten cellulose pulp of Canadian Standard Freeness of less that 500; said dry beaten cellulose pulp being derived by beating cellulose in water to said degree of freeness, removing excess water, and drying the resulting beaten pulp in contact with particulate edible solid. 7. In a method according to claim 6 wherein said particulate edible solid is selected from the group consisting of sugar, citric acid, corn syrup solid, and mixtures of two or more of the aforesaid group. 8. In a method according to claim 6 wherein said beaten pulp is dried in contact with 1 to 5 parts by weight of sugar. 9. In a method according to claim 6 wherein said pulp is beaten to a Canadian Freeness in the range of 25 to 500. 10. In a method according to claim 6 wherein 1.5 to 7 weight percent of said dried beaten pulp is added to said dry powdered mix. 11. In a method according to claim 6 where 3-4 weight percent of said dried beaten pulp is added to said dry powdered mix. This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 798,923, filed May 20, 1977 now abandoned. This application ralates to a novel beverage composition and to a method of manufacturing same. More particularly, the invention is concerned with a dry powdered beverage mix adapted to be reconstituted by the addition of cold water at the time of consumption to provide a fruit flavored beverage, and to agents for use in the preparation of a beverage mix of the aforesaid type, for improving palatability of the reconstituted beverage. A number of dry powdered beverage mixes adapted to be reconstituted in cold water to produce orange flavored juice-like beverages are presently manufactured, available commercially under various trademarks, including START and TANG (both available from General Foods Corporation), BORDEN (available from Borden, Inc.), ANN PAGE (available for A&P Stores), and PANTRY PRIDE (available from Pantry Pride Stores), and described in the patent literature (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,023,106 to James L. Common and U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,063 to Paul O. Carlson and Elmer W. Michael). While such products generally are considered to be of excellent nutritional value and may also offer advantages over fresh or frozen juice in terms of storage and convenience in use, currently available dry powdered juice flavored beverage mixes are considered by many people to not resemble natural juice either in appearance or mouth-feel. (The term "mouth-feel" is a term of art in the food and beverage industry and is intended to signify a perceived sensation on the tongue and other inner surfaces of the mouth pertaining to tactile and/or other physical stimuli such as viscosity, insoluble matter or particle size.) Common comsumer complaints about currently commercially available dry powdered juice flavored beverage mixes (when reconstituted in cold water) include: (1) that the beverages have an excessive sweetness as compared with natural juice, (2) that the reconstituted beverages are generally thin, i.e. lack body, as compared with natural juice, and (3) the lack of pulp in the reconstituted beverages. These differences in appearance, taste and texture as compared with natural fresh squeezed orange juice or reconstituted frozen orange juice have had an adverse effect on the consumer acceptance of such products. U.S. Pat. No. 3,023,104 to Orlando A. Battista teaches the addition of a product of the acid-hydrolysis of cellulose, said product having an average degree of polymerizaton of 15 to 375 anhydroglucose units, to foods such as gravies, sauces, jellies, jams, preserves, molasses, beverages and the like, to provide a thickening agent to such foods. Battista also reports that conventional fibrous cellulose has been used as a bulking agent, but has the "great defect" of an objectionable texture. According to Battista, only the aforesaid acid-hydrolysis products of cellulose are suitable, since, when conventional fibrous cellulose is mixed with a food or food ingredient and the mixture tasted, it is noticeable per se to the taste, is not smooth, has a fibrous mouth-feel when chewed, gives the impression of the presence of an additional insoluble or residual substance and tends to accummulate in the mouth. Battista also notes that the unsatisfactory texture of the fibrous material cannot be remedied no matter how small the fibers are cut. It is thus a principal object of the present invention to provide a novel dry, powdered beverage mix which can readily be reconstituted in cold water, and which possesses a close resemblance in appearance, taste and texture, upon reconstitution in cold water, with natural freshly squeezed orange juice. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method for preparing the foregoing product. These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a dry powdered beverage mix which comprises, in addition to the usual principal ingredients of suger, citric acid, potassium or calcium phosphate, modified food starches, vegetable gums and oils and natural and artificial colors and flavors, 0.7 to 15 weight percent of dry beaten cellulose pulp. Preferably, the beaten cellulose pulp is added to the powdered beverage mix in an amount in the range of 1.5 to 7%, preferably 3.0-4.0% (all percentages by dry weight). The pulp additive is formed by beating an aqueous slurry of cellulose pulp to a relatively high degree of freeness, e.g. as for greaseless or glassine type paper. Preferably the pulp is beaten to a freeness of about 25-500 (Canadian Standard). The beaten cellulose pulp is treated to remove excess water, e.g. as by filtering or centifuging, and the pulp is dried, preferably in contact with a particulate edible solid such as granular or powdered sugar, citric acid, corn syrup solids, or mixtures thereof, and the dried pulp then is dry mixed with the other ingredients to form the powdered beverage mix. Drying the pulp by mixing and drying in contact with particulate edible solids such as sugar has been found to assure ready re-dispersion of the beaten pulp when the beverage mix is reconstituted in cold water. In a preferred embodiment of the invention excess water is removed by filtering, and the resulting filter cake is mixed with and dried in contact with 1 to 5 parts by weight of dry powdered sugar (sucrose or fructose). Commercially available beverage mixes contain sugar as a major ingredient; therefore, it is a simple matter to adjust for any sugar added to dry the pulp. An unusual and interesting feature of the present invention is the ability of beaten cellulose pulp to substantially change the mouth-feel, appearance and texture of the beverage mix upon reconstitution with water. Particularly, in accordance with the present invention, only beaten cellulose pulp having a freeness of less than about 500 (Canadian Standard) has been found to provide the desired results. Moreover, that the addition of beaten cellulose pulp of the aforesaid degree of freeness is responsible for the unique consequences achieved is quite clear, inasmuch as beverage compositions prepared from the same combination of ingredients but substituting finely cut or shreaded unbeaten pulp, or pulp beaten less, failed to provide comparable results. The following examples, illustrative of the principals of the present invention, are based upon the addition of dry cellulose pulp to a powder beverage mix made in accordance with the example in Carlson et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,063. (The latter product is believed to be the product TANG which is available from General Foods Corporation). The basic procedure is to beat cellulose pulp in water until a desired degree of freeness is achieved. The cellulose pulp is then press filtered to remove excess water, or the pulp may be drained on a wire, and the filter cake comprising the beaten pulp is then mixed with an equal weight of dry powdered sugar, and pulp/sugar mixture is air dried to form a dry cake mixture. The resulting dried cake mixture is then crushed to a powder (mesh size 100), and the resulting dry powder mixture is dry mixed with additional sugar, and the other ingredients in accordance with the teachings of the Example of Carlson et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,063, supra. The resulting mix is then reconstituted in cold water, stirred for 30 seconds, and the resulting reconstituted beverage submitted to a taste panel for double blind test tasting. (A) Normal composition--A dry beverage mix was prepared following the Example of Carlson et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,063. Four teaspoons of the resulting dry beverage mix were mixed with 8 ounces of cold water, and the resulting mixture was stirred for 30 seconds. (B) Finely cut pulp--Finely cut cellulose pulp (mesh size 100) is intimately mixed with dry beverage mix (A) to form a mixture containing 3.5 weight percent pulp. Four teaspoons of the resulting mixture are added to 8 ounces of water. Stir for 30 seconds as before. (C) Unbeaten pulp--Shreaded unbeaten cellulose pulp is intimately mixed with dry beverage mix (A) to form a mixture containing 3.5 weight percent pulp. Four teaspoons of the resulting mixture are added to 8 ounces of water. Stir for 30 seconds as before. (D) Beaten cellulose pulp--Step 1: Prepare beaten cellulose pulp by mixing 60 grams of cellulose pulp in 1000 gm. of water. Beat the pulp to a freeness of about 100 (Canadian Standard freeness). Press filter the beaten pulp to express excess water, and then mix the resulting filter cake with 240 grams of dried sucrose. Allow the pulp/sucrose mixture to air dry at room temperature. Grind the resulting dried mixture of pulp and sucrose to break up clumps, and put the mixture aside. Step 2: Prepare a 2000 gram batch of dry beverage mix in accordance with the Example of U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,063, supra, but with the following change: Reduce the amount of granulated sugar in the mix by 240 grams. Dry mix the resulting beverage mix with the beaten cellulose/sucrose from Step 1 to form a mixture containing approximately 3 weight percent pulp. 4 teaspoons of the resulting mixture from Step 2 are added to 8 ounces of cold water. Stir for 30 seconds. Results: All beverages had approximately the same orange color. The unmodified beverage drink had a candy-like, sweet orange flavor and an orange aroma, a thin body and no hint of pulp. The beverage drinks modified by the addition of finely cut- or shreaded-unbeaten pulp had candy-like, orange flavor and orange aroma, and visual appearance resembling the presence of pulp. However, the resulting beverages were judged relatively thin as compared with fresh squeezed juice, and as having a gritty taste. All panelists preferred the unmodified product over that modified by the addition of finely cut- or shreaded-unbeaten pulp. The beverage drink modified by the addition of beaten pulp had a sweet orange flavor and aroma. This product also had a visual appearance resembling the presence of uulp. The cellulose pulp fibers appeared suspended in the beverage, and the fibers had a slight orange color and orange taste, and a texture resembling that of natural orange juice pulp. All taste testers preferred the beverage containing the beaten cellulose pulp to the unmodified product as most closely resembling freshly squeezed natural orange juice. The purpose of this example is to show how taste and texture of the reconstituted dry beverage mix varies with the amount of beaten cellulose pulp included in the dry mixture. The following dry powdered mixtures were prepared following the general procedure of Example 1(c) (all weights by net dry weight): 0.7 gm. beaten cellulose in 100 gm. dry powdered mix. 3.5 gm. beaten cellulose in 100 gm. dry powdered mix. 15 gm. beaten cellulose in 100 gm. dry powdered mix. Each mixture was reconstituted in cold water as before, and subjected to double blind testing. Results: Increasing the amount of beaten cellulose in the dry powdered mix improves the taste and texture of the reconstituted beverage. Adding as little as about 0.7 wt.% of beaten cellulose (dry weight) to the dry mixture improves the taste and texture of the reconstituted beverage. Addition of about 15 wt.% of beaten cellulose (dry weight) renders the reconstituted beverage excessively thick for most panelists' tastes. As appears clearly from the foregoing, adding beaten cellulose pulp of freeness of less than about 500 (Candian Standard) to dry fruit flavored beverage mixes offers a novel dry fruit flavored beverage mix which, when reconstituted in cold water, has a flavor and texture resembling freshly squeezed orange juice. Since certain changes may be made in the above process and products without departing from the scope of the invention herein involved, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description shall be interpreted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Billy Graham film ‘My Hope’ to air To the editor: I’m writing this to let everyone know about the Billy Graham film My Hope to be shown on Monday, November 7 on his 95th birthday, probably his last sermon, as he is in bad health. It will be on many channels. Check your local listings, and go online for literature for your pastor to announce in church. CDs are available also. They are encouraging people to have friends and neighbors come to their hmes to listen and pray together. Are you a newspaper subscriber but you don't have a Digital Access account yet? https://secure.forumcomm.com/?publisher_ID=40&event=subscriber/lookup. You will need your subscription account number and phone number. Not sure if you have an account? Email us at firstname.lastname@example.org and we can help you.

Geographic Information & Related Structures Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Asia |number of floors (above ground)||72| Currently there is no information available about persons or companies having participated in this project. Relevant Web Sites There currently are no relevant websites listed. There is no relevant literature listed in the database.

September 14, 2014 4:36 pm Fascinating charts. You can move the line over the chart to see how effective different contraceptives are over a period of time. Be wary of the stats for Fertility Awareness Methods — they tend to have no idea where to look for the true stats; this chart likely includes the use of condoms during the fertile phase. September 12, 2014 8:37 pm LOVE IS LIFE* Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines The following pastoral letter was issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines last October 7, 1990. A few months before that, after the Philippine government requested a dialogue, the bishops released a number of guidelines considered as “non-negotiables” in the issue. These guidelines are reproduced here after the pastoral letter. All human life has its basic value and dignity for “God created man in the image of himself… male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). Added dignity and value to human life are given by God becoming man in Jesus Christ, for his mission of salvation in the service of life. As “Word of life” (1 Jn 1:1), “light of life” (Jn 8:12), and “living bread of life” (Jn 6:35, 51-66), Jesus came “so that we might have life, and have it in its fullness” (Jn 10:10). He sent us the Holy Spirit who “gives life” (2 Cor 3:6). At the climax of his life, Christ, in fulfillment of the Father’s will, gave himself up to death “but by rising from the dead, he destroyed death and restored life” (Euch. Prayer Iv). Through his Passion, Death and Resurrection, Christ has become for us “the resurrection and the life” (Jn 11:25). The basic value behind this service to life is that God alone is the ultimate Lord and Master of life. Since life comes from and is sustained by God, it belongs to Him. We are then stewards of life, called by our faith to respect and care for our own lives and the lives of others. Our faith response, therefore, to life is not just to refrain from killing, but of promoting, protecting, and enhancing the “quality of life.” “God, the Lord of life has entrusted to man the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception” (GS, no. 51). Seventeen years ago, in the name of protecting life, we, your Bishops, conveyed to you in a Pastoral Letter our deep anguish over an expression of “the mystery of evil …” (seeking) to infect not merely the hearts of men, but even the institutions and structures that men establish.” Much of what we said in the Pastoral Letter remains valid. A number of its reflections have acquired more clarity and sharpness, particularly in two areas, namely: the common recognition of the seriousness and complexity of the population problem, and the common obligation of all sectors of society to understand well and resolve this problem. Despite the many differences in principles and perceptions as to how the problem might be solved, we gratefully note the many concrete efforts of government and non-government agencies towards this end. It was to assist in and search for solutions that we issued the “Guiding Principles on Population Control” last July 10, 1990. Significant developments have taken place since the issuance of those guidelines, one worth mentioning is the dialogue that took place between the representatives of the government and of our Conference last August 14, 1990, and the publication of a joint statement of the dialogue members. Nevertheless, a need for further critical evaluation has been felt, in view of repeated appeals from many of you for clearer guidance on the Population Control Program of the present government, as well as those of some non-government organizations. It is in response to your appeals that we issue this Pastoral Letter. We shall focus on the current population control program, as you requested. Then we shall dwell on the moral and pastoral problems created by the program. Since some problems and issues are specific to a sector, we shall address the various sectors by turn. Furthermore we shall not merely make statements, but also raise questions. By so doing, we hope that you and your pastors will enter into a dialogue that will be mutually enriching in our understanding and convictions regarding the human and gospel values involved in the issue of population control. We shall first present here a summation of our view of the population control program primarily of the present government, but these views shall also apply to some non-government organizations affiliated with foreign planned parenthood organizations. The London-based IPPF was founded by Margaret Sanger in 1952 to provide an international link for planned parenthood activities, and is the largest NGO promoting contraception and abortion (Cf. Menstrual Regulation, IPPF, London, 1977, pp. 7-10) as means of population control worldwide, and provides assistance on how to circumvent laws prohibiting abortions (Cf. Donald P. Warwick, Bitter Pills: Population Policies and Their Implementation in Eight Developing Countries, Cambridge University Press, London, 1982, p. 64). It also promotes adolescent sex and the view that 10-year-old children have rights of access to contraception, sterlization, and abortion (Cf. Adolescent Fertility, IPPF, London, 1983, pp. 31-41). The Philippine affiliate is the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP). After this, we shall present our overall stance on the population control question in the present context. Our view: In its overall thrust, the present program continues the draconian Marcos program and intensifies it. Its thrust is to lead our nation to zero population growth, through the widespread acceptance of contraception technology. This thrust is not peculiar to the Philippine program. It is the thrust of all population control programs worldwide, promoted by foreign governments and a number of international NGOs. Our stance: By the very nature of Her mission, the Church can never associate Herself with such anti-natal programs, not even to give a hint of approval to any form of association with it. In 1970 the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) accepted membership in the Board of Commissioners of POPCOM, an event that was exploited by Government. Our presence was used to give a semblance of a blessing upon the contraceptive policy of the government. Efforts to associate significant Church figures and institutions with the popular control program continues. For instance, some Catholic research institutes are in the listing of Population Projects, though the research topics are sometimes unrelated to family planning activities. This deceives people into thinking that these Church institutions and their officials fully approve and promote the population control program. Let us turn to the various moral and pastoral problems arising from the program. Allow us to relate these problems to the specific groups directly affected. A) WE FIRST TURN TO YOU, OUR CHRISTIAN PARENTS AND SPOUSES, AND IN PARTICULAR THOSE AMONG YOU WHO ARE UNDERPRIVILEGED, who live a hand-to-mouth existence. You are the at the forefront of our concerns. The Church praises those couples who are able to responsibly raise large families. We are aware of the love you bear for your children, and of the sacrifices that weigh on you as you strive to raise them properly. We recognize that your first need is for assistance to improve your situation, so that your decisions can be free of intolerable economic burdens. In these temporal matters, assistance in your material needs such as health, nutrition, livelihood, etc. is primarily the responsibility of government. We, your Bishops, also try to assist you through the services of our Church collaborators in the various Commissions: on Social Action, Health, Family Life, etc. In the national population control program the regulation of births is treated as merely transfer and use of contraceptive technology. However, this results in disregard of values of parents and inevitably leads to coercion and violation of conscience. For example, we know of many young couples who were talked into having themselves sterilized after two children. When they came to regret it, it was too late to reverse their decision. They were so vulnerable. Precisely because in the regulation of births, a world of values is involved, the Church as the pastoral obligation to see to it that in this matter, the value of human life is not only preserved, but above all held in high esteem. The Church collaborators who assist you in this matter are Christian parents. They may sometimes be physicians, nurses or paramedical personnel. However, they assist you appropriately as parents since pregnancy is not an illness. It is not in itself a health problem. First and foremost, pregnancy is valuing and caring, caring for new human life. This valuing expertise belongs primarily to parents and spouses. The regulation of births involves skills. But our Church collaborators, themselves married couples, do not regard this matter as a mere transfer of skills. What they will share with you comes from their own experience, and in this sharing there will come an enrichment in parenting. It is alien to their outlook to consider the child as no more than a consumer. The child is experienced as a source of joy and not merely a burden. This is why the base for their ministry is the home, not a clinic. The proper setting for coming to understand Christian parenting is the home. Due to your economic difficulties, you may be constrained to have a small family. Though we understand your plight, we your Bishops, counsel you to keep that decision open, and strive in your married love to apply the virtues of prudence and generosity. Look upon your children as challenges. Even in the midst of much self sacrifice, is it not true that they are a source of joy? Experience the rewards that come from generosity in self sacrifice. A Different way of Regulating Births For the sake of fairness, justice and love, the way of regulating births that our Christian couples follow requires the participation of both husband and wife, both in decision making and in living out the consequences of those decisions. Throughout the process husband and wife together must be involved, as in all aspects of married life. The regulation of birth should be a joint undertaking. The birth regulation method acceptable to Christians follows the natural processes of the human body, without unduly interfering, without polluting the human body with chemicals and other substances, or mutilating healthy God-given organs. Thus it leads to a discovery of the beauty of the body that God made, of the respect it deserves, and leads to an experience of growth in authentic love between husband and wife. There are already many couples who are living this way of life. They are the principal formators in our formation programs. Surprisingly, they are to be found in squatter areas like your own, in settlements adjoining wharves, and in remote barangays. When offered contraceptives or sterilization, they feel insulted. What this is telling them is that men cannot learn to control themselves, or that wives are unable to encourage their husbands to grow in their manhood. Experiencing God in Marriage and Parenting It is said that when seeking ways of regulating births, only 5% of you consult God. In the face of this unfortunate fact, we your pastors have been remiss: how few are there among you whom we have reached. There have been some couples eager to share their expertise and values on birth regulation with others. They did not receive adequate support from their priests. We did not give them due attention, believing then this ministry consisted merely of imparting a technique best left to married couples. Only recently have we discovered how deep your yearning is for God to be present in your married lives. But we did not know then how to help you discover God’s presence and activity in your mission of Christian parenting. Afflicted with doubts about alternatives to contraceptive technology, we abandoned you to your confused and lonely consciences with a lame excuse: follow what your conscience tells you.” How little we realized that it was our consciences that needed to be formed first. A greater concern would have led us to discover that religious hunger in you. A Program Respecting the Dignity of Man While designing a program that respects the dignity of couples , we were chastened by an early experience of mounting a program of Responsible Parenthood that fail the “Responsible Parenthood Council.” We were constrained by fund donors to mount a crash program, to produce immediate and mass results in the regulation of births. We discovered that such a program cannot succeed unless people are manipulated and deceived. And this we do not want to do to you. We believe that it is derogatory for man to manipulate his body and its healthy organs, through chemicals or surgery. We believe that man can be trusted to achieve self-mastery, no matter how lowly his condition might be. Furthermore, we believe that the indicator for success is the development of couples in their relationship, and an appreciation of human life however helpless. Our vision should not be narrowed down exclusively to reduction of fertility rates. Such an obsession reveals an abnormal paranoia about our fellow human beings. We do not assist in drawing up impersonal blueprints with their targets or indicators, their schedules and time frames which will in effect dictate how many children married couples must have. We ought not mix our activities with those of the contraceptive programs. We reject the cafeteria approach. We should examine and discover in prayer the regulation of births in the context of an overall family life program. Our Church collaborators assist couples freely, and with joy. And we look forward to the day when many if you, in turn, will be moved to share with others, your own experience of what it means to be united in the Lord through your marriage. B) NEXT, WE ADDRESS THOSE OF YOU, IN PARTICULAR, WHO RAVE GIVEN YOURSELVES TO PUBLIC SERVICE: OUR GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL. We know that some of you are moved by a sincere desire to be of service to our people, and strive to do your best in your service while seeking to grow in your life of faith. But we are very much aware, too, of the conflict in conscience that at times, arises from the type of service expected of you. We refer, for instance, to health workers who are asked to dispense contraceptives, or to refer clients to sterilization clinics. We have met many of you who are caught in such situations. The Laity Called to be Evangelizers: Here the intervention of the Church is usually questioned, and the issue of the distinction between roles of the Church and State are raised. The true issue here, our dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is the conflict between your Christian conscience and the questionable form of service you are asked to render. You are not a third party, made an object of dispute between the Church and the State. As members of the Church, you are Church, and as Church you partake of the mission of the total Church to evangelize. It is not only priests and Bishops who are Church. You too, laypersons, by virtue of your very Baptism, are called upon to give witness to the religious convictions that a well-formed conscience holds. To dispense contraceptives and to refer to sterilization clinics, is to already give counter witness to one’s religious convictions about the evil of contraceptives, sterilization and abortion. To advocate these as a matter of principle is even more serious. The government and those NGOs associated with international planned parenthood institutions claim that they merely make available a range of alternatives in methods. As we listen to the continuing propaganda being mounted in the media for contraceptive technology, can we in all honesty say that the government is merely making the full range of methods available? Or is not the government aggressively marketing contraceptives, sterilization, IUDs etc.? In the dialogue on this issue between panelists of the Church and government, the government pledged to respect the consciences of government personnel and not to impose any penalties on THOSE who exercise their freedom of conscience such as privation of position or of employment, or of loss of qualification for promotion or privileges and benefits, withdrawal of tax benefits, etc. This right to freedom of conscience equally belongs to all, from top officials to low level personnel, directors of hospitals, rural health personnel, barangay supply point officers, etc. Thus, following the government policy of decentralization, a Regional Health Officer must assume responsibility in conscience of determining what the priority health services of his region are. If he deems Family Planning Programs to be diverting attention and fluids from more urgent needs of health care, he may, in freedom forego such programs. The same holds true in the requisition of needed medicines that merit priority over supplies of contraceptive products. C) TO YOU, MEDICAL AND PARAMEDICAL PRACTITIONERS IN PRIVATE PRACTICE: We know that to many of you, involvement in the art of healing is seen not merely as a career livelihood, or profession, but as a mission and a vocation to help man regain and maintain his wholeness. We encourage you to be true to your commitment to be truly healers. Today, new products of reproductive technology are being introduced into healthy human reproductive systems. We urge you to ponder upon the responsibility of physicians and medical groups, and not government personnel alone, to be involved in evaluating the risks to health posed by these products. Your commitment to health is not merely to your individual patients, but to our people at large. Insist on the highest standards of medical practice: that where products of contraceptive technology are under a cloud as to their safety for the life and health of fetus and mother, you must be honest in your evaluation, and be ever more uncompromisingly for life. Such highly questionable products for instance, are the IUDs, the mini-pills, injectable contraceptives, etc. In an age where your service is vulnerable to the comipting power of subsidies, your courage in rejecting such bribes will be a source of strength to your brother and sister physicians and nurses IN HOSPITALS where services for direct abortion or contraceptive sterilization are offered, Catholic physicians, nurses and medical attendants should notify the Hospital in writing, of their conscientious refusal to directly participate in such procedures. When compelled to do so, they should protest to the administrator or to competent superiors, this violation of conscience, as an act of injustice. Source: CPCB, Moral Norms for Catholic Hospitals and Catholics in Health Services (St. Paul Publications, 1974). Is massive family planning truly a “health issue” as presented? The Population Control Program in the past has been pursued under the names of “population control,”family planning,” “responsible parenthood.” Today, it is being presented as primarily a Health Program: “Health is the issue.” Its focus is on infant and maternal morbidity and mortality which revolves around pregnancy. The health workers involved in family planning activities are instructed not to focus on fertility reduction although the program “can contribute to curbing population growth.” The proper regulation of births can facilitate the management of complications that create risks to safety and health in pregnancy. What create health problems are the complications and not the pregnancy itself. Given health and nutrition, child bearing and child care are not burdens in themselves. Motherhood, for all the sacrifices it calls for, is a gift of God and is the natural and spontaneous aspiration of women untainted by the contraceptive outlook. The challenge to our medical personnel is to develop competence in managing pregnancy, not in diminishing it per se. What raises questions in our minds are the “outcomes” of the “health-oriented” massive family planning programs. There are no indicators given to measure gains in improved “health and other socioeconomic status.” Instead, the entirety of the “outcome” is measured in terms of “contraceptive prevalence” and fertility reduction.” Overall, the fertility rate is to be reduced from 3.90 children to 3.38 per woman. In its overall goals and strategies, the Philippine Family Planning Program (PFPP) was, in fact, not an original design of the Philippines. In 1985 the World Bank presented such a program to be implemented in Bangladesh. The present PFPP carries many of the same features of the Bangladesh program. The Bangladesh program was also a five year program. The Department of Health was also the lead agency in Family Planning activities. The same selected maternal-child care interventions were introduced oral rehydration, immunization, and basic child care measures. The intent was to increase contraceptive prevalence rates. This was also sought mainly through sterilization. The integration of Family Planning into health services led to the neglect of basic health care. It made the establishment of a Primary Health Care system more costly. It was discovered that the selected maternal-child care interventions were sufficient to achieve the fertility goals. Health personnel, as many had also observed in the Marcos program, were torn between health services and family planning activities. Donors, especially foreign institutions, were applying pressure to intensify the recruitment of family planning users. Much of the budget for health services was absorbed by population control. The integration of family planning into health services leads to the deterioration of health services. The basic issue confronting health personnel involved in family planning is this: What should take precedence, curing a sick child or preventing the birth of a brother or sister? Health care is a basic right of THOSE now alive. This was the protest of UNICEF. D) TO OUR POLICY MAKERS. Allow us to share a few reflections with you, upon whose hands rests the fate of our people. You, no less than your other brothers and sisters in Christ, have the mission of proclaiming, without imposing, your religious convictions by your manner of life. This must be reflected in the decision you make for the public good. Underlying many of the major policies and decisions for development of our people is this basic choice: which takes priority–man? Or money? In the reality of international relations, huge loans come only with a policy of population reduction. To place one’s hopes on material resources above all, is to be led to a less lessening of the sense of value of human life. The Holy See has repeatedly called attention to the injustice of imposing population reduction as a condition for loans for development. But behind all population control programs is a worldwide drive for zero growth, through the prevalence of contraceptive technology. The Holy See has finally come to designate this drive as “contraceptive imperialism.” E) TO OUR LEGISLATORS we raise the question: what is the competence of the legislative branch of government in reviewing major policies formulated by the Executive branch? Let us consider the policy of population control, for instance. Though explicitly rejected as a proposed Constitution mandate in 1987, a policy has been shaped to produce a program that will work for the achievement of the goal of zero population growth by the year 2010–through the terms of four successive Presidents. A structure with personnel and financing is created to ensure the continuation of the policy. The Legislature has been effectively bypassed. Thus, the reasons for the vote three years ago deleting the mandate of the State to set population targets has been rendered irrelevant. W urge you to study the proceedings of the Constitutional Commission of 1986 on this matter even before delving into emotionally laden discussions on growth reduction. Still extant are anti-life laws and department directives that patently go against the spirit of Article XV of the 1987 Constitution, on Family Rights. These provisions await action from you, our Christian legislators. We invite you to reflect, and listen to what is being said in the innermost recesses of your conscience. It is your constituents who are concerned, and you as well are answerable to God for them. F) A FEW WORDS TO OUR LOCAL EXECUTIVES: Governors and their Board members, Mayors and their Councilors: You are being asked by the government and entreated by planned parenthood NGOs to allocate funds for contraceptive and abortifacient family planning activities. The power to determine priorities, however, in looking to the welfare of your constituents is yours. In the exercise of your powers, what might be a sure guide? We suggest: our Constitution. The Constitution proves us with a basic guide in matters of public welfare. And that is, to choose always in favor of Life, to promote it, safeguard it. THOSE who are now alive merit prior attention over THOSE who are not yet. Attend to the sick, the homeless, the unemployed, the undernourished. Use your funds for these, first, before you use them to prevent the coming of life to others. Every Article in the basic law favors Life, and so must statutes, administrative laws and all practical directives. In the exercise of priorities, your constituents look to you for an example of men of wisdom, right reason, and a moral conscience. G) TO OUR DEMOGRAPHERS, we say: Transparency However tenuous population projections are, demography provides a rule of thumb for planning for the future. Sometimes, major decisions are based on your “findings,” like the expenditure of more than 5 billion pesos on the family planning program. Perhaps the subjection of your “findings” to public discussion might have led to some needed correction of a significant element in the decisions concerning the program. In 1983 a high-scenario population projection of 62 million people by the year 1990 was considered unattainable. However the 1990 Census reveals an actual population of only 60.5 million, 2 million short of the high scenario estimate. The situation is typical of alarmist scenarious set up to justify intensified population control programs. The fertility drop expected to be attained by 1994 in the 1983 projection has already been achieved in 1990 indicating that a definite trend of fertility decline has set-in. This trend would make the 5.265 billion-peso program not only unnecessary but above all wasteful. Two questions arise: Firstly, for what purpose will the 5.265 billion pesos be spent? Its goal will have already been achieved even at the start of the program. Secondly, since the decline of population growth has been more rapid than expected is not the UNFPA survey of Asian countries nearer the truth when it predicted that “under the 1987-1992 development plan, the population program will achieve a net reproduction rate of one by the year 2000?” Our population is declining faster than is publicly acknowledged. The government’s intensified program will be pushing our fertility reduction to the edge of irreversibility. When this comes to pass, on whose conscience will this crime fall? H) TO OUR PRIESTS, OUR FELLOW PASTORS We are one with you in your concern for families who are in dire economic circumstances. Like you, we are anguished over how to assist them. It is a temptation to ease our consciences by giving them pills, IUDs and condoms, or refer them to sterilization clinics. This may give a semblance of offering them relief from their hardships. But that would be false compassion. Over the twenty years of its existence, the population control program has failed to resolve the poverty level of our people. On the other hand, despite the acclaimed “weakening” of the population control program over the past years, the President announced in the State of the Nation address, the reduction of the poverty level of our people. The Church does have programs that help couples moderate their fertility. But she does not regard people as a collectivity. Our indicator of success is not fertility reduction per se, but a growing appreciation of children as sources of joy, as incentives to growth in virtue, and the development of the relationships of spouses and parents. Of greater urgency in assisting the underprivileged than the distribution of pills, condoms, etc. is the provision of opportunities for improving their situation and for them to gain self reliance. In this manner they will not be constrained in their choices, but may experience the freedom to opt for a large family. To be able to responsibly welcome an added child is to worship the God who made them co-creators of life. The bias of the Christian is always a pro-life bias. This is the proclamation of the good news about man. Provide the Alternative to Contraceptive Technology We must support THOSE zealous couples who yearn to provide other couples with a human alternative to the inhuman contraceptive technology in the regulation of births. We must institutionalize in our parishes the provision of Natural Family Planning, but always in the context of a total Family Life Apostolate. We must take to heart the intuition of Pope John Paul II that the future of evangelization will depend to a large extent on the family as the church in the home. This may lead us to review our priorities in our vision of pastoral ministry. There have been theological efforts to make distinctions between contraception, sterilization and abortion. Some have endeavored to assign degrees of fault to each, according to the distinctions. All of these look at the methods of regulating births from the point of view of individual practice, what is called individual morality. Heretofore, Church documents spoke of contraceptive technology also from this perspective. And this a valid perspective. But there is another dimension to contraceptive technology which would not be recognized until after a wide and prolonged spread of its influence has been observed and studied. That other dimension is the logical structure, the inner dynamism of contraceptive technology. This is what has finally emerged in our times. The contraceptive culture created by this technology. It is understandable for someone to be unwittingly caught in the culture and espouse it while remaining in good faith. But his activities will be promoting its counter values. Two major elements characterize this culture. One is the drive for population deceleration. The other is the entry of contraceptive technology into the lifestyle of the people. In such a culture, a) an anti-life mentality is fostered, and b) a rupture in marital life occurs by the separation of the conjugal act and the giving of life. Let us dwell on each of these by turn. Let us take a current pastoral phenomenon to illustrate how this has taken hold of our young. Many if you have no doubt noted in the course of your pastoral ministry, how, among engaged couples, there is a growing number of THOSE who plan to raise only two children in the course of their entire married lives. This phenomenon occurs not merely among the underprivileged, but even among the privileged. Clearly, it is not dire economic circumstances which account for this phenomenon. Is it not intriguing how couples of widely different backgrounds, total strangers to one another, can come to the same magic number of two children only for their family size, and that for the entirety of their married lives? This phenomenon is not peculiar to this country. It has become a worldwide phenomenon whose message is zero population growth. The message becomes even more pointed when the main method used is sterilization, rendering the decision irrevocable. Let us pause and reflect on what our pastoral ministry tells us: have we sufficiently reflected on the extent of the drive for sterilization after two children? And how much anguish in conscience takes its toll on mothers and fathers who awaken to the meaning of what had been done to the source of life that God had given them? You have no doubt become aware through your ministry, of the persistence of reports about abortion. That is the most radical expression of the rejection of life. In the contraceptive culture, there is one god who lords it over all: the god of efficiency. And it directs the flow of choices from the less to the more efficient. The philosophical distinction between contraception and sterilization, and between these and abortion, are now in reality irrelevant. When contraceptives are introduced on a mass scale, sterilization and abortion inevitably follow. We were deceived by the original policy which professed to exclude sterilization and abortion. All the population control programs worldwide have been very instructive in this regard. It is naive to believe that a population control program can be restricted to only contraceptives. It is illusory as well to believe that abortion can be stopped merely by declaring it illegal. Abortions are already a fact. By promoting a contraceptive culture the government program subverts the Constitutional mandate to value life. Research in contraceptive technology bears out the inner linkages between contraceptives, sterilization and abortion. Among the new contraceptive products, the same pill can act as contraceptive, or as sterilizing agent, or as an abortifacient by turns. Pastorally, the conceptual distinctions are now irrelevant. You cannot stop the entry of sterilization and abortion while you promote contraception. There is no such a thing as a “moderate program of population control,” neither in its goal nor in its methods. These programs can be made to sound as such and promoted to be such by deception and manipulation. They are anti-developmental. “Systematic campaigns against birth, launched by governments are anti-developmental.” Giving Life by Exchanging Love Today, in a prevailing contraceptive culture, we see the consequences of the rupture between the giving of love through the sexual act and the giving of life. Once this rupture has taken root in the minds and hearts of people, then there emerges various forms of disorder in the sexual mores of a people. Homosexual unions gain acceptance as a form of sexual union, marked with sterility. Premarital sex, too, seen apart from life in a fruitful home, becomes justifiable in the name of “1ove.” In these circumstances, what was meant by God to be a mutual expression of love is reduced to a form of masturbation between spouses. On the other hand, there emerges the technological drive to beget human life apart from the life of affection between spouses: in the petri dish, or through insemination from a sperm bank. And then there are experiments in cloning human beings. These are the macro dimensions of the contraceptive campaigns. The pill, or the IUD, or the condom, may be small objects in themselves. But they are symbolic of the destructive force that surpasses the damage wrought by all the violence around us. The intelligence behind the world-wide drive surpasses human intelligence. The father of lies purports to offer fruit from the Tree Life. And in the guise of an angel of light, he claims to aim at the\improvement of the quality of life. Let us bear in mind that all love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. … God is Love” (Jn 4:7-8). Strictly speaking, therefore, Christian couples do not “make” love; rather, they exchange between themselves in a most intimate way the love that they have each received from Cod. Why this drive against life? The rejection of life is really the rejection of wanting to care, to love. This link between Life and Love is traceable to Cod, from whom all life comes. And because God has no need for our lives, we can only explain our existence now as a superabundance of love that overflows and spills over into our creation. It is truly against the God who is Love that the drive against Life is aimed. Life can be explained only by Love, from which it came, and towards which it is journeying. In the worldwide drive against births, is the slow crippling of the capacity and the will to love. We need to wash our eyes anew, to see with a new vision, this wonder of God’s creation and the mystery of our existence. Then, perhaps, with His grace, we shall gain a glimmer of the Love that God must be, and of what it must mean when we say that God is Love. We your Bishops are solicitous of your fundamental desire to remain faithful to Jesus and to remain in his love. Shortly before he suffered, the Lord told his disciples: If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love” (Jn 15:10). Together with you we contemplate the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are” (cf. 1 Jn 3). As Christian pastors, we strive as well to sincerely be generous, ready to “go through the pain of giving birth to you all over again, until Christ is formed in you” (Gal 4:19). For the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Leonardo Z. Legaspi, OP President Manila, 7 October 1990 An excommunication is attached to deliberately induced abortions. This applies to THOSE directly responsible for creating the decision, and implementing the decision to induce abortion In practice, this will involve: the mother of the foetus, her advisers, the surgeon, and those whose cooperation was indispensable for the abortion to take place. Nurses and other assistants generally do not incur this penalty. OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE OF THE PHILIPPINES ON POPULATION CONTROL IN DISCUSSION of matters regarding population control, it is the Pope and the Bishops alone that give the official, authoritative Catholic moral teaching regarding the principles involved. We set forth in the following paragraphs the guiding principles approved by the CBCP for the guidance of the Catholic faithful in the Philippines. 1. Respect should be given to the sacredness of human life in all its stages. 2. Marriage and the marital act have two aspects: the unitive and procreative. These two aspects are never to be separated through man’s initiative. Though it is not forbidden for couples to engage in the marital act during infertile periods. 3. Directly willed abortion, the use of abortifacients, sterilization and contraception are wrong in themselves. They are wrong not because the Church forbids them; the Church forbids them because they are morally wrong. 4. The Church teaches the need for responsible parenthood. This means among other things, that couples should bring into the world generously the children whom they can raise up as good human beings, but they should seek to bring into the world only THOSE that they can raise up as good human beings. 5. The Church advocates Natural Family Planning as the only morally acceptable way of practicing responsible procreation. 6. The Church rejects the contraceptive mentality, i.e., the attitude that selfishly avoids the procreation of offspring solely because the couples do not want to bear the responsibility that comes with having a child. It is wrong to use even Natural Family Planning methods in pursuit of such a contraceptive mentality. 7. The Church teaches that the decision on the number of children lies solely on the parents. No one can make the decision for them. But the parents are to make their decision responsibly, that is, with a sense of their responsibility to each other, to their children already born, to their children still to be born, to society, and to God. 8. Hence the Church is against any coercion exercised on couples to pressure or force them to limit or increase the number of their children. It is also against any coercion exercised on any other person involved in helping in the regulation of birth. 9. The increase or decrease of population growth does not by itself spell development or under-development. The Church does not forbid the advocacy of the acceleration or deceleration of our population growth, according to circumstances, provided this is achieved within the parameters of freedom of conscience, the responsible decision of couples, and the principles of sexual and family morality. It should be kept in mind that injustice in society is a more fundamental cause of poverty in our country. 10. Because the Church regards artificial contraception as wrong in itself, the Church will object to their dissemination and use. Further, Church personnel and institutions cannot be expected to cooperate with the dissemination and use of contraceptives. 11. The Church acknowledges religious freedom and freedom of conscience. But she has the duty to announce and promote the moral law regarding the regulation of population. IN CONCLUSION, “there are no ‘value free’ methods of family planning. Research scientists, medical personnel, government officials and welfare agents should reflect seriously on the consequences of their activities, on the assumptions they hold, and on the goals they pursue in family planning.” (Submission of the Holy See to the WHO-sponsored International Conference on the Ethics and Values of Family Planning held in Bangkok in June 1988.) Tagaytay City, 10 July 1990 January 4, 2013 1:42 pm While the United States government seems determined to provide contraceptives for free, France, where contraceptives have been free, are ready to outlaw some contraceptives because of their connection with strokes. September 12, 2014 9:11 pm On March 25 of this year (2014), Bishop Conley of Lincoln, NE. issued a powerful call to Catholics to embrace the Church’s teaching on contraception. Here it is: The Language of Love A letter to the Catholic families and healthcare providers of the Diocese of Lincoln Most Reverend James D. Conley, STL Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Twenty years ago, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta stood before the President of the United States, before senators and congressmen, before justices of the United States Supreme Court. She spoke about her work among the world’s poor. She spoke about justice and compassion. Most importantly, she spoke about love. “Love,” she told them, “has to hurt. I must be willing to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.” Sacrifice is the language of love. Love is spoken in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who poured out his life for us on the cross. Love is spoken in the sacrifice of the Christian life, sharing in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. And love is spoken in the sacrifice of parents, and pastors, and friends. We live in a world short on love. Today, love is too often understood as romantic sentimentality rather than unbreakable commitment. But sentimentality is unsatisfying. Material things, and comfort, and pleasure bring only fleeting happiness. The truth is that we are all searching for real love, because we are all searching for meaning. Love—real love—is about sacrifice, and redemption, and hope. Real love is at the heart of a rich, full life. We are made for real love. And all that we do—in our lives, our careers, and our families, especially—should be rooted in our capacity for real, difficult, unfailing love. But today, in a world short on love, we’re left without peace, and without joy. In my priesthood, I have stood in front of abortion clinics to offer help to women experiencing unwanted pregnancies; I have prayed with the neglected elderly; and I have buried young victims of violence. I have seen the isolation, the injustice, and the sadness that comes from a world short on love. Mother Teresa believed, as do I, that much of the world’s unhappiness and injustice begins with a disregard for the miracle of life created in the womb of mothers. Today, our culture rejects love when it rejects the gift of new life, through the use of contraception Mother Teresa said that, “in destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife…destroys the gift of love.” Husbands and wives are made to freely offer themselves as gifts to one another in friendship, and to share in the life-giving love of God. He created marriage to be unifying and procreative. To join husband and wife inseparably in the mission of love, and to bring forth from that love something new. Contraception robs the freedom for those possibilities. God made us to love and to be loved. He made us to delight in the power of sexual love to bring forth new human beings, children of God, created with immortal souls. Our Church has always taught that rejecting the gift of children erodes the love between husband and wife: it distorts the unitive and procreative nature of marriage. The use of contraception gravely and seriously disrupts the sacrificial, holy, and loving meaning of marriage itself. The Church continues to call Catholic couples to unity and procreativity. Marriage is a call to greatness—to loving as God loves—freely, creatively, and generously. God himself is a community of love—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christian marriage is an invitation to imitate, and to know, and to share in the joyful freedom of God’s love, an echo of the Holy Trinity. In 1991, my predecessor, Bishop Glennon P. Flavin, wrote that “there can be no true happiness in your lives unless God is very much a part of your marriage covenant. To expect to find happiness in sin is to look for good in evil…. To keep God in your married life, to trust in his wisdom and love, and to obey his laws…will deepen your love for each other and will bring to you that inner peace of mind and heart which is the reward of a good conscience.” God is present in every marriage, and present during every marital embrace. He created sexuality so that males and females could mirror the Trinity: forming, in their sexual union, the life-long bonds of family. God chose to make spouses cooperators with him in creating new human lives, destined for eternity. Those who use contraception diminish their power to unite and they give up the opportunity to cooperate with God in the creation of life. As Bishop of Lincoln, I repeat the words of Bishop Flavin. Dear married men and women: I exhort you to reject the use of contraception in your marriage. I challenge you to be open to God’s loving plan for your life. I invite you to share in the gift of God’s life-giving love. I fervently believe that in God’s plan, you will rediscover real love for your spouse, your children, for God, and for the Church. I know that in this openness to life, you will find the rich adventure for which you were made. Our culture often teaches us that children are more a burden than a gift—that families impede our freedom and diminish our finances. We live in a world where large families are the objects of spectacle and derision, instead of the ordinary consequence of a loving marriage entrusted to God’s providence. But children should not be feared as a threat or a burden, but rather seen as a sign of hope for the future. In 1995, Blessed John Paul II wrote that our culture suffers from a “hedonistic mentality unwilling to accept responsibility in matters of sexuality, and… a self-centered concept of freedom, which regards procreation as an obstacle to personal fulfillment. ” Generous, life-giving spousal love is the antidote to hedonism and immaturity: parents gladly give up frivolous pursuits and selfishness for the intensely more meaningful work of loving and educating their children. In the Diocese of Lincoln, I am grateful for the example of hundreds of families who have opened themselves freely and generously to children. Some have been given large families, and some have not. And of course, a few suffer the very difficult, hidden cross of infertility or low fertility. The mystery of God’s plan for our lives is incomprehensible. But the joy of these families, whether or not they bear many children, disproves the claims of the contraceptive mentality. Dear brothers and sisters, Blessed John Paul II reminded us that, “man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God.” The sexual intimacy of marriage, the most intimate kind of human friendship, is a pathway to sharing in God’s own life. It is a pathway to the fullness of our own human life; it is a means of participating in the incredible love of God. Contraception impedes our share in God’s creative love. And thus it impedes our joy. The joy of families living in accord with God’s plan animates and enriches our community with a spirit of vitality and enthusiasm. The example of your friends and neighbors demonstrates that while children require sacrifice, they are also the source of joy, meaning, and of peace. Who does not understand the great gift of a loving family? Yes, being lovingly open to children requires sacrifice. But sacrifice is the harbinger of true joy. Dear brothers and sisters, I invite you to be open to joy. Of course, there are some true and legitimate reasons why, at certain times, families may discern being called to the sacrifice of delaying children. For families with serious mental, physical, or emotional health problems, or who are experiencing dire financial troubles, bearing children might best be delayed. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that couples must have “just” reasons to delay childbearing. For couples facing difficulties of various kinds, the Church recommends Natural Family Planning: a method for making choices about engaging in fruitful sexual relations. Natural Family Planning does not destroy the power to give life: instead, it challenges couples to discern prayerfully when to engage in life-giving sexual acts. It is an integrated, organic and holistic approach to fertility care. Natural Family Planning is a reliable and trustworthy way to regulate fertility, is easy to learn, and can be a source of unity for couples. To be sure, using NFP requires sacrifice and patience, but sacrifice and patience are not obstacles to love, they are a part of love itself. Used correctly, NFP forms gentle, generous husbands, and selfless, patient wives. It can become a school of virtuous and holy love. Those who confine sexual intimacy to the infertile times of the month are not engaging in contraceptive practices. They do not attempt to make a potentially fertile act infertile. They sacrificially abstain during the fertile time precisely because they respect fertility; they do not want to violate it; they do not want to treat the gift of fertility as a burden. In some relatively rare instances, Natural Family Planning is used by couples with a contraceptive mentality. Too often couples can choose to abstain from fertility by default, or out of fear of the consequences of new life. I encourage all couples who use Natural Family Planning to be very open with each other concerning the reasons they think it right to limit their family size, to take their thoughts to God, and to pray for his guidance. Do we let fear, anxiety, or worry determine the size of our families? Do we entrust ourselves to the Lord, whose generosity provides for all of our needs? “Perfect love,” scripture teaches, “casts out fear.” Dear friends, I exhort you to openness in married life. I exhort you to trust in God’s abundant providence. I would like to address in a special way Catholic physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. The noble aim of your profession is to aid men and women as they live according to God’s perfect plan. Bishop Flavin wrote that, as professionals, “you are in a position to be God’s instruments in manifesting his truth, and his love.” No Catholic healthcare provider, in good conscience, should engage in the practice of medicine by undermining the gift of fertility. There is no legitimate medical reason to aid in the acts of contraception or sterilization. No Catholic physician can honestly argue otherwise. Healthcare is the art of healing. Contraception and sterilization may never be considered healthcare. Contraception and sterilization denigrate and degrade the body’s very purpose. Fertility is an ordinary function of health and human flourishing; and an extraordinary participation in God’s creative love. Contraception and sterilization stifle the natural and the supernatural processes of marriage, and cause grave harm. They treat fertility as though it were a terrible inconvenience, or even a physical defect that needs to be treated. Contraception attempts to prevent life from the beginning, and when that fails, some contraception destroys newly created life. Many contraceptives work by preventing the implantation of an embryonic human being in the uterus of his or her mother. Contraception is generally regarded by the medical community as the ordinary standard of care for women. The Church’s teachings are often regarded as being opposed to the health and well-being of women. But apart from the moral and spiritual dangers of contraception, there are also grave physical risks to the use of most chemical contraceptives. Current medical literature overwhelmingly confirms that contraception puts women at risk for serious health problems, which doctors should consider very carefully. Some women have health conditions that are better endured when treated by hormonal contraceptives. But the effects of contraception often mask the underlying conditions that endanger women’s health. Today, there are safe, natural means of correcting hormonal imbalances, and solving the conditions that are often treated by contraception. Contraception is an unhealthy standard of care. All doctors can do better. Catholic physicians are called to help their patients and their colleagues learn the truth about the dangers of contraception and sterilization. The good example of a physician who refuses to prescribe contraceptives and perform sterilizations or a pharmacist who refuses to distribute contraceptives in spite of antagonism, financial loss, or professional pressure is an opportunity to participate in the suffering of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the Catholic physicians and pharmacists who evangelize their patients and colleagues through a commitment to the truth. Tragically, a majority of people in our culture and even in our Church, have used contraception. Much of the responsibility for that lies in the fact that too few have ever been exposed to clear and consistent teaching on the subject. But the natural consequences of our culture’s contraceptive mentality are clear. Mother Teresa reflected that “once living love is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows very easily.” She was right. Cultural attitudes that reject the gift of life lead very easily to social acceptance for abortion, for no-fault divorce, and for fatherless families. For fifty years, America has accepted the use of contraception, and the consequences have been dire. Dear brothers and sisters, I encourage you to read the encyclical by Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae with your spouse, or in your parish. Consider also Married Love and the Gift of Life, written by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Dear brother priests, I encourage you to preach about the dangers of contraception, and to visit with families in your parish about this issue. Dear brothers and sisters, if you have used or prescribed contraception, the merciful love of God awaits. Healing is possible—in the sacrament of penance. If you have used or supported contraception, I pray that you will stop, and that you will avail yourself of God’s tender mercy by making a good heartfelt confession. Today, openness to children is rarely celebrated, rarely understood, and rarely supported. To many, the Church’s teachings on life seem oppressive or old-fashioned. Many believe that the Church asks too great a sacrifice. But sacrifice is the language of love. And in sacrifice, we speak the language of God himself. I am calling you, dear brothers and sisters, to encounter Christ in your love for one another. I am calling you to rich and abundant family life. I am calling you to rejoice in the love, and the sacrifice, for which you were made. I am calling your family to share in the creative, active love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I pray that in true sacrifice, each of you will know perfect joy. Through the intercession of Our Lady of the Annunciation, the Holy Family, and in the love of Jesus Christ, +James D. Conley Bishop of Lincoln March 25, 2014 Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord April 10, 2013 4:36 pm More and more articles are bing published about the dangers of contraception. Here is one you will want to print out and hand to your friends who contract. December 23, 2012 7:27 pm It is impossible for mature, intelligent adults to think this is a good idea. My heart breaks for the teenagers of Philly. There will be more STIs, more unwanted pregnancies, more heartbreak, more poverty, etc. When will we wise up?

Friday, April 28, 2006 Gibson and his wife Anne Marie arrived just as the sun was making the waves all gold and pink in the harbor. The view from Hovey House is so extraordinary that it’s hard to think of anything else when you first arrive. Some of the dory racers were rowing out by Ten Pound Island and all of Jane’s daffodils and tulips are in full bloom. It was going to be a good evening. When we were gathered in the living room and had made out usual introductions, Gibson said that, though he was happy and pleased that people appreciated his first two books, as a writer he was now on to a third book and he wondered if anyone would mind if he read from that and talked about that instead of the first ones. We thought that seemed like a fine idea and he began by reading us the first chapter of his current work-in-progress. It was delicious. I am not comfortable with talking about another writer’s WIP — suffice it to say his book is non-fiction and involves the later photographer Diane Arbus — but having this opportunity to hear another writer read from his work and encourage feedback reminded me of how both wonderful and necessary it is for writers to have the support of their fellows. I don’t know if there are writers who are capable of doing good work without the feedback of others but I would find that hard to imagine. Having participated in a lot of writer’s groups over the years, I am acutely aware of the quality of feedback given. Some critiques are kind but useless. Some are very critical and equally useless when the criticism is non-specific (“I don’t know, I just didn’t feel anything for the characters, they just didn’t work for me” — great. Thanks.) Getting feedback from friends is usually encouraging but not always helpful either. It’s not that friends are always trying to be nice and supportive, it’s just that they know you. If they are real friends they accept you as you are, warts and all, and so writing flaws that a stranger might pick up on, a friend will not notice simply because — well — that’s just who you are to them, that’s how you talk so they don’t notice it. Gibson is very good at exploring the insides of people’s heads, most especially his own. Because he can examine his own interior, he has the ability to get inside another person, have a look around and see what’s going on. That is a good way to write, from the inside out. I admit, after hearing his first chapter of this new book, I am very eager for him to write and publish the rest. Diane Arbus is an interesting subject anyway because she was part of that group of women artists, like Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, who lived brave lives in a time of baffling social change and, ultimately, could no longer bear being in the world. The Hovey House Writer’s group is always an inspiration for me. A new participant last night is working on her MFA in creative writing and is fortunate to having Irish writer Nuala O'Faolain as her mentor. I’ve been a fan of O'Faolain ever since reading her autobiographical Are You Somebody? It was wonderful to hear this writer talk about their relationship. So, as always, we are reminded that writers write. We write because that’s what we do. Gibson began writing out of pain and discovered a gift and a love and we benefitted from his willingness to share with us last night. And I can’t wait for him to finish this book.... Thanks for reading.... Thursday, April 27, 2006 The book, according to the review, is like a diary of the experience not unlike the diary a dieter or recovering alcoholic might keep. One entry mentioned was the author’s frustration over seeing a pair of lime green high heels she just HAD to have but could not buy. Maybe I’ll look for the book at the library. Interestingly enough, I’ve been thinking about this a lot in terms of the economy of this country these days. Here in Gloucester gasoline is now over three dollars a gallon and getting higher. This effects not only the people who commute “down the line” every day — I used to commute 80 miles a day — but also the fishermen who are as beleaguered as those in any occupation can be. Consequently a lot of people are cutting back and, sadly, a lot haven’t got anymore cutting back available to them. Yesterday I was talking to a neighbor who is working three jobs to keep food on the table while her husband is fishing alone, further out than she is comfortable with. They have a teenager at home and one in college. They have no extras in their life these days. There is something very out of balance going on. I know that is stating the obvious but it bears repeating often I think. We have lost perspective on how people were meant too live. We live packed together and yet how many of us know each other? We fill our lives with stuff and stuff and more stuff and turn a blind eye to the family next door who can barely feed themselves. I have this sense that people were meant to live in community and to be a part of one another’s lives. There is a divisiveness that comes of rampant consumerism that has far-reaching effects for both families and neighborhoods. I’ve written about the endless cycle of acquisition before — more stuff—>more money—>longer work hours—>less time with family and friends—>more alienation—>more things to fill the void—>more stuff. And on and on. One of the things I thought of when I was thinking about that writer’s longing for the lime green high heels was the anticipation of pleasure we project on to such things. “If only I had those lime green high heels I would feel beautiful and attractive and life would be good.” It occurred to me that it is that anticipation of pleasure that fuels so much of our drive to acquire. I’ve been there myself — a lot. If only I had fillintheblank all would be well. Recently this took the form of a black, sueded silk shirt with black abalone buttons. I had seen one in a movie and had a powerful big “want” on for it. I decided to make one and it turned out beautifully. I’ve worn it three times. Tuesday night I wore the shirt out to dinner with a group of friends. I love these people and we had, as we always do, a wonderful time. We laughed and shared food and wine and conversation for three hours. It was a delightful evening and, as always seems to happen with us, nobody wanted to leave. And nobody noticed my shirt. You know what? That was fine. I guess what I’m getting at is we need less stuff and more pleasure. For the price of those lime green high heels that writer could invite several friends over for pizza and wine and laughter and sharing. I don’t think we need more stuff — I think we need one another. Thanks for reading. Tuesday, April 25, 2006 What got me thinking about this is a pound of delicious Italian coffee given to me by a client who travels to Italy on a regular basis as part of his business. He represents a line of premium Italian coffees to coffee shops and cafés in this part of the country and, what I have tasted of it so far, is heavenly. Which brought me to the issue of how one makes coffee. Back when I was a kid, my mother, who thought coffee was some nice warm stuff to dunk cookies in, had this huge old percolator that cooked the living daylights out of coffee. My Dad drank coffee by the pot. I never liked the stuff that came out of that percolater though I do remember with pleasure how it made the house smell. It wasn’t until I got to college that I began to drink coffee regularly. Over the years I’ve owned a lot of different kinds of coffeemakers and tried every coffee under the sun and I’ve discovered a basic truth — for me anyway — about coffee. The more simply you make it, the better it tastes. When my friend gave me the bag of coffee beans, I got out my grinder and ground a batch and brewed up a pot in my fancy-schmancy designer drip coffeemaker. It was good coffee but I had a sense that the coffee-making method was not doing justice to the quality of the beans. I rummaged around in the cupboard and found two different stovetop espresso pots. There’s nothing that brings out the full flavor of a good coffee bean like steam. The first one I tried is a beautiful, very heavy espresso pot made by National Silver many years ago. As I recall, it makes great coffee and there is even a way to use the lever on top of it to release the built up steam and froth milk to serve with it. Problem is I can never remember whether the lever thingie goes up or down while the coffee is steaming so I never use it. The other one is an old Mako aluminum espresso pot — the kind you see in foreign movies and that is ubiquitous in Italian summer rentals to confuse American tourists. Mine is at least forty years old — it belonged to my Uncle Custy who gave it to my Dad who gave it to me. Uncle Custy was Italian and the best wild mushroom hunter in Pennsylvania but that’s another story. There is an Italian tradition that pots like that should never be fully washed, just well rinsed and the rubber ring replaced as needed. But as the pot is used over and over, it ”seasons” and each successive cup of coffee brings with it the legacy of all the coffee that has gone before. So I made a pot of it with my precious coffee beans from Italy and, you know what? It is heavenly. I just went and made another pot while writing this. It is soft and silky and mellow with a robust underside. Why did I ever spend money on all those damn coffeemakers when I had this little jewel in the cupboard? So I’m sitting here with the best coffee I’ve had in ages and memories of my Uncle Custy who died many years ago. So far the day is off to a good start. I have a lot of work ahead of me and a car issue to deal with but I also have that wonderful old coffeepot and a bag of beans carried across the Atlantic Ocean for me. And the sun is shining. Thanks for reading. Monday, April 24, 2006 A couple of years ago I created a shawl out of Knit Picks Suri Dream that I called the Mermaid Shawl. I posted pictures of it on my blog and I have been inundated with requests for the pattern ever since. I tried having a KAL and it went fairly well --- several people completed the shawl and sent photos but there were a few kinks I had to work out of the pattern and it has been on my To-Do list forever. Well, I'm finally doing it. Yesterday my good friend Jane offered to act as model so I could take some pictures for a knitting book I am working on. I'm calling it The Mermaid Shawl & other Beauties: Shawls, Cocoons and Wraps. At present I have the Mermaid Shawl and two variations on it, two cocoons, and four shawls/scarves all of them featuring lacy stitch work and all of them easily adaptable by size. It is my intention to have the book ready by the first of the year. Here are three of the designs that will be featured. Below is the original Mermaid Shawl in Suri Dream. I also have a variation called the Gypsy Shawl made from recycled sari silk. This one is a striped, open-work rectangle made with Knit Picks Shimmer, an alpaca and silk blend. It works up fast and gets it's soft color changes by knitting with two strands held together in alternating changes. (That's my car in the background.) And this is a rather fanciful wrap made of recycled raw silk from a thrift store sweater that I unraveled. I realize people will not be able to find a similar sweater but it is a good example of how you can turn odd finds into treasures. In addition to the patterns I want to write about how I adapt patterns and designs to accommodate available stash, how to transform a problem piece into something entirely new, and other random things I have discovered in my 40+ years of knitting. I'm even including a short story that tells a fictional account of the origin of the Mermaid Shawl. As promised, those who have written to tell me they purchased and read The Old Mermaid's Tale, will get a free copy of the book as soon as it is available. I'm going to post more designs later this week. I want to thank Jane for being such a lovely model. I also want to thank Tom Ellis for conveniently positioning the Thomas E. Lannon Schooner off Ten Pound Island while we were shooting. He didn't know about it but I thank him anyway. This is the proposed cover. What do you think? Would you buy this book? Thanks for reading. Saturday, April 22, 2006 In the mean time I want to show a few pictures of some other stuff I have been experimenting with. I love silk. I love silk fabric and silk yarn though it isn't the easiest stuff in the world to work with. After finishing the two winter hats I made in KnitPicks' alpaca/silk blend and cashmere'silk blend I wanted to try working with 100% silk. Pure silk is far less pliable than silk which is blended with wool, alpaca, or chashmere but it is beautiful. I got a few skeins of the popular Himalayan Silk and am just testing it right now on size 15 wooden needles. You can see the results at left. I think I'll go down a couple sizes when I start the real project though the larger needles give a lovely fluidity and drape. In case anyone doesn't know about Himalayan silk it is created in Tibet and Nepal originally by the women who worked in factories where silk saris are manufactured. They would carry the silk scraps home with them at the end of the day and spin it into a sturdy yarn that they used to knit hats, gloves and jackets with. It is a beautiful yarn but is not the easist thing I have ever worked with. It is not pliable, is very uneven and tends to "grab" making it a pain to wind from skeins into balls. But it is beautiful. The colors are like jewels and the weight and sheen is glorious. I am contemplating a short, boxy jacket but we shall see how I fare with the first skein. My friend Jane gave me a sweater she purchased many years ago but rarely wore because it was too long for her. Still she said she kept it because it was pure silk and so beautiful. It was knitted in a very loose stitch and I had no trouble pulling it apart and winding the yarn into balls. However, it is not technically yarn --- it is the unspun roving from which yarn is made. You can see it in the photo at right. This stuff is luscious! It is unbelievably soft and shimmery. It is very uneven varying from quite thin to parts that are as thick as my little finger but the fibers are very strong as silk usually is. I am knitting it on size 15 needles and making a long stole in an Old Shale pattern. You really don't need a pattern but I like the way this is turning out. I had tried knitting it on the bias and it was too heavy for that, it pulled much too long and thin when knit that way. So this is turning out to be a nice, very soft and very warm project with a lovely drape. Finally, I am making a summer sweater out of KnitPick's scrumptious Pima Cotton called Crayon in their new Periwinkle color. I absolutely love this stuff. it is much softer than anything else I have ever worked with --- cashmere or silk. It is, however, slippy. I am working on wooden needles which helps but have to make sure I put point protectors on the needles whenever I am transporting them. The yarn just slips off with reckless abandon. However, I love the feel of this so much I ordered enough for a second sweater in their Azure color. If you are a patient knitter who adores the feel of lovely yarn slipping through your fingers, this is the stuff to buy. And the best part is it is cheap ($1.99 skein) and can be thrown in the washer and dryer. It would be perfect for baby clothes. So that is my adventures in knitting for now. I will post the directions for the Mermaid Shawl within the next couple of days. Also my good friend Leslie Wind has made some incredible new shawl pins. She tells me she has received a lot of orders from knitters how read this blog. We are making her a new web site which will feature the pins so look for that to be up soon. In the mean time you can go to www.LeslieWind.com or email her at firstname.lastname@example.org. Yesterday I had lunch with a friend who had just come back from Italy at Valentino's here in Gloucester. He had never been there and could not believe how great the food was --- he said he felt like he was back in Italy. As we were leaving a woman came in wearing a beautiful, hand-knitted shawl in the Ostrich Plume pattern. My friend said he saw women wearing many beautiful shawls in Italy and was delighted to see them being worn here, too. So keep knitting those shawls, ladies. They beat the heck out of nylon windbreakers! Thanks for reading --- and knitting. Thursday, April 20, 2006 When I designed the cover for Lila Swift Monell’s poetry book, Split-Image Focus, I never would have thought of the cover we wound up with. The four photo collage of a guinea fowl was not what I would have imagined but people who knew Lila better than I do said they would be perfect. Lila took the photos of her own beloved guniea fowl, Martha Graham, and they proved to be right. Everyone loved the cover. I have to tell you, I’ve had a terrible time with Mark’s book. How to design it so that it is appealing and interesting without giving the wrong impression of the book has baffled me. My original design was mostly black but Mark thought it was too dark. He likes blue. His original idea was considerably more graphic than what we would up with but, once he explained his full vision to me, I explained to him what the cost of a photo shoot like that would be. So it was back to the drawing board. Last week I thought we had it. We were still bickering over the seagulls in the cover photo. I wanted a lot of them, he wanted three — grudgingly. He doesn’t like seagulls. So, in the midst of the back and forth, I showed the latest cover version to Betty Lou and another artist friend, Ruth Brown, and that proved to be a smart move. After studying watercolor with B.L. for as long as I did, I should know that her first consideration is always compositional aesthetics. "Your composition is off," she said, pushing aside her dinner plate and grabbing a pen. She reminded me about Golden Sections and Dynamic Symmetry as she marked up the cover. I wish I had her eye! She and Ruth consulted on a few details and I brought their suggestions home and went back to the digital drawing board. That was what we needed. So today Mark signs off on the book and it is off to print, I hope. This cover is really beautiful in my opinion combining both of our ideas and vastly improved by B.L. and Ruth’s suggestions. Then it is off to press. Mark has chosen to do the independent press thing — I knew he would. He’s a guy who fished alone for 20 years on the North Atlantic, what a shock that he’d chose to publish as an independent. He has named his press Silver Perch Press, which I love, and the book will soon be available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and at his Parlez-Moi Press site. We are hoping for a May 15th Publishing date. I’ve worked on this book so long I feel like I’ve lost all objectivity. There have been chapters we disagree on but I always have to remind myself that this is his book. He has to go with his gut feelings about it. One thing I know is that he writes beautifully. And he has 20 years of experience in a strange and fascinating world to write about. So keep an eye out for the book with the blue cover — coming in May to a bookstore near you. Thanks for reading. Wednesday, April 19, 2006 I first saw the Nantucket Lightship in a tall ships parade in Boston Harbor in the late eighties. There were so many amazing ships in that parade that it was impossible to appreciate them all but the Nantucket Lightship was so unique it stayed in my mind. There are less than 14 of them left. At one time they were the ideal solution to saving ships by positioning a ship bearing warning lights on shoals and sandbars off the coasts. Between 1800 and 1950 there were some fifty of them in service off the coast, today all have been decommissioned and few remain intact. The walk-through in the art association’s building was impressive. The work that Richard Bernstein and the House Committee has done over the past six years is just remarkable. No one is really sure when that building was constructed — sometime in the mid-nineteenth century. Originally it was a livery where cargo being unloaded from ships coming into Gloucester harbor was stored until it could be loaded onto wagons and carried off to its next destination. When I joined the Board of Trustees of the art association, the building was in bad shape — it looked like what it was, a century old barn that had seen a lot of use. Though the art association has owned the building for close to eighty years, there was rarely money enough to do more than the most basic repairs and renovations. However, thanks to the generosity of a couple kind donors, and the vision and hard work of guys like Richard, the building is looking amazing today. All the floors have been sanded and refinished, the interior walls have been carpeted, track lighting illuminates the paintings on the walls, bathrooms and a kitchen have been built. It is gorgeous. Most recently they have begun work on the basement which was previously a mess and used for little more than storage for accumulated junk. All that has changed over this past winter. The junk has been cleared out, the lolly columns reinforced, and the front room, which features beautiful windows overlooking the harbor, is being refinished to serve as space for workshops, classes, and small exhibits. It is wonderful! When I got home last night I was doing a little bit of research on the Nantucket Lightship and discovered that a few years ago it was purchased by a Falmouth couple from the State of Massachusetts on eBay for $126,000. They have spent three years pouring millions of dollars into it to convert the interior to luxurious standards including mahogany and cherry finishing, marble counters and more. They are now offering it for sale for a tidy $7.6 million dollars. It makes me very happy that people chose to preserve and restore old treasures like these. Out old livery stable is gradually transforming into a stunning art gallery and events hall. Every year more and more art workshops fill our schedule and plays, lectures, music, and other performances are increasing year by year. I hope the Nantucket Lightship fares well, too. It will be “on the ways” for a few more days. I am told that there is a challenge in hauling her out because of the unique keel bilge configuration but it will be done. Richard Bernstein’s commitment to our old livery is a pure labor of love. I suspect the same is true for the people who restored the Lightship. That’s not a bad way to use your time. Thanks for reading. Monday, April 17, 2006 No one expected it. She hadn’t been feeling well but, as far as I knew, nobody suspected it was anything more than the flu. She was in Pennsylvania, of course, and I was here in Gloucester. The phone rang around 10 in the evening and it was my brother Wayne. He said something had happened and she was on her way to the hospital. He said, “It doesn’t look good.” Now I know he was hoping for a miracle because she was already dead when the ambulance arrived. I didn’t know that then. At five in the morning Lisa called and said, “She’s gone.” Those words ripped through me like a knife. Nothing had prepared me for it. I drove the 600 miles to my parent’s house alone. It was the day after the marathon and there weren’t many travel options. It was the hardest drive I’ve ever made. The days that followed were the usual. There’s nothing much you can say about them. It is the months and years that follow a significant death that are the challenge. My mother’s name was Mary Ann Grace. She was a tall woman, taller than I am and large with dark hair and big, dark brown eyes. She grew up the second sister of four sisters raised by a hardworking mother. Her father died of tuberculosis when she was 13. I always heard, growing up, that she was considered a beauty around town. She was 24 when she gave birth to me. My mother and I didn’t always get along — not an unusual thing for a mother and first daughter. Psychologically we could not have been more different. My mother was outgoing and friendly. She loved people and much preferred to be in jobs where she met the public and in activities where she interacted with a lot of people. She was intelligent but not particularly interested in the Arts. I’m the opposite — solitary by nature, reclusive, more interested in art and literature than entertainment. She bore and raised eight children. Sometimes when I think about that it sort of amazes me because I think if you met her, not knowing about her life, you would be surprised that she had that many kids. But she was very proud of us. She loved to tell people about her kids. When I was living in Salem she came to visit and, a few days into her visit, I told her I was going to get her a t-shirt that read, “Hi, I’m Mary Ann and I’m here from Pennsylvania visiting my daughter. I have eight children and they all finished college.” It would save her a lot of time but, I realize, that would be the last thing she wanted. The best part of our relationship came after I moved away from Pennsylvania and she would come to visit me. Every time she visited we seemed to have an adventure and I’m glad of that — I don’t think she had a lot of adventures. My favorite was the time I took her to a Mexican marketplace on the Texas border. She absolutely loved it. All the colors, sights and sounds thrilled her. But we had other adventures in New Orleans, the Smokey Mountains, driving through Nova Scotia, and here in Gloucester. She loved Gloucester too. I miss her. She had a big personality that was hard to miss and sometimes I felt totally overwhelmed by her but she was sort of a force of nature. I’ve never felt I could live up to her grandness. So today I will be thinking about her — and missing her. I think she would like the fact that what marks her passing, for me anyway, is the Boston Marathon. She got a chuckle out of odd coincidences like that. Love you, Mom. Thanks for reading. Sunday, April 16, 2006 Friday, April 14, 2006 The Merchant of Venice was written in a time when the persecution of Jews was a normal part of everyday life for most people. In Venice, where the movie is set, Jews were relegated to life in the ghetto which was locked at night and guarded by Christians. They also had to wear red hats in public, were forbidden to own property, and made their living trading in the lending of money which Christians, at the time, were prohibited from doing. The movie is lavish and brilliant. Jeremy Irons and Joseph Feinnes are trained Shakespearian actors and did magnificently but Al Pacino can act the pants off of anyone. He was stunning. He’s one of that breed of actors who can speak volumes with their eyes before he even opens his mouth. As Shylock, the abused and bitter money-lender, he is simply astonishing. Even though this is Shakespeare, written in an age and a manner that seems utterly arcane to modern viewers, in a thoroughly compelling interpretation, one cannot help but be struck dumb by the inhumanity of the story’s core. On one level, Shakespeare did an astonishingly brave thing in this play. Shylock’s soliloquy, “Hath not a Jew eyes? If you cut us do we not bleed?”, must have been utterly shocking to Elizabethan audiences. As I listened to it I couldn’t help but be impressed with Old Will for writing it in such an intolerant time. I wondered how audiences back then responded to it. On another level it is a story about intolerance, bigotry, and revenge. Shylock has endured humiliations no one should have to, the final straw comes when his friend Antonio, a Christian, spits on him in public. Shylock takes the opportunity to avenge this insult by demanding a literal pound of flesh “to be cut by me” from Antonio’s breast as security for a loan. When Antonio is forced to default on the loan, Shylock demands his payment and the two — along with everyone in Venice — goes to court. There is a second piece of anti-bigotry bravery in this play when all the men fail to find a solution to this horrific situation and Antonio is rescued by Portia who, disguised as a man, delivers the brilliant “the quality of mercy is not strained” speech. When the guys get done with all their macho posturing, the women save the day. As we were watching it I was thinking about it being Passover. And that today is Good Friday, the day on which Christians believe Jesus died for our sins. I cannot help but wonder what in the hell is wrong with us. It seems we always have to have a “them” to be persecuted by “us”. You cannot take works out of art and judge them by contemporary standards without considering the sociology of the times. I’ve had that discussion many times. The Merchant of Venice is no more anti-Semitic than Gone with the Wind is anti-black or For Whom the Bell Tolls is anti-female (which a woman friend recently described it as). But all of them point out what a lousy job we humans have done of taking care of each other. You can’t help but wonder what did the angel pass over the Jews for? Why did Jesus bother to die for us? Why do we always have to beat up on each other? So today is Good Friday for me, I don’t know what you are observing today. But it is a day to think about what good it does to perpetuate hatred. What does such behavior serve? We are human and fallible, yes, but every day is a fresh day in which we can make the choice to choose anew. We can choose compassion or hatred — it is up to us. Thanks for reading. Wednesday, April 12, 2006 I’ve been thinking about this because of my blog a couple days ago about my short story “Killing Julie Morris”. The name of the title character just came to me as I was writing the first draft and, since it fit, I never messed with it. Actually, in retrospect, I realize I used both of those names before — Julie is the name of the protagonist’s wife in my current w-i-p, Triad and Morris is the name of a character who doesn’t actually appear until the end of the book but, since names tend to float around in the writer’s sub-conscious, it’s not surprising that they tumbled out together. Much to my amazement, though not surprise, someone I don’t know but who seems to be fairly obsessed with this blog, has decided that I chose the name Julie out of “wrath” at her. I’m starting to find the self-absorption of a couple of my regular readers to be a fairly fascinating phenomenon. However, choosing the name for my short story had much more to do with Triad than anything else. Character names are important. Sometimes the name you give a character shapes their personality and their behavior in ways you hadn’t anticipated. When I picked the name Morris for the character in Triad I chose it because of that old cat food commercial because the character reminded me of that pompous, pedantic old cat. But, now in re-write, I have been changing his name to something less stuff. I need to loosen him up a bit. I really like almost all of the names in my work. Sometimes the name just comes immediately with the character — other times I struggle for a long time. The character Rosie in The Old Mermaid’s Tale was originally named Darlene but in my final round of edits I wanted a name that was cuter and happier and somehow Darlene turned into Rosie. In Triad I had a scene where Maggie’s Aunt Fanny is talking about her deceased husband and she called him Asa. I was blithely unaware of that until my friend Trudi pointed it out to me. “Don’t you have a short story by that name?” Oh crap, yeah. So Asa became Ephram. Recently Mark decided to change the names of a couple of characters in his book which, hopefully, will be to press in 2 weeks. We were having an awful time coming up with a appropriate names that wouldn’t alter the personalities of the characters and we finally had to dig out my Writer’s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook to help us out. Ethnic names in particular are problematic — you want them to be believable but not too quaint. Of all the male characters I have ever created, my favorites are Baptiste, the Breton mariner in Old Mermaid, Silvio, the Italian musician in “My Last Romance”, and Father Pete, the Jesuit priest in Triad. The names for all of them just grew with the character. My female names are less exotic — Clair in Mermaid and Maggie in Triad pretty much named themselves. I’ve found an interesting new source for colorful names recently thanks to my Spam mail folder. Some of the Spam that has come in have amazing names on them — Garibaldi Druid, Dubious Tredmill, Kerstin Wildrick and Fester Shelhammer. How can you beat those? So I have started a file of really great Spammer names. I don’t know if I’ll ever actually use them and, if I do, you can bet they’ll show up to post a comment demanding I pay attention to them and insisting that I am only using that name to spite them. Maybe it's a Spammer thing.... Last night we got talking about a radio interview a couple of us had heard on NPR over the weekend with a researcher who has been doing a study on internet pornography and its role in the lives of the people who spend hours and hours perusing those sites. The researcher stated that some men spend four or more hours a day on these sites. My first thought was, “Good lord, that’s four hours I could be knitting!” One of the members of our group worked as a systems analyst for many years for a software company. She told about a situation where one of their analysts had racked up countless hours on a various internet porn sites and, when it was called to the attention of his superior, he pointed out that the internet porn sites were fascinating to him because they had the most efficient programming capabilities for gathering user information, tracking movement, and collecting data on the time spent on these sites. The analyst was using the data tracking and gathering capabilities of the porn sites as a model for developing new programs. Good excuse or good thinking? I’ll bet on the latter. Most dedicated programmers are far more interested in the latest cyber-gizmos than they are in titillation. Though I have to confess a fascination with the fascination with pornography. When I was listening to the radio researcher speak, I realized that my own awareness of pornography and its availability is pretty lame. As a woman that doesn’t make me unusual. According to the research women comprise a very, very small percentage of people who indulge in internet porn and then, usually, it is done with a partner and not by themselves. Porn is pretty much a boy’s club and the internet makes it readily available day and night. A few years back I got involved in a project to publish a book of erotica. The project was started by three women following on the popularity at the time of other women’s erotica collections. But somewhere along the way, we all lost interest and it never went anywhere. I think the difference between pornography and erotica is an interesting one because pornography tends to be more visual while erotica tends to be the written word. This fits neatly into the old stereotype (and stereotypes exist for a reason) that men are attracted by the visual and women are attracted by the auditory. There have been a lot of stories in the news lately about prominent people — including politicians — being caught in internet porn stings. It is, to me, a bizarre situation. How do people have time for these things? You have to be pretty stupid not to realize the information-gathering potential of the internet. But more than that, there is so much to be done in the world and in life. Who has time for stuff like that? So, anyway, the topic generated a great discussion and some fresh insights into the weird workings of the human mind. And, as always, I was gratified to know that I hang out with women who would rather knit, shop, write, sew, etc. etc. than look at pornography. We might be getting older but at least we have our priorities in line. Thanks for reading. Tuesday, April 11, 2006 It’s a funny thing because other than my early love for Nancy Drew, I was never really overly interested in mystery books. Once I started writing short fiction I tended to write the sort of stories that explored the quirky and individualistic yearnings of the human heart. I’ve always been fascinated by who people chose to love and why. That’s always amazed me. Years ago I worked with a young woman who was, to all appearances, a perfect doll. She was pretty, intelligent, well-dressed, very professional and nice. I’d known her for several months before I met her husband — what a surprise that was. He was tall and skinny and, well, homely. A genuine nerd and this was before nerds were cool. And that was it — he was cool. He was amazingly intelligent in a strange, geeky kind of way but the kind of braininess that forgets to tie his shoes, get a haircut, shave and wear clothes that sort of match. She adored him and I think he returned the sentiment — as near as you could tell. But they were happy and I wound up getting a pretty good short story out of getting to know them. Skye Alexander was the one who got me thinking about murder. Skye is a friend and was the person who approached me about designing a web site for Level Best. While we were working on the site she gave me a copy of their first anthology, Undertow, and suggested I should submit a short story for the second one. I told her I didn’t write crime stories but I decided to give it a try. The result was “Asa”, the story they published in their second anthology Riptide. Since then I’ve read a lot of mystery/crime novels and I’m kind of hooked. Right now my favorite is a Scottish writer named Val McDermid. Damn, she’s good! I am reading her books all out of order but that doesn’t seem to impact the experience. Once you get past the confusion of where the regular characters are in their lives at this point, the intrigue of the story sweeps me along and it doesn’t matter where Tony Hill and Carol Jordan are at this point in their relationship. (Poor Tony, he’s such a mess.) So, anyway, my latest short story is in the mail to Level Best and now I have to get back to work on my collection of short stories that I call My Last Romance and Other Passions. Writing is surprisingly labor-intensive — especially if you have to earn a living in between times. The primary thing is, I love stories. I love listening to stories and reading them and telling them and writing them and I always have. I grew up at a time and in a place where people told stories a lot to entertain and amuse each other. I remember attending my Grandmother Werner’s 70th birthday party. There were probably fifty people crowding her little house and in every room people who had been her friends all their lives — who grew up before television and videos and DVDs — sat around drinking beer and telling stories. Hunting stories, coming-to-America stories, romantic stories, sad stories, how-I-met-my-spouse stories. It was wonderful. I was 23 at the time and that party has stayed with me all these years. What I learned that night was that we are each of us a book. A book worth reading. So another story from my on-going book is out in the world. I have to let go of it now. It will either succeed or fail. I can’t be attached to that. There are a lot more stories that need to be written. Thanks for reading. Monday, April 10, 2006 Mike Werner stopped for me about 6:20PM. I was all ready, having everything packed. On the drive to the farmhouse outside of Ramey, a small town in southern Clearfield County, he told me about being at the Giant Arena in Hershey for the State Championship Class A Boy's Basketball Game, won by our high school alma mater, Elk County Catholic High School. The story was good and we got to the farmhouse in no time. We were the last ones to arrive. Since it was a very warm night for March 31, all the guys were standing out on the porch, some drinking beer, some drinking wine, all of them picking on us for being last. But the conversation, as always, was good. (Left: the group in front of the farmhouse. Steve, Mike, Brad, Dave, Ray, Chris, and Joe. For once, I am more colorful than Chris. This won't happen again. ) Things were a little different on the first night for this trip. Traditionally we drink much beer. This year, some of us drank some beer, more drank wine. Not counting the river beer, we hardly drank a case over the weekend. But we killed many bottles of wine. I don't know what this means except that the old Reuscher formula of B=90n where B is beer in ounces and n is the count of guys present. That was established in 1987 and slowly changed to B=78n and then ultimately became B=28n. Gathering around the kitchen where the wine bottles and snacks were, I proposed a toast to our old Scoutmaster, Gary Kraus. Without him I would not have met Joe and Tony and Mike and Dave and where would the trip be without them? >Joe's father in law had given him a big catch of panfish so Dave battered them up and Joe fried them. In addition, Joe had a delicious macaroni shrimp salad and a tasty pulled pork barbecue. After more conversation, lots of fish, and more wine, I showed slides from some of our trips in the past as well as some pictures from the days of the old Scout troop when Mike, Joe, and Dave were young. This was well received. So then it was more drinking wine on the porch. Some of the guys watched Master and Commander on TV. I know I fell asleep before the movie was over. Saturday morning we got up later than usual and took our time getting started. Mike had brought bagels and sausage for breakfast to we all pitched into that as well as some of the cold fish from last night. We took a walk around the farm and then it was time to hit the river. This more leisurely approach was better than our more hurried times when we were camping and had to get to the campsite with enough daylight left to set up camp. We decided to do about 12 miles of river as opposed to the full 14.3 miles. This turned out to be a good plan. Joe, Dave, and I were left with the canoes while Brad, Chris, and Mike did the car switch. That evolution used to take 46 minutes, this time just 37. That gave us just enough time to use the duct tape to install beverage holders in all the canoes. Try as you might, you just can't find a canoe with a factory installed beer holder. As soon as we got on the river we knew we were in for a long day. The water was low, as low as any of us can remember it. We hadn't gone 20 yards when we hit bottom for the first time. But Brad and I never had to get out of the canoe, managing to hump, bump, pole, and paddle our way through all the shallows. Some of the passages were only slightly wider than the canoe itself. When we got to the concrete covered pipe, we stopped and scouted, taking a good hard look at it before deciding what to do. Mike and Dave and Brad and I led our boats past the obstacle but Chris and Joe decided to try to run it. The chute was narrow and had about three inches for a margin of error between the snag at the top and the big rock at the bottom. They got through without spilling but Joe confessed they did touch the rock in question. Had Brad and I tried that we would have been swimming for sure. Thus Chris further cemented his reputation for being the best canoeist among us. However, Brad and I seemed to be doing well at not getting stuck, for whatever that is worth. We ha to do a lot of that paddling stuff, right then left and back to right again in just three canoe lengths. It was that kind of river all the way. After the pipe it was just a matter of looking closely for rocks and doing a lot of paddling and maneuvering to avoid hitting them. When the river is between 3½ and 5 feet, it is a matter of just getting out in the middle and running with it. At 2.2 feet, it requires close attention from all hands to avoid hitting something. A moment's inattention and you were heading for a wash over that might just flip you. We were good though and no one tipped. We ate lunch under a railroad bridge and had 4 trains go over us while we ate. It was a very busy day on the Norfolk Southern (former Pennsylvania Railroad) New York to Chicago mainline. Of course, we couldn't help but notice that most of the containers on the van trains we saw were lettered for Maersk, Cosco, Hyundai, and other foreign firms. As we passed through the little village of Spruce Creek we noticed that the no trespassing signs that once hung over the river were gone. There were a lot of fly fishermen out that day. And many more Canada geese than we remembered seeing before. And kingfishers. I love to see kingfishers flitting about. We stopped at our old campsite that we used for 18 years from 1987 to 2004. Someone had been there and left the place a big mess, abandoning gear and trash, pretty much ruining the site. Chris said "It feels like we've been violated." Given the flood washing away everything but the fireplace rocks and the trash, we pretty much decided that we won't camp there anymore. We always left the place looking like we hadn't been there and it was disgusting to see what others had done to it. From there it was an easy paddle out to the trucks. With the water that low, even in the "lake" above Barree, there were rocks close enough to the surface to get you. Brad looked up to talk to Chris a moment and we hit one and got slammed 45° off course in an instant. We didn't go over but it was a hell of a surprise to hit that. With having nothing but a lunch cooler, beer buckets, and emergency gear to unpack, it didn't take long to get the canoes back on the trucks and thus back to the farmhouse. We changed out of our flamboyant or funny looking river clothes and picked up the wine tasting where it left off. The Cinch tournament started up and the snacks were hit heavily again. Brad and I won a game which ended with me getting a shooter, a very rare occurrence. I had to get into the kitchen to start dinner. I made a couple of stuffed roast chickens, brown rice, and glazed carrots. This went over well too. After dinner the other guys did the cleaning up which I appreciate as I am a sloppy cook. But good though. Then it was fireworks time. Brad and Chris had some good stuff, including double shot mortars. By this time, it was getting late but there was still time to watch the Blue Collar Comedy Tour concert movie. Perhaps it was the company, perhaps the wine, but whatever there was much laughter to the point where Brad had to quote Tuck O'Brien's old line of "my brigs are rope." In English that is "my ribs are broke" from too much laughter. And then to bed. I got into my sleeping bag and rolled over and didn't move again until I heard guys in the kitchen making coffee. Brad cooked up his usual excellent omelets, this time using eggs provided by Steve Gotwols' chickens. It was a warm sunny morning and after breakfast we sat out in the sun and talked and just enjoyed. Then cleanup, the group photo, and home. We have two group shots this time as Steve had some back trouble and thus didn't canoe. This is the group at the end of the canoeing. Rolling Rock in 7 ounce bottles, the official river beer of the Travelling Circus. So that's the story on this year's canoe trip. Thanks to Joe for the use of the farm, to everybody for wine, beer, and food and an especially fun time hanging out with a great bunch of guys. Friday, April 07, 2006 Most people know about The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, the story of the sinking of the Andrea Gale in the Halloween storm of 1991. Most of us around here didn’t know it was the “perfect storm” until the book came out. Around here is was the no-name storm or the Halloweeen storm. I was living in Marblehead then — on the ocean — and was having lunch at the Boulevard Oceanview a couple days later when someone came in and announced that the Andrea Gale was missing. I remember the silence that followed that announcement. So Junger wrote his book and, at its center was Ethel Shatford who lost her son Bobby aboard that boat. The book captured the attention of a lot of people for it to become the best seller that it did and, up until the time of her death, people came to Gloucester and stopped at The Crow’s Nest to tell her how sorry they were. Her grief for her lost son struck a chord in hearts across the country — around the world — and people showed they cared. Recently Stan Stone of On the Cove Blog told me about the book Gone Boy by Gregory Gibson. Stan said he read the book in a weekend and could not put it down. Gibson is a local antiquarian bookdealer who lives in the part of Gloucester called Lanesville, where Stan also lives. His son Galen was shot and killed by a fellow college student at Simon’s Rock College in the Berkshires in 1993 — two years after Bobby Shatford was lost at sea. I bought the book yesterday and, like Stan, I can scarcely put it down. It is remarkable. The ability of a writer to travel inward to the core of his being and draw it up onto the page is a rare and astonishing gift. It is what makes the difference between a good writer and a great writer. Gregory Gibson is a great writer in this book. He writes from feelings that most of us will never experience, thank God. But in his willingness to take this inward journey and draw out what he finds there he gives his readers the opportunity to share in his loss. It is hard for me to explain what I feel as I read — anger, outrage, pain all mixed with compassion and understanding. As he begins his journey back to the college where his son died to find out how such a thing can happen I find myself feeling both anger at how the college administration could be so careless and, at the same time, the naive faith so many of us have that people are essentially good and it is wrong to project our fears onto them before they are proven to be bad or wrong or foolish or evil. Leslie Wind called Gregory Gibson after we talked about this and he has agreed to be our next guest at the Hovey House Writer’s Group. I want to finish his book before meeting him — that won’t be a problem, I’ll probably finish it this weekend. In a way there is a part of me that is a bit timid about meeting the person who has written such a raw and powerful book. It seems almost as though his presence will be too much to bear. But what I have learned through his book and through life is that there is no tragedy that cannot be redeemed by art. Art can’t take away the pain and art can’t make the loss less terrible. But art can elevate the loss. It makes meaning of something as seemingly random and meaningless as a storm that sinks a boat or the path of a bullet fired by a crazed killer. It offers great pain to the world and lets us share in feelings that we, God willing, will never experience alone. Thanks for reading. Thursday, April 06, 2006 This week Jane showed up looking stunning in a white fox jacket with Joan Crawford shoulders, a stand-up collar, and a white satin lining. “I got this at the resale shop,” she said modeling it. She looked gorgeous. I am genuinely happy for my friends and proud of them for frequenting places like the Swap Shop and resale stores but it always makes me wonder about the sort of people who can discard such incredible garments. People like Jane and Leslie benefit — good for them — but who can afford such amazing things and then just dump them hardly worn? Last night I was invited to attend a seminar, “Sustainability and the Natural Step Framework: Possibilities for the Basilica, Our Community and the Earth”. It was held at the Essex Conference Center and conducted by Terry Gips of the Alliance for Sustainability in Minneapolis. I was impressed with how many people attended. This is an issue that more people who genuinely care about the earth and its future are trying to educate themselves and incorporate into their lives. The focus of the Alliance for Sustainability is to educate people in a positive and scientifically informed manner as to what we have done to our planet so far and how we can begin to undo it. The damage is advanced — very advanced. We all know that but really don’t want to face it. The cover of a recent Time Magazine read “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” Our planet’s resources are getting used up at a horrific rate and far too many of us are in denial, have an infantile sense of what science can, and cannot do, or just simply don’t care. Much of the discussion last night was about conservation practices that can and have been implemented by cities, states and countries. All of us know about recycling, using eco-friendly and post-consumer products, reducing gasoline consumption etc. but the bottomline is we have to stop gobbling up resources at such a furious pace. It is killing us and it is destroying our planet. One of the things I love about living in New England is the old Yankee tradition of thriftiness. Coming from a Pennsylvania Dutch background where thriftiness is a virtue comparable to honesty, this old Yankee value system is much appreciated. But the thrifty old Yankees are a dying breed and they are being replaced by a generation of self-absorbed consumers who simply cannot find enough ways to waste resources. People today are enjoying a level of affluence unprecedented in this country and what are they doing with their money? Showing off. I drive out the back shore or up Route 1A and an astonished at the humongous, gaudy, overblown private homes that are sprouting up everywhere. It reminds me of the old TV show The Beverly Hillbillies about a family of mountaineers who strike oil and move to Beverly Hills into a mansion and a lifestyle they are totally unprepared for simply to demonstrate what their money can buy. Money is good, we all know that, and money can be used wisely to build or renovate homes in ways that will benefit the environment and humankind. But this disease we are infected with, this “affluenza” as John deGraf termed it, is destroying our planet and we choose not to see that. It’s fun when someone like Jane or Leslie benefit from someone else’s profligacy but the planet can’t keep bearing that. If you are interesting in learning more, contact Terry Gips in the Hillel Center at the University of Minnesota. By learning and using the principle os sustainability everyone’s needs can be met - there is unlimited learning, creativity, community and meaningful work for all. And we can save the planet for our grandchildren’s children in the process. Thanks for reading. Tuesday, April 04, 2006 Dr. Benson’s book Timeless Healing expands upon the health benefits of quiet, centering time. He outlines these steps: 1. Choose a “focus word” that you can repeat in your head as you center. This can be a mantra, a word such as “Ohm” or anything that you like – peace, relax, quiet, melody, ocean, calm. 2. Sit quietly in a comfortable position. 3. Relax your muscles through a conscious tensing and then relaxing throughout the body. 4. Breathe slowly and naturally repeating your focus word. 5. Don’t criticize yourself. If your mind wanders just think “oh well” and return to your focus word. 6. Practice for twenty minutes, twice daily if possible. Some people can do this without being otherwise occupied, just sitting quietly, But many find it beneficial to have a centering activity. Walking meditation has grown in popularity among those who have access to a quiet place to walk. Some people find a repetitive sports activity such as jogging or swimming to be effective for them. Many people use tai chi, chi gong or yoga in the same way. However, Dr. Benson adds some other interesting alternatives — prayer, of course, Lamaze breathing exercises, and ... knitting and crocheting. "Working with yarn provides stress relief," says Dr. Benson. "Like meditation or prayer, knitting allows for the passive release of stray thoughts. The rhythmic and repetitive quality of the stitching, along with the needles clicking resembles a calming mantra. The mind can wander while still focusing on one task." Those of us who knit or crochet on a regular basis know how calming it can be to sit quietly with our work and just melt into the pleasure of it. Of course, this assumes you are not working on anything that requires a lot of concentration. When I am trying to learn a new lace pattern I am far from calm and centered. But it is good to always have a simple, undemanding project in progress for those meditative times. Lots of people knit socks as their “easy” project. That would probably drive me nuts. But long, simply knit scarves or the body of sweaters and shawls in simple stitches can lull me into a state of utter quiet and peace. The health benefits are amazing. Better concentration, lowered blood pressure, improved sleep habits, reduction in chronic pain, boosting the immune system resulting in fewer colds and viruses are among the benefits documented at the Mind-Body Institute. So last night I decided to try knitting meditation. I tend to multi-task — listening to audiobooks or the radio which is also very pleasant but my mind is always racing. Last night I put on some quiet, meditative music, got comfortable in my rocking chair, relaxed my muscles and picked my focus word — “believe”. I have a summer sweater in progress knit in plain stockinette out of a silky, soft pima cotton. It was a wonderful experience. We all know our lives are too busy, our worries too many and our time to packed. But those of us who take time to knit also know the quiet beauty of the rhythm of the stitch. I loved this new (to me) way of knitting and am going to try to develop a daily practice around it. If nothing else, I’ll get a few projects done. Thanks for reading. Monday, April 03, 2006 Usually, I have a hard time adjusting to Daylight Savings Time when it begins in the spring. For a week afterwards I am sleepy and feeling like I am running behind schedule. Then in the fall, when we get the hour back, the days seem to go slower and I have this feeling of luxury — that I don’t have to hurry. But all that is minor in the cosmic scheme of things. Let’s just keep things as they are now — a little brighter at the end of the day — and stop all this clock changing nonsense. Sometimes I wonder how I got to be as old as I am now and still feel like I have done so little in life. This is a thing I seem to be almost constantly aware of since I entered my fifties. Everyone has their own set of experiences. It’s a waste of time to compare your own accomplishments and failures with those of another but it is difficult not to. I’ve lost hours to stupider things than the hour I lost over the weekend and with much less cheerful results than an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day. It seems now, at this point in my life, I’m trying to make up for that. But that isn’t always a good idea either. Yesterday was beautiful — brilliantly clear and sparkling. The waves were high and, though the thermometer read in the sixties, a brisk breeze kept the day from being too spring-like. Mark and I were out at Cape Hedge drinking coffee and talking and I enumerated all the things I wanted to get done on with the day. “Look,” he said, “why don’t you just take a day off?” A day off? What does that mean? Recently my sister Anne asked if I ever took a day off from the computer. “Are you one of those people who has to have it on all the time and can’t go more than an hour without checking your email? I couldn’t stand that.” While I do frequently go for several hours without checking email, I admit the computer is usually on from morning until bedtime. Maybe it’s time to rethink this. So yesterday morning I came home and changed the clocks. I left the computer off. It was a great day to putter at home with a window open to the fragrance of the harbor on the cool breezes. The curtains fluttered and I heard the windchimes ringing in the window for the first time this year. I did some cleaning up. Put away a few winter clothes (fingers crossed on that), cooked a nice lunch, and spent some time on the couch reading. It was nice. I didn’t even turn the radio on. The windchimes were enough. I’m way behind on directions for the Mermaid Shawl. I’m at the final lace pattern and am having a little trouble re-constructing my original instructions so I worked on that for awhile and think I finally got it. Hopefully this week will see the last lace pattern published here. Then I went in my tiny sewing room and spent the better part of the afternoon organizing my stash, sorting through patterns to find the never-fail ones and tidying up the button box. I’m a compulsive notion buyer on eBay and had recently acquired lots of interfacing, twin needles, more buttons, elastic, etc. that are now all sorted into zip-lock bags, labeled, and waiting for me. I didn’t turn the computer on all day. I survived. I haven’t checked my email yet this morning but am sure everyone got along without me just fine. The computer will stay on all day today but, now that there is more daylight at the end of the day, I plan to turn the computer off and go outside in the evening. I think we’ll both be better for it. Thanks for reading.

Reading a book by Aldous Huxley is like being entertained by a host who is determined that one should not suffer a moment's boredom and works perhaps a bit too hard to ensure one's continual amusement. The fruit of his considerable erudition is lavished on his readers in flattering profusion: quotations from literature, references to art, history and science—if one takes the allusion, it is with a pleasant sense of sharing the author's culture, and if not one is privileged to learn a new fact or to hear an unusual and provocative point of view. For this reason Mr. Huxley is an ideal novelist for young men: remarkably intelligent, genuinely sophisticated, he takes for granted these enviable qualities in his readers. His first three novels, Crome Yellow, Antic Hay and Those Barren Leaves, and the stories, essays and poems of that period, represent a perfect form of undergraduate literature: elegant, informed, irreverent, ironic, as it seems amoral yet serious, they appeared at a time—the early 1920's—when the scene was set for brilliant young men and when to be a brilliant young man was the most rewarding thing to be…. Mr. Huxley could not forever maintain a position of gay and destructive criticism; a constructive remedy had to be proposed and the entertainer had to make room for the teacher. In his later novels, the feast of diversion spread before his readers is no less rich than before, but it has become slightly indigestible. Point Counter Point, which was first published in 1928, brings his earlier manner to a point of culmination and contains the germ of his later development. Formidably long, it introduces a host of representative characters (several of whom are clearly derived from real people) and sets them talking at each other. A complexity of design resulting from the large dramatis personae gives the novel's construction a superficial resemblance to that of Gide's Les Faux-Monnayeurs, which had appeared three years earlier; but neither Point Counter Point nor Eyeless in Gaza, in which Mr. Huxley later exploited a confusing time sequence, can lay claim to technical innovations. Mr. Huxley has never been an experimental writer; he... (The entire section is 907 words.) Brave New World is actually … a satire not so much of the future as of the present: of the future as it is implicit in the present. Huxley resorts to future remoteness for the same reasons that other Utopian satirists had earlier resorted to geographical or past remoteness (e.g. More, Swift or Anatole France): in order to gain the necessary distance and detachment to more effectively satirize the present. Huxley's satirical point in this novel is that if the present continues to "progress" as it is "progressing" now, then the inevitable result must be a brave new world. (p. 451) That the United States is the present model for Huxley's vision of the future emerges even more clearly from an essay entitled, "The Outlook for American Culture, Some Reflections in a Machine Age," published in 1927. Huxley begins this essay with the observation that "speculating on the American future, we are speculating on the future of civilized man." According to Huxley, one of the most ominous portents of the American Way of Life is that it embraces a large class of the people who "do not want to be cultured, are not interested in the higher life. For these people existence on the lower, animal levels is perfectly satisfactory. Given food, drink, the company of their fellows, sexual enjoyment, and plenty of noisy distractions from without, they are happy." (p. 455) Brave New World is the fictional extension of Huxley's earlier views on the nature of American "culture"; it is a portrait of the Joy City spread over the whole globe. And... (The entire section is 645 words.) Island (1962), Huxley's last novel, presents as many facets of his comprehensive vision for man and community as he was able to commit to print before his death in 1963…. The book is Huxley's solemn and, in many ways, unique remedy for psychic atrophy and the specter of the bomb in the world of the 1960's. (p. 149) Huxley's fairly complex vision stems from his conviction that any operative ideal would have to be based on a syncretic approach to the problem of existence. (p. 150) Huxley distinguishes carefully the two main traditions of Hindu philosophy: the ancient Hinayana tradition, which taught total renunciation of the world and the quest for perpetual Nirvana; and the more recent Mahayanist tradition, which sought awakening through a responsible if delicate recognition of the world…. In its tolerance and flexibility, Mahayana offers enlightenment not only to the monk in isolation but to the layman in society as well. That branch of Eastern thought which Huxley pursued left him intellectual elbow-room to satisfy both his mystical and reformative urges. (p. 151) One of Huxley's strongest ideals promoted in Island is the desire that Western and Oriental worlds accept and learn from each other…. The merger between East and West in Island is not defined exhaustively. Like most sweeping ideals, it eludes complete description. But the direction of the union is toward a Tagorist synthesis of Western progress with Eastern spirituality…. Huxley's comprehensive mysticism is not just a Western retreading of Taoist ideology, but also a positive counterpoint to the problems of separation, alienation and incommunication which he delineates in his other novels. Huxley always sought an ideal which would permit him to experience and express existence as an entity rather than a fragment, and the educative ideals of Island aim toward a similar objective for Everyman. (pp. 151-53) Huxley conveys to his readers some of his more difficult ideology in Island through an interesting use of symbol. In truth, the nature of Huxley's subject frequently requires a symbolic description because many of his mystical precepts elude literal explanation. (p. 154) The very title of the book, Island, suggests a pattern of symbolism latent in Huxley's thought for many years…. For Huxley in the 1920's existence seemed bewilderingly pluralistic; the world appeared to be inhabited by a group of irreconcilably heterogeneous individuals. Huxley seems never to have altered his belief in the multiplicity and... (The entire section is 1072 words.) Despite the fact that their tone perceptively darkens, Aldous Huxley's first three novels—and for freshness and exuberance they may be his finest comic achievement—seem at first glance much too similar. The same characters appear from one novel to the next under different names that one tends to regard as aliases; and the situations, though never repetitious, seem ultimately to support a basic repertoire of themes. Thus an examination of Crome Yellow (1921) leaves one as thrilled with Huxley's first novel as his original audience was. But if a perusal of Antic Hay (1923) and Those Barren Leaves (1925) follows immediately, one may conclude that Huxley has written the same novel three times. This is not a thoroughly misguided judgment, but rather an imprecise one and therefore it states negatively what is actually a positive accomplishment. What Huxley has done, however, is to go over and over the same themes but never from precisely the same angle and never with the same results. The heroes of the first two novels are defeated in different ways by similar problems whereas the third protagonist enjoys a tentative, modified, perhaps only temporary success. Each time his hero confronts the central problems and fails, Huxley has someone similar to him, but also different, try over again from a slightly different approach. When these three novels are looked at as a sort of trilogy, they remain infinitely readable in themselves but also take on an added significance in that the thematic alterations they catalogue reveal in microcosm the direction in which Huxley will develop in terms of ideas as well as craftsmanship. The changes the three novels exhibit in their handling of the same set of themes show Huxley doing between 1921 and 1925 what he would only permanently accomplish and accept by 1934 with the appearance, in Eyeless in Gaza, of his first full-fledged mystic-hero. At the same time, the increasing mastery of structure and technique from novel to novel and the sense one has that all three novels are really one book with three complementary, perhaps even contrapuntal, sets of characters and events make the many-layered complexity of Point Counter Point (1928) inevitable. (pp. 81-2) The theme of ineffectual communication spans [Crome Yellow] while permeating the majority of scenes. The direction of these scenes is towards a sort of awakening wherein Denis [the protagonist], who has concluded that people are uncrossing parallel lines, is suddenly forced to look at himself as he appears to others…. [A young poet who tries to make reality conform to his own expectations,] Denis has a fund of patterns to impose on events but is seldom prepared for experience itself. To him, life is a rehearsable play. He blocks out scenes with himself in the central role and attempts to stage them. The missed cues and unexpected replies that follow as the interpretation of Pharaoh's dream that is written and directed by Denis Stone falls apart provide excellent comedy. (p. 82) Language, a perennial problem for Huxley characters, even for the artificially stabilized society of Brave New World, stands between Denis and reality the way Keats' sensuous richness threatened his involvement with society. Denis regards words as though they were things. They become his substitute for reality and his conversation deteriorates into one long fallacy of misplaced concreteness…. Denis' centrifugal use of language takes him away from reality and into a private world…. In Denis' propensity for quotes and for the continual transformation of life into art, Huxley satirizes his own tendency to be too precious, overly multisyllabic, and, at times, esoterically erudite. Rehearsed scenes, ready-made phrases, words instead of things—these are the barriers Denis imposes between himself and life. He is the first in a series of Huxley characters who personify a paradoxical union of egotism and shyness. (p. 83) The possibility of realizing the intricateness of other people to the same extent one is aware of complexity in oneself frightens Denis and intrigues Huxley. Denis must come to terms with "the vast conscious world outside himself." In so doing, he can no longer imagine himself the world's sole intelligent being, nor ignore the fact that others are "in their way... (The entire section is 1803 words.) The essay has become a neglected form. The rush of progress has made it too expensive to print what essayists have to say, and we regret it even more than the loss of the short story. For it cheers us to listen to an amusing man of great intelligence, especially when he talks about himself. Huxley satisfies this desire in [Along the Road] more than anywhere else. He is talking about the great things in his own civilisation and we shall see in [Beyond the Mexique Bay] that when he wanders in alien lands among peoples whose civilisations are remote, he loses something of his tone. (p. 121) Huxley's normal tone in [Proper Studies] is well-mannered, straightforward and easy. The pace... (The entire section is 1353 words.) [One] of the most impressive achievements of Point Counter Point lies within [the] area of experimentation with form and its close integration with the central theme of the novel. By placing within the story a writer who is jotting down notes for an essentially new type of novel the author openly acknowledges this intention, and his well-known Quaker Oats image of a novel about a novelist writing a novel underscores the point…. [The] novel being planned by Philip Quarles is actually the outer novel, Point Counter Point, in which he is a participant. Any innovations, therefore, which he suggests for his own projected book must be taken as applying directly to Huxley's own experiments with form.... (The entire section is 1273 words.)

US 4910786 A A method of detecting intensity edge paths in an image produced by a technique which is selected from the group consisting of X-ray, CAT scan, nuclear magnetic resonance, photographic, video recording, and photodetection techniques, includes an initial step of determining the gradient magnitude and direction of the image in an array or lattice of node points using a Gaussian weighted gradient operator. A root node having a high probability of being on an edge path is then selected by selecting a node having a high gradient magnitude. The metric for each adjacent node to the root node is then calculated. The various metrics are stored for each such adjacent node. Using the adjacent node having the highest metric, the metrics for other nodes adjacent thereto are calculated. These steps are repeated and the edge path having the highest metric is thereby determined. 1. A method of detecting intensity edge paths in an image by machine, said image being produced by a technique which is selected from the group consisting of X-ray, CAT scan, nuclear magnetic resonance, photographic, video recording, and photodetection techniques, comprising the steps of: (a) determine gradient magnitude and direction of the image in an array of node points using a Gaussian weighted gradient operator, (b) find a root node having a high probability of being on an edge path by selecting a node having a high gradient magnitude, (c) calculate a path metric, Γ(mi,fi), for each adjacent node to the root node which may be on the edge by calculating: ##EQU27## where p1 (fri) is the probability that the pixel value F at the location Γi arises from an edge , p0 (fri) is the probability that the pixel value F at the location Γi does not arise from an edge, and Pr(si|si-1) is the transition probability for a new transition based on the Markov process, (d) store the metrics for each such adjacent node. (e) using the adjacent node having the highest metric, calculate the metrics for other nodes adjacent thereto, and (f) repeat steps (d) and (e) until the edge path having the highest metric is determined. 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the additional steps of finding additional root nodes and performing said steps (b)-(f) with respect thereto. 3. The method of claim 2 in which step (f) comprises the step of continuing until an edge path closes on itself, or crosses a previously determined edge path, or reaches the edge of the image. 4. The method of claim 1 in which said metric is a function of the gradient information and the topology of the path by which the node was reached. The present invention relates to image processing and, more particularly, to the detection of edges, lines, and other linear features in two-dimensional discrete images utilizing a sequential detection tehnique. Edge detection represents one of the first processing steps in a great many computer vision and image processing tasks. Reflecting this importance, the literature devoted to the problem is enormous. One need only consult a recent bibliography such a A. Rosenfeld, "Picture processing: 1983", CVGIP, vol. 26, pp. 347-393, June 1984, to gain an appreciation of this fact. Many tasks in computer vision, pattern recognition, and image processing depend upon the successful execution of this step. Consider two-dimensional digital images. By digital it is meant that the image is discrete in the spatial domain, e.g. the image intensity function is not continuous over the two dimensions but defined only on an array of points, and the intensity levels at these points are furthermore quantized into a fixed, finite number of levels. The underlying assumption in this and many other treatments of edge detection is that edges of interest in real scenes such as object boundaries, etc. are represented in an image as a discontinuity in intensity. Therefore the task of edge detection becomes one of identifying intensity discontinuities. The human visual system and perception are such that discontinuities are not the only intensity functions that are percevied as "edges." Other possibilities include discontinuities in the first derivative of the intensity function (ramp edges), texture edges, and color changes. While these features are important in some contexts, and are in fact sufficiently similar to the problem of intensity discontinuities to perform their detection by sequential techniques, this discussion is confined solely to the first problem. It should be noted, however, that sequential algorithms attempt to exploit only the connectivity of edges and are largely independent of the specific edge operator used. Given that the goal is to identify intesnity discontinuities, two general classes of techniques have emerged to address this problem: gradient-type operators and parametric models. Gradient-type operators, which for the purposes of this discussion will include first and second order spatial derivative operators, are discrete spatial filters whose magnitude responses have various high pass characteristics. In particular, they attempt to perform the discrete equivalent of a two-dimensional gradient, a direction derivative operator, or a second order derivative operator. The idea is to emphasize those regions of an image where the intensity function changes rapidly with distance and suppress the area with little change in intensity. These operators may also provide information regarding the direction of the gradient, or in the case of directional operators, the component of the gradient in a given direction. Generally speaking, gradient-type operators are implemented with one of a variety of window functions. This is due to the fact that real edges are of finite extent and therefore the operator must have finite support, i.e. be windowed. If the window function is rectangular, the spectral response of the operator will exhibit the familiar Gibbs phenomenon of Fourier theory. The large gain at high spatial frequencies exacerbates the effects of noise on the output. As in other signal processing applications, the answer to this problem is to employ smoother window functions such as Hamming, Hanning, or Guassian windows. Parametric models view the image intensity fucntion as a surface and this surface is projected onto a set of basis functions. From this modeled surface, edge parameters such as slope position and direction are estimated. A question of importance is the completeness of the basis function set, as the parameters can be estimated only from the projection of the actual image onto the space spanned by that set. For the purposes of this discussion we will include in this class the moment-type operators. These methods attempt to detect intensity discontinuities from the moments of the distribution of intensity values in a window. Practically all edge detection schemes proposed to date in the above classes involve a classification step that utilizes one or more thresholds. Having obtained estimates of the gradient magnitude of direction or edge parameters from a fitted model, some mechanism must be employed to decide whether or not those quantities indicate the presence of an intensity edge at the location in question. This classification step is performed via a decision threshold. Even the second order derivative approach cannot avoid this step. Although zero crossings of the two-dimensional Laplacian nominally indicate intensity edges, even small amounts of noise contribute to a very high density of noise induced zero crossing contours. Therefore, practical implementations must apply a threshold to the slope of the second derivative perpendicular to the zero crossing. This thresholding process may be accomplished in various ways. Earlier techniques established a global threshold on the basis of the histogram of operator outputs or the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) of the operator. More recent methods select the threshold in an adaptive manner based on local image content or on entropy ideas. The question of threshold selection raises two fundamental and related problems with all of these edge detection techniques. The first of these is known as streaking. This phenomenon results from the fact that real images are highly non-homogeneous and edge parameters may change substantially even along the same edge contour. Regardless of the sophistication of the threshold selection process, it is possible and in fact common that due to noise, the operator output is at times above and other times below the decision threshold along the length of a given edge contour. This results in an edge map in which edges that are in reality a single connected contour are only partially detected. The broken segments or streaks are a major concern since many processing tasks that follow edge detection require well connected or even closed edge contours. On the other hand, if the thresholds are set so liberally that the edges of interest are detected with good connectivity, then many false detections and multiple responses on strong edges occur. This is the classical detection theory trade-off between probability of detection and probability of false alarm. Not only is it difficult to decide on a threshold, it is fundamentally impossible to simultaneously achieve a high detection probability and low false alarm rate as the signal-to-noise ratio decreases. A second and related problem is the performance at low signal-to-noise ratio. Since operators attempt to make a decision based only on local information, as the noise power increases, this decision becomes increasingly more difficult to make. The solution generally adopted is to increase the number of observations that contribute to the decision, i.e. make the operator larger. This improves the output signal-to-noise ratio of the operator but only at the expense of spatial resolution. The way to circumvent that problem is to employ a set of directional operators: long skinny operators that pick up their additional observations along an edge rather than out in every direction. This may only be taken so far, however, because the more directional the operator, the larger the requisite set of such operators. Additional complications arise from the fact that edges in real images tend not to run straight for very long. This mandates the inclusion of curved operators which further compounds the job of choosing an operator set. Classical detection theory states that the way to improve performance at low singal-to-noise ratio is to increase the number of observations contributing to the decision. As we have just seen, simply increasing the size of the edge operator is moderately successful in this regard but at the expense of spatial resolution. In addition, the desirable "edge information" generally lies in the vicinity of the edge itself, so picking up observations far from the edge contributes little to the decision process. Using directional operators improves the output-signal-to-noise ratio while maintaining good spatial resolution, but this approach soom becomes unwieldy as the number of such operators increases geometrically with their length. One possible way out of this dilemma is to assemble observations along the edge contour. Observations are made in a very long and narrow path that is deformed to lie along the edge, including curves, corners, and straight segments. Since the set of all possible such paths is enormous, the paths are instead grown in an iterative fashion beginning at a point that is known to lie on the edge. This is the basic philosophy behind sequential edge detection. A searching algorithm attempts to hypothesize possible edge topologies or paths. These paths are extended iteratively, with the current most probable path extended by one observation at each iteration. For this technique to succeed in finding edges, a means of comparing all paths hypothesized so far has to be provided. This comparison is accomplished by associating with each path a statistic called a path metric which reflects the given path's probablity of coinciding with the edge contour. Therefore, only the most likely paths are extended by the searching algorithm. In this way an exhaustive search is avoided. Sequential edge detection has several potential advantages over the techniques discussed earlier. First is offers the possibility of better performance (higher detection probability, lower false alarm probability) at low image signal-to-noise ratio than the local operators, since it obtains many more observations along the edge. For the same reason, the problem of choosing a detection threshold is alleviated: it is much easier to decide "edge" or "no edge" based on many observations than on a few. Secondly, by the very nature of the searching process, the detected edge paths exhibit complete connectivity. Therefore, streaking can be eliminated. Although it is not obvious from this discussion, two subtle advantages to a sequential approach also arise. One is that it allows an analytical treatment of the probability that segments of detected edge contours are in error rather than merely points. The second is that it provides a framework in which the correlation between observations in an image can be exploited to aid in the detection process. The principle disadvantage of a sequential approach is one of computational speed. Actually, on a sequential processor, such algorithms tend to be more efficient than parallel algorithms. But the latter has the potential of dramatically improved speed on special purpose parallel architectures. We will return to discuss all of the foregoing ideas in more detail later, but first we shall review preceding efforts in the literature related to the detection of edges in images by sequential methods. Early work by Fishler and Elschlager, "The representation and matching of pictorial structures," I.E.E.E. Trans. Computers, vol. C-22, pp. 67-92, January 1973, while not precisely a sequential edge detection technique, nevertheless represents one of the earliest efforts to recognize the fact that improved performance at low signal-to-noise ratio can be accomplished by considering edge contours as a whole rather than local points. In their method, hypotheses consist of "embedded" edge contours. For each such embedded contour, an associated cost is calculated. A dynamic programming technique is used to search the (enormous) space representing all possible contours in an effort to find that with the lowest associated cost. In a similar fashion, R. Griffith, "Automatic boundary and feature extraction for the estimation of left ventrical volume in man from serial selective angiocardiograms," D. Eng. Thesis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, August 1973, has also used a dynamic programming technique. Both of these methods have two common problems. Dynamic programming tecnniques attempt to find the best hypothesis in a search. Although they are more efficient than an exhaustive search, the amount of computation for even modest image sizes is still very large. Secondly, the associated cost of an embedded contour is an ad-hoc quantity requiring a considerable amount of tailoring to specific images. In an effort to reduce the amount of computation involved with dynamic programming methods, Chien and Fu, "A decision function method for boundary detection," CGIP, vol. 3, pp. 125-104, 1974, have proposed the use of what is known as depth-first tree searching. They explicitly formulate the edge detection problem as a search through a rooted tree. Their branch "costs," however, are highly specialized to the type of image under consideration and employ a great deal of a-priori information. In a similar fashion, Martelli, "An Application of Heuristic Search Methods to Edge and Contour Detection," Common. ACM, Vol. 19, pp. 73-83, 1976, formulates the problem as a graph searh and uses the A* algorithm, N. Nilsson, Problem-Solving Methods in Artificial Intelligence, McGraw-Hill, 1971, to perform the search. This algorithm is quite similar to the Z-J or stack algorithm described below. Again, Martelli's cost function is ad-hoc and peculiar to the type of image under consideration. Extending the work of Martelli, D. Cooper, "Maximum likelihood estimation of markov-process blob boundaries in noisy images." IEEE Trans. PAMI, vol. PAMI-1, pp. 372-384, October 1979, has also used the A* search algorithm. He has attempted to take some of the arbitrariness out of the cost function by basing that function on a likelihood statistic. He models hypothesized edge contours as a Markov process. The image is modeled as consisting of two region types, "background" and "object," separated by the edge contour. The two types are assumed to be of different but constant intensity. The cost statistic is then the joint likelihood of the particular hypothesized edge contour and the image pixel values, given the assumption that all pixels inside the contour belong to the object at one gray level value and all outside belong to the background at the other gray level value. Note that for each hypothesized edge contour, the statistic must be calculated over the entire image. This method represents one improvement over its forerunners but exhibits several serious drawbacks. On the plus side, the cost function is at least statistical in nature and so has a better theoretical basis than the heuristic functions discussed above. This allows for some performance analysis. Also, the Markov edge contour model captures an important characteristic of real edges, as discussed below. On the other hand, the assumption of only two image pixel types, "object" and "background," independent and of constant gray level values, is highly unrealistic. In practically any real image of interest, pixel gray level values within and outside of objects may vary considerably due to lighting inhomogeneities, shadows, and object inhomogeneities. Pixels are almost never stochastically independent. Furthermore, such a problem statement is only useful for finding bounding contours of objects and is useless for finding internal edges, and interesting edges, all of which may be important to subsequent processing. Ashkar and Modestino in "The contour extraction problem with biomedical applications," CGIP, vol. 7, pp. 331-355, 1978, disclose a technique similar to Chien and Fu above, starting by formulating the edge detection problem as a tree search. They make the important step of applying search to the output image of an edge operator rather than to the original image. This helps overcome some of the shortcomings of Cooper's approach. A Z-J or stack algorithm, discussed below, is used to perform the search. This method represents a fully mature example of sequential detection with additive brach costs or metrics and a truly sequential search. However, its metric suffers from two problems: it is again very ad-hoc in nature, with components that depend on experimentally determined parameters and look-up tables, and it requires a prototype contour. This latter is a contour provided by some a-priori knowledge base that helps to guide the search toward some preconceived estimate of the final edge map. This represents rather high quality a-priori information and, while possible appropriate to certain narrow classes of problems, is a severe limitation to the method's generality. This metric formulation furthermore limits any analytical treatment of the method. It is seen, therefore, that there is a need for a method which formalizes the use of sequential searching as an alternative to the use of local thresholds as a classification criteria on the output of edge operators, Since it is a processing step following the application of an edge operator, it is largely independent of which specific operator is used. The method should allow the integration of many observations along an edge contour to enter into the classification process in order to improve the performance at low signal-to-noise ratio, ease the difficulty in choosing a threshold, and eliminate the incidence of streaking in the resulting edge map. These needs are met by a method of detecting an edge path in an image produced by a technique which is selected from the group consisting of X-ray, CAT scan, nuclear magnetic resonance, photographic, video recording, and photodetection techniques comprising the steps of: a. determing a plurality of pixel values, each such pixel value associated with one of a lattice of nodes, b. selecting a root node having a high probability of being located on an edge path by selecting a node with a high pixel value, c. calculating a metric for adjacent nodes to the root node, d. storing the metrics for each such adjacent node, e. using the adjacent node having the highest metric, calculating the metrics for other nodes adjacent thereto, and f. repeating steps d. and e. until the edge path having the highest metric is determined. The method may further comprise the steps of finding additional root nodes and performing the steps b.-f. with respect thereto. The steps f. may comprise the step of continuing until an edge path closes on itself, or crosses a previously determined edge path, or reaches the edge of the lattice. The pixel values may represent the gradient of the gray level at the nodes in the image. The metric may be independent of path length. The pixel values may be gradient magnitudes and directions determined by using a Gaussian weighted gradient operator. The step of calculating the metric Γ(mi,fi) comprises the step of calculating ##EQU1## Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of detecting intensity edge paths in an image, such image being produced by techniques such as X-ray, CAT scan, nuclear magnetic resonance, photographic, video recording, and photodetection techniques, in which a root node having high probability of lying on an edge path is initially selected and various adjacent nodes are assessed sequentially to determine the most likely edge path; to provide such a method in which a metric is calculated for each node based upon the pixel value of the node and the topology of the path by which the node was reached, such metric being an indication of the likelihood that the node lies on the edge path; and to provide a method in which the pixel values are representative of the gradient magnitude and direction of the image. Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. FIG. 1 is an representation of a plurality of nodes arranged in a lattic, illustrating possible and impossible paths, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are graphs useful in explaining the present invention. The present invention relates to a method, termed Sequential Edge Linking, which is used to enhance images consisting of pixel arrays derived from X-ray photographs, and various other data sources. Finding linear features in an image is a post-processing task to follow the application of an emphasis operator. We consider such an operator to be any mathematical operator that, when applied to a digital image, produces an estimate of the magnitude and direction of the desired linear feature at every point in the image. Some pre-processing (i.e. using an operator) is prudent. Although it might be possible to perform a sequential search directly on the raw image, this results in the need to introduce additional parameters. Use of a preprocessing operator decomposes the feature extraction task into two parts: emphasis and detection. The operator serves to emphasize the feature in which we are interested. The sequential searching algorithm then attempts to perform the detection process based on this emphasized information. This allows the detection algorithm to be independent of the feature. For example, to perform intensity edge detection, the preprocessing operator is designed to emphasize intensity discontinuities in the image. Likewise, the operator may be designed to emphasize lines, roof edges, texture edges, or color edges. In any case, its output is expected to be a function of the magnitude and/or the direction of that particular feature at every point in the image. In the case of intensity edges, the preprocessing operator generally attempts to estimate the magnitude and direction of the local intensity gradient. However it usually also employs spatial low-pass filtering to avoid unacceptably high probability of false detection in situations with poor signal-to-noise ratio. By incorporating such filtering in the edge operator, which is applied over the entire image, one may take advantage of certain computational efficiencies. We will assume for now that gradient magnitude and direction information represents the input to our system. Our goal is to determine connected lines representing intensity edges in the original image while not responding to spurious effects of noise, etc. We would like to achieve as much positional accuracy as possible, but due to the searching technique, subpixel accuracy cannot be obtained. A crucial observation is that it is not desirable to quantize this gradient information any more coarsely than necessary. We certainly do not want to threshold this data (quantize to one bit) globally, locally, adaptively, with hysteresis, or whatever. Nor do we wish to non-maximum suppress it. The experience of detection theory, coding theory, and related disciplines states that coarse quantization of noisy, correlated observations independently of one another may be expedient or acceptable where the signal-to-noise ratio is high, but leads to poor performance when the signal quality deteriorates. Instead of making such hard decisions (thresholding) right away, experience dictates one "integrate" the soft information over many observations before concluding on a decision. This "integration" takes a variety of forms depending on the application. For example, radar problems utilize sequential detection theory; all decoding algorithms in coding theory base decision on blocks or long sequences of received data; examples of correlational detection abound. Sequential edge linking is one manner in which such integration may be performed in the context of image edge detection. The image processing literature has not entirely ignored this fact. Non-isotropic, highly directional edge operators make explicit use of this idea. J. Canny, "Finding edges and lines in images," MIT AI-TR-720, June 1983, has calculated the actual performance improvement to be derived from long operators stretched in the direction of an edge. These suffer from two related disadvantages: they are typically limited to short, straight segments or a small number of curved segments, and they are computationally prohibitive as their size increases (since they must be convolved in all orientations over all points of an image). Even with certain restrictions imposed, the number of possible configurations grows exponentially with the number of pixels in the operator. Certainly, decision based on hundreds of pixels, accomplished according to the present invention, are unthinkable by these methods. Relaxation-based methods do make use of soft edge magnitude and direction information as well as the interaction between neighboring pixels and thus reportably accounts for their high performance in certain situations. The trouble with relaxation lies with its convergence properties. In particular, in many situations convergence of the algorithm is not even guaranteed or the solution is not known to be unique. No performance bounds can be determined or estimated. In short, one must report to a "try and see" approach. Furthermore, the nature of the pixel interdependence specified in the algorithm cannot take advantage of any knowledge of the true correlation statistics. Finally there are the sequential searching techniques. Various investigators have attempted to employ sequential tree or graph searching algorithms in this context. Ashkar and Modestino, above, and Cooper, above, seem to have come the closest to SEL. With the former, the metric used to guide the search is purely ad-hoc and so cannot benefit from any analysis aimed at determining its behavior or probability of success. More seriously, however, their technique makes explicit use of a "training contour" to guide the search. This represents very high quality a-priori information. It is noted that in certain specific circumstances such information may indeed be available, but it greatly reduces the generality of the method. The second technique is quite different from SEL and, as noted earlier, suffers from quite restricting assumptions concerning the mean gray level of pixels and their independence. While the results are generally good on artificial images where these assumptions are explicitly met, their performance on real images is yet to be demonstrated. It can be said, however, that the path searching technique of both of these approaches is very similar to that of SEL, as is the philosophy for doing so. Having obtained the gradient magnitude and direction information from an edge operator (plus spatial filter), it seems tempting to suggest a maximum likelihood search. To do this, one might hypothesize all possible edge paths of say n pixels in length, calculate their respective a-priori likelihoods, assuming some distribution on the gradient levels, and pick the largest. However, the exponential growth of the candidate configurations with n dooms this approach, regardless of the maximum likelihood algorithm used. The situation is analogous to the problem of decoding convolutional codes in coding theory. One may use ML techniques such as dynamic programming as long as the constraint length is small (<9 or 10). Beyond this, the exponential growth of computation and memory requirements with constraint length make the algorithm too unwieldy. The solution to the decoding problem with large constraint lengths, sequential loading, is the inspiration behind SEL. In both situations one does not attempt to explore all possible paths in the tree, picking the ML path, but rather one explores only a small subset of them with a high probability of including the correct one. This exploration is accomplished sequentially, extending only those paths which hold high promise of being the correct one. This approach has several promising virtues. First, it can explore trees with large "constraint lengths" or memory very efficiently and at high speed. Sequential decoding of codes with constraint lengths of up to 50 and at speeds in excess of 10 Mb/s is not uncommon. Secondly, disregarding the problem noted in the next paragraph, the error performance is generally very good. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly the analytical machinery developed for the analysis of sequential decoding may be brought to bear, with a number of important modifications, on the edge detection problem. This allows important inferences to be drawn regarding performance bonds, probability of error events, etc. On the negative side, such sequential algorithms suffer a variety of problems resulting from their variable computation time. As signal-to-noise ratio degenerates, the number of possible paths explored increases. In data transmission systems, this can lead to buffer overflow and burst errors. With image edge detection, this means only that processing time is delayed. Looked at another way, SEL can take advantage of good signal-to-noise ratio by exploring fewer paths. In any case, processing time is variable, depending on the quality of the edge information present. One final note. By virtue of its path metric, SEL can provide subsequent processing tasks with quantitative information concerning the confidence in segments or whole edges. Other attributes such as length, curvature, direction, and an ordering of the constituent pixels are explicitly determined and immediately available to higher level tasks. It is appropriate here to specify clearly the definitions of some terms which will be used below. For our purposes, the terms image or digital image will refer to a sample function of a two-dimensional discrete parameter random field. Sample functions of this random field consist of a rectangular array of numbers. These numbers can represent various quantities depending on the nature of the field. If the array is an image of a natural scene, the numbers may represent the gray level of intensity of light at that point of the scene. Alternatively, they may represent an estimate of the magnitude of the gradient of such gray levels or the direction of the gradient. Whatever their interpretation, these numbers, henceforth to be called pixel values, pixels, or observations are defined at points of a rectangular lattice. The points of the lattice are called nodes, their spacing is uniform and equal in both directions, and they are indexed by I X I where I is the set of integers. For a given random field, we assume the existence of a probability space (Ω, A, P) and a measurable function, fr (ω); ωεΩ, rεI2 defined on this space: fr (ω): ΩX I2 →F R (1) Here, r=(r1, r2) is the pair of coordinates of a node in the array, and fr (ω) is the pixel value at that node, and F is some countable subset of the set of real numbers. Due to the rectangular nature of the lattice, each node has a unique set of eight neighbors. The node at coordinates (r1, r2) has the neighbor set: (r1 +1, r2), (r1, r2 +1), (r1 -1, r2), (r1, r2 -1), (r1 -1, r2 -1), (r1 -1, r2 +1), (r1 +1, r2 -1), (r1 +1, r2 +1). Any ordered set of nodes for which all adjacent pairs are neighbors will be called connected. An ordered pair of neighbors also uniquely defines a direction. Eight such directions are therefore possible. A path will be defined as a connected set of nodes with the following property: for any subset of three nodes in the ordered set, the direction defined by the first two nodes and by the second two nodes differ by π/4 or less. Thus, if one were to draw line segments between nodes of a path, the resulting curve would contain no changes of direction greater than or equal to π/2 (see FIG. 1). Paths may be denoted in one of two ways. The first is simply the ordered set of nodes comprising the path: m=[(r1 1, r1 2), (r2 1, r2 2), . . . (rm 1, rm 2)] (2) The second method is by specifying a start node and direction, and an ordered set of letters: m=(r0 1, r0 2)×d0 ×[a1, a2, a3, . . . an ] (3) where (r0 1, r0 2) is the start node, d0 is the start direction, and ai are taken from an alphabet A=[L, S, R]. The letters of the alphabet stand for left, straight, and right, respectively. The coordinate of the nodes of the path may be obtained in a recursive fashion from the letters ai. The first node is obtained from the start node by moving in the array in the direction d0. The direction to the second node is then obtained from d0 and a1 (and so on) by the obvious rule: ##EQU2## This process can likewise be reversed to obtain the list-of-letters description of a path from the list of node coordinates. Thus, either description uniquely specifies a given path and they are equivalent. The second path description has been introduced in order to clarify the following model for paths. We will assume that paths may be modeled as a kth order Markov Chain. In the following discussion, we will focus on the letters ai of paths and take up the question of the start nodes and direction later. Let us consider a discrete time stochastic process Si, i=0, 1, 2, 3, . . . ; Si (ω): Ω→Σ (5) The underlying space Ω is just the space of all possible state sequences: Ω=(s0, s1, s2, . . . ) (6) and Σ is the state space. When the process enters the state at i+1 from that at i, it outputs a letter ai+1 εA=[L, S, R]. The state of the system is defined to be the ordered sequence of the last k letters put out by the system: si =(ai, ai-1, . . . , ai-(k-1)) (7) so that Σ=A X A X . . . X A=Ak. We will assume s0 is fixed and known. The Markov assumption is then: Pr(Si+1 =si, si-1, . . . , s0)=Pr(Si+1 =si+1 |si) (8) Pr(ai+1 |si, . . . , s0)=Pr(ai+1 |si) (9) from which it follows by the chain rule: ##EQU3## This is our stochastic model for the path process. It bears a strong resemblance to that used in the article by D. Cooper, discussed above. By manipulation of the transition probabilities, Pr(si+1 |si), certain types of paths achieve higher probability of occurrence than do others. For example, the model may favor paths exhibiting long segments of straight transitions over those that meander incessantly with highly probably L to R and R to L transitions. Such a nonuniform distribution of transition probabilities may be experimentally verified for images. The crucial concept in any sequential tree searching algorithm is that of a path metric. The algorithm's efficiency and chance of success lies in its ability at any point of execution to rank all the paths explored so far by a measure of their "quality". This measure is the path metric. The path branch metric of Ashkar and Modestino, discussed above, is an example, but it suffers from a lack of generality and is largely ad-hoc. A path branch metric has been derived according to the present invention which optimizes a joint probability criterion. A concept of a branch metric for sequential tree searching was first introduced in the problem of sequential decoding of convolutional codes by R. M. Fano in "A hueristic discussion of probabilistic decoding," IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. IT-19, pp. 232-234, March 1973. That metric is probabilistic, reflecting the statistical nature of the underlying coding theory. The metric according to the present invention is also probabilistic. This is in part due to the models assumed for images and paths, but also because it allows a statistical treatment of the operation and performance of the algorithm. Path metrics should exhibit certain desirable qualities. First, they should not be biased by path length. That is, the metric should not favor a long path over a short one just because of its length or vice versa. All paths need to be compared on the basis of their probability of being an edge path regardless of length. Second, they need to be efficient to compute. This is best served by a metric that is recursively computed: the metric of a path to a certain node is obtained from that to the preceding node by adding a "correction value" that depends only on the new node. This eliminates the necessity for calculating the metric anew over the nodes of a long path every time it is extended by a node. This is very important from the standpoint of efficiency and becomes an even more crucial requirement when the observations are correlated. Finally, the metric should exhibit the all-important "drift" characteristics. That is, it should tend to increase along true edge paths and decrease elsewhere. This is critical to ensure that a sequential searching alogrithm proceeds correctly. The path metric will be defined for paths in a random field as defined previously. We will assume the following two measures on the random field. The first, p1 (fr =y), is the probability the field value or observation at node r is y conditioned on the hypothesis, H1, that that node is on an intensity edge in the original image: ##EQU4## The second is the probability of the observation conditioned on the null hypothesis, H0, that the node is randomly positioned in the field with respect to intensity edges: ##EQU5## Note that, at this point, we are not even specifying what the random field, f, represents but merely assuming the existence of these two conditional measures on that field. It will later turn out that the field is a gradient magnitude or gradient direction field or a function of both. For a given path, m, ##EQU6## we now define the likelihood ratio, l(f), of the path in the conventional manner as: ##EQU7## This is implies the joint probability of the observations along the path conditioned on the H1 hypothesis divided by the joint probability of those values conditioned on the H0 hypothesis. From Equation (10), we have the probability of the path m is: ##EQU8## We are now in a position to define our path metric. For the given path m, the path metric Γ(mf), will be defined as the logarithm of the product of the path probability and its likelihood ratio: Γ(m,f)=ln [Pr(m)·l(f)] (16) If we make the very important assumption that the random variables of the field are stochastically independent, then the likelihood ratio becomes: ##EQU9## and Equation (16) simplified to: ##EQU10## The above assumption, known as the statistical independence of the observations, is an important one. It allows the factorization of the joint probabilities of the likelihood ratio which in turn gives the path metric its recursive computational efficiency. Note that path m may be extended by a node and the new metric obtained from the old by merely adding a term: ##EQU11## The path metric of Equation (18) is a sum of branch terms each of which has two components. These components play different roles. The first is a likelihood ratio of the probability of observing the random variable fr under the hypothesis H1 to the probability under the null hypothesis. This component therefore is a function of the data in the image. The second component is the branch transition probability and is a measure of the a-priori probability that the edge path proceeds in that direction, given the last k branch directions. The stochastic nature and recursiveness of our path metric are clear. The fact that it possesses the correct "drift" characteristics will now be demonstrated. For this purpose, we will find the conditional mean of the statistic, ##EQU12## i.e. the path metric normalized by its length: ##EQU13## Now since the path process is stochastically independent of the random field under the H1 hypothesis, the right hand side becomes: ##EQU14## Considering the first term above, since the observations, fj, are equidistributed, the expectation of the sum is equal to the sum of n identical expectations, so that: ##EQU15## by the definition of the p1 measure. This last quantity is seen to be the Kullback's Information (S. Kullback, Information Theory and Statistics, Wiley, 1959) between the p1 and p0 measures, denoted I(p1 |p0). The second term of Equation (21) can be rewritten using the chain rule as: ##EQU16## which is defined to be the entropy per letter of the Markov source, R. Gallager, Information and Reliable Communication, Wiley, 1968. In the limit as n→∞, this quantity can be shown to be equal to: ##EQU17## where q(i) is the time averaged state probability of state i: ##EQU18## Since all the states in the Markov Chain we have been considering are recurrent and in the same equivalence class, i.e. each state can be reached from any other in one or more transitions and there are no states outside this set, q(i) is independent of the intitial state, s0. Combining Equations (21) and (23), we therefore have the final result that: ##EQU19## Likewise, under the H0 hypothesis, the observations term becomes: ##EQU20## so that: ##EQU21## We see that since both I(•|•) and H.sub.∞ (S) are strictly non-negative, the expected value of the normalized metric conditioned on the hypothesis that the path is not an edge path is negative. When conditioned on the H1 hypothesis, the normalized metric will be positive if: I(p1 |p0)>H.sub.∞ (S) (29) Therefore, as long as Equation (29) is satisfied, the metric tends to grow with length if the path is truly an edge path and tends to decrease with length otherwise. This is the desired "drift" tendency that allows the searching algorithm to find the edges in the image. It is interesting to note that the difference between the statistics conditioned on the two hypotheses grows with n as: ##EQU22## where J(•,•) is Kullback's Divergence. This says that, on average, the difference between the rate at which the metric grows along a true edge path and the rate at which it decreases along a random path is equal to the Kullback's Divergence between the two measures P1 and p0. It may also be shown that this path metric is not biased by path length. As discussed above, the SEL algorithm is usually preceded by the application of a spatial gradient operator. The algorithm operates on the output of this operator rather than on the raw image itself. The function of the gradient operator is twofold. First, as its name implies, it forms an estimate of the (discrete) spatial intensity gradient at every node of the field. This includes direction as well as magnitude estimates. The rationale for this is that intensity edges in images generally coincide with large gradient values. Gradient magnitude is a local measure of "edginess" at a node that is independent of the average or baseline intensity in the local region. This high pass (in spatial frequency response) nature is characteristic fo all gradient-type signal processors. Due to the predominance of high (spatial) frequency noise in many images, this high pass response of a gradient operator does little to reduce the average noise power in the opertor output. Partly to increase the output signal-to-noise ratio and partly to provide a measure of control over the overall spatial frequency response of the operator, gradient operators often include some low pass spatial filtering as their second function. Again, the choice of filter functions is large, with many "optimum" filters having been derived for specific situations and criteria. Favorable results given may be obtained using a 2-D Gaussian filter. This choice was made for two reasons. The kernel of a 2-D Gaussian filter is separable, i.e. the 2-D convolution can be decomposed into two concatenated 1-D convolutions. This has a dramatic effect on increasing computational efficiency, especially for filters with large support. Secondly, the Gaussian has the unique property among the myriad possible filter functions of having a minimum product of bandwidth and spatial resolution. Thus it ofers an excellent compromise between noise rejection (narrow low-pass bandwidth) and edge position blurring (spatial resolution). In fact, it has shown in the prior art through a variational Calculus argument that the Gaussian is very nearly equal to the optimum filter shape for intensity step edges in images where the criteria of optimality are edge positional accuracy and output signal-to-noise ratio. Edge direction information is also useful in detection algorithms. Gradient operators are vector operators and provide estimates of the local gradient direction as well as the magnitude. These two quantities can be combined to provide a directional gradient operator. If n is a unit vector in a certain direction, then: is the gradient of the field I in the direction of n. It has been argued by various investigators, that directional operators provide better performance in the presence of noise than do isotropic operators. When Gaussian filtering is included, a directional gradient operator takes the form: where I is the original field (image), G is a 2-D Gaussian kernel, * denotes 2-D convolution, and n is a unit vector in the desired direction. In other words, this operator only considers the component of the gradient in the direction n; the component of the gradient parallel to n is disregarded. The quantity in Equation (32) can be determined at the nodes of hypothesized paths in the following manner. The gradient operator is first applied to the entire image, with the magnitude and direction information stored separately in two output fields. The magnitude field is given by: and the direction field by: ##EQU23## When a given node, r, is visited by the algorithm, the directional gradient at r can be found by: fr =(Dr ·dr.sup.⊥)Mr (35) where dr.sup.⊥ is orthogonal to the path direction at r and • is a vector dot product. Since the path to r defines a certain direction dr, the normal to this direction, dr.sup.⊥, is dotted into the gradient direction at r and this is multiplied by the gradient magnitude. Thus, fr is precisely the directional gradient of Equation (32) at the node r. Note that fr is a function of the path direction at r as well as the gradient magnitude and direction. It should be pointed out that Equation (32) gives only one possible f-field input to SEL. Many others could be used. For example, the input field could be just the gradient magnitude, fr =Mr (36) or it could be the output of the Sobel operator the ∇2 G operator, compass gradient masks, or many of a large variety of mathematical operators. Equation (32) merely represents one possible input field that has been used. The path metric used by the SEL algorithm requires scalar values, fr, however. Where vector information is present, the path direction is used to reduce it in an appropriate fashion to scalar quantities. So far, we have defined what we mean by paths and can associate with each path a quantitative measure of quality or metric. This metric is a function of the joint probability of the path transition letters and the f-values of the random field along the path. What is now needed is a systematic way of hypothesizing paths so that they may be compared via their corresponding metrics. As was discussed above, every path in the field cannot be hypothesized because the number of possibilities is enormous. Thus, maximum likelihood detection is impossible. What is done is make hypotheses in such a way that only a small subset of possible paths is actually explored, but this subset contains an actual edge path with high probability. The procedure used is called sequential tree searching and is borrowed from coding theory, it presumes that a start or root node is given. This start node must be on an intensity edge but is otherwise arbitrary. The root node defines a tree of semi-infinite paths in the random field. Because of the special structure of paths, there are precisely 3n paths of length n (or to depth n in the tree) beginning at the root node. The sequential searching algorithm begins at the root node and sequentialy examines paths in the tree. The exact procedure by which this is done depends on the algorithm used; these will be discussed in detail shortly. The sequential behavior, however, is common to them all. At each iteration of the algorithm, one of the paths explored so far is extended by one node and the metric for this new path is calculated. Decisions are made based on these metrics as to which path should be extended on the next iteration. This is in accord with the definition of sequential tree searching as defined by Forney, "Convolution Codes III: Sequential Decoding," Inf. Control., vol. 25, pp. 267-297, July 1974: a search is sequential only if each new path hypothesized is an extension of a previously examined one and the decision as to which path to extend is based only on the set of paths visited thus far. Because long paths are built up node by node, it is entirely possible that the algorithm can mistakenly follow a non-edge path of some depth into the tree. As discussed above, however, the average tendency of the metric under these circumstances is to decrease with increasing length. Our hope, therefore, is that these forays along incorrect paths will eventually be halted by the resulting decreases in metric. The algorithm at some point settles back onto the correct (edge) path for which the average tendency is for the metric to increase with length. Of course, this average behavior of the metric does not guarantee that all incorrect paths will eventually be abandoned. Originally proposed independently by K. Zigangirov, "Some Sequential Decoding Procedures," Prob. Peredachi Inf., vol. 2, pp. 13-25, 1966, the Z-J or stack algorithm is a very efficient method of performing sequential searching in a tree, especially when the implementation is in software. It is also the easiest of the sequential algorithms to understand and so provides the most accessible route to gaining insight into how sequential searching works. At the heart of the Z-J algorithm is a stack or priority queue. Each entry in the stack consists of a path and its corresponding metric. These entries are ordered by their metric, with the "top" of the stack occupied by the path with the largest metric. When the algorithm is first invoked, the stack is initialized by placing the root node at the top of the stack and assigning it a metric of 0. At this point a slight deviation from the classical Z-J algorithm must be accommodated due to the random field model on which paths are based. This modification is to specify a root direction as well. This direction information may be obtained directly from the gradient direction map or from a local computation on the f-field values. Having specified a root node and direction, exactly three paths to depth 1 in the tree are defined. These are the three descendents of the root node. The first iteration of the stack algorithm proceeds as follows. The root node is deleted from the stack, the three descendents to depth 1 are placed onto the stack and ordered by their corresponding metrics. Subsequent iterations are performed by deleting the top-most path from the stack, finding its three descendant paths, calculating their metrics, and inserting them onto the stack according to their metrics. Thus at each iteration, the current best path is extended by one node. The current best path can be any path examined thus far since the largest metric always percolates to the top of the stack regardless of when it was last extended. The algorithm brings out several important characteristics of all sequential searching algorithms. Perhaps most importantly from an operational standpoint, the amount of computation is not fixed or a simple function of path length. When the noise becomes more and more severe, the algorithm investigates more false paths and to larger depths in the tree before abandoning them. When the signal-to-noise ratio is high, the true edge path consistently has the best metric and so very little computational effort is spent on incorrect paths. This variable computational effort is typical of sequential searching algorithms. This is because data buffer overflows resulting from highly variable computational load under conditions of poor SNR are a major cause of output errors for sequential decoding. It is interesting to note that its application to image edge linking does not suffer from this particular problem. In effect, the data in its entirety is always available to the algorithm as the input field or fields (e.g. gradient magnitude and direction fields) are assumed to be given. The algorithm cannot therefore "fall behind" relative to constantly arriving data as in the coding/decoding situation. Of course, it is still true that additional delay must be accepted in these situations. This algorithm clearly illustrates the characteristic that very long paths can be explored at the expense of not performing maximum likelihood decisions. Paths to depths, n, of hundreds of nodes in the tree can be readily examined by the algorithm but obviously not all to the 3n possible paths are examined for such large n. The vast majority are never taken up by the algorithm because they exhibit such poor metrics in the first few nodes compared to the relatively few paths that are taken to great depths. It is conceivable that the correct path is among those that are discarded early, but can be shown that following an incorrect path to large n has a probability that decreases exponentially in n. Thus, sequential searching cannot guarantee selection of the most probable path among all possible paths (ML). It does, however, allow the most promising paths to be explored without expending computational effort on large numbers of unpromising paths. One characteristic of the stack algorithm that is not shared by all sequential algorithms is its large memory requirement. Maintenance of the stack when exploring long paths requires the use of a significant amount of memory. The algorithm is thus suited to applications where the implementation is on software. Three variations on the original Z-J algorithm have arisen in the coding literature. The first is the stack-bucket algorithm of Jelinek, "A Fast Sequential Decoding Algorithm Using a Stack," IBM J. Res. and Dev., vol. 13, pp. 675-685, Nov., 1969. This is an attempt to partially alleviate a time consuming aspect of the stack algorithm. As the number of entries in the stack becomes large, it takes increasingly longer to insert successor paths into their appropriate place on the stack. With the stack-bucket algorithm, no ordering of the stack is performed at all. Instead, the stack is divided into a number of segments called buckets, with each bucket corresponding to an interval of possible metric values. With each iteration of the algorithm, paths are placed in the bucket appropriate to their metrics. No ordering in the buckets takes place. The path to be extended is simply taken from the top of the highest non-empty bucket. Note that this is not necessarily the best current path, but only a very good one, unless the highest non-empty bucket contains only this one path. On the other hand, the placement of paths onto the stack involves a computation that depends only on the number of buckets there are and does not grow as the stack increases in length. Thus, this algorithm trades away some performance for a substantial improvement in speed. A second variation, introduced by Haccoun and Ferguson D. H. accoun and M. J. Ferguson, "Generalized Stack Algorithms for Decoding Convolutional Codes," IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. [T-21, pp. 638-651, Nov. 1975,] is called the generalized stack algorithm. In this case, paths are organized and extended just as in the Z-J algorithm but more than one path can be extended at the same time. This algorithm also can detect remerging paths. When two paths remerge, the path with lower metric is discarded from the stack, thus eliminating unwanted baggage. This modification seems to influence the buffer overflow problem of decoding. In view of its added complexity, its value in image edge linking is questionable. The third variation is the multiple stack algorithm (P. R. Chevillat and D. J. Costello, Jr., "A Multiple Stack Algorithm for Erasure-free Decoding of Convolutional Codes," IEEE Trans. Commun., Col. COM-25, pp. 1460-1470, Dec. 1977). This algorithm completely eliminates the buffer overflow problem by forcing the decoder ahead along ♭reasonably good" paths in times of much noise, rather than continuing the search for the best path. The manner in which this is done involves the judicious use of additional smaller stacks to which the algorithm turns when the main stack fills up. The smaller stacks limit the search space of the algorithm and thus speeds up its penetration of the tree. This technique may very well have application to the image problem. The A* algorithm is a heuristic tree-searching algorithm originating in the artificial intelligence literature, N. Nilsson, Problem-Solving Methods in Artifical Intelligence, McGraw-Hill, 1971. In operation it differs little from the stack algorithm. The search is once again sequential with the best path extended as each iteration by a node. In this case, best is taken to mean that path with the lowest associated cost (an inverted metric). This cost is computed recursively by summing branch costs associated with each path transition from the start node to the current node. The algorithm includes a provision for eliminating inferior paths when remergings occur. The primary difference between A* and the Z-J algorithm is that the former also provides for the inclusion of a cost associated with completing the path from the current node to some specified goal node. This completion cost as well as the specification of the goal node must be provided by some a-priori or heuristic information source. It has been shown [Har68] that if this completion cost is a lower bound on the minimal cost path from the current node to the goal, then the algorithm will find an optimal, minimum cost path to the goal. If no such heuristic information is available, A* reduces essentially to the Z-J algorithm. The Fano Algorithm, named after its originator, F. M. Fano, was actually the first algorithm to be developed for sequential searching, R. Fano, "A Heuristic Discussion of Probabilistic Decoding," IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. IT-9, pp. 64-74, April, 1963. This algorithm is particularly well suited for hardware implementations of sequential decoders as it requires very little memory. It is, however, more difficult to understand than the algorithms discussed above. The Fano algorithm never makes large jumps about the tree as do the various stack algorithms. Instead, its movements are confined to three types: forward moves, from a given node to one of its successor nodes; backward moves from a successor to a predecessor node; and sideways from a successor node to another successor node of the same predecessor. Decisions as to which move to make at any particular time are based on comparisons between the path metric associated with the node under consideration and a running threshold, T. This running threshold is practically the only quantity that must be stored and always changes by multiples of some constant, Δ. When the algorithm is constantly moving forward, deeper into the tree, the threshold is increased by multiples of Δ such that Γ·Δ<T≦Γ. Such forward moves are only allowed so long as Γ≧T for the new node. If none of the successor nodes satisfies this requirement, the algorithm executes a series of backward and sideways moves in an effort to find a new node such that Γ≧T. If none can be found, the threshold is decremented by Δ and the search continues. The decision structure of the algorithm is so constructed that it is impossible for the algorithm to lodge itself in an infinite loop. Furthermore, the Fano algorithm practically always chooses the same path as does the stack algorithm. The operation of the various algorithms described in the section above is critically dependent on the identification of a root node on each intensity edge of interest. The only requirement imposed on these root nodes is that they actually lie on the edge. The selection of these nodes is addressed below. It seems reasonable to consider the output of the spatial gradient operator which precedes the SEL searching algorithm. The magnitude of the gradient is a measure of "edginess" at that point in the image. Therefore, nodes that exhibit a large gradient magnitude ought to be good candidates for root nodes. Questions to be asked are: (1) With what confidence do such nodes actually lie on an edge? (2) What is the probability that no root nodes for a given edge are generated in this way? and (3) How is a classification threshold on gradient magnitude values to be chosen? These questions may be addressed using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves for gradient operators. ROC curves, common in the detection theory literature, are parametric plots of the probability of detection (PD) versus the probability of false alarm (PF). Their use with linear edge operators for images is known. An example of such a curve is illustrated in FIG. 2. This curve is for a simple 3×3 Sobel gradient-type edge operator and a signal-to-noise ratio of 10 dB. The curve is parameterized by the decision threshold; as the threshold is raised, the locus of the operating point moves along the curve from the curve from the upper right hand corner to the lower left. The fact that the curve does not reach the upper left hand corner (PD=1, PF=0) is a manifestation of the imperfect performance of such operators: it is impossible to choose a threshold such that all the edge points are found and no non-edge points are misclassfied as belonging to an edge. The closeness with which an operator's ROC curve comes to the (ideal) upper left corner is an indication of that operator's performance. Large support gradient opeartors may be expected to do considerably better than the Sobel operator of FIG. 2. Conversely, poorer SNR ratios tend to push the curve for any operator away from the upper left corner. It is a fundamental characteristic of all such curves, however, that they are convex and lie above the diagonal, PD=PF, known as the chance diagonal. Returning to the problem of finding root nodes, we make the following important observation. In contrast to the classical detection problem for which operation at a high probability of detection is desired, the problem of selecting root nodes demands operation very near the lower left corner of the ROC curve. This observation is crucial to the starting node problem. If a high threshold on the gradient magnitude is employed (operation near the lower left corner of the ROC curve), then both the probability of detection and the probability of false alarm are small. At any point along the ROC curve, the slope of the curve is equal to the likelihood ratio: ##EQU24## An important proeprty of such curves is that this slope generally is quite large for large f, i.e. near the lower left corner. For example, if the conditional densities of Equation (37) are Gaussian, the likelihood ratio asymptotically approaches infinity. Thus, under quite general conditions it is reasonable to assume that the slope of the ROC curve is very high in the immediate vicinity of the origin. Imposing a high threshold on the gradient magnitude therefore implies that any magnitude value exceeding this threshold has a much higher probability of lying on an edge than not. The price paid for this high likelihood ratio is that the PD is small in the vicinity of the origin. That is, only a small fraction of the actual edge points will be identified by a high threshold. However, sequential searching techniques require only one starting node on an edge. A low PD is therefore not a drawback for SEL. An example may serve to fix these ideas. Consider a gradient operator whose output in the presence of high noise power is characterized by the ROC curve of FIG. 3. This ROC curve results from the conditional probabilities: ##EQU25## i.e. the conditional probabilities at the output of the operator are normal with a signal-to-noise of 1.0. This corresponds to exceedingly poor quality in the original image. At a threshold value of: ft =3.2 (39) the likelihood ratio is: ##EQU26## and the PD is: Thus, on average, only 1 in every 300 true edge points are identified by such a high threshold, but any point so identified is 25 times as likely to lie on an edge as not. The probability of false alarm is: This example may be rather extreme; the output of large support Gaussian filtered gradient operators exhibit much higher SNR than this on many images of interest. However it serves to illustrate that, even under severe conditions, highly reliable start nodes may be generated by thresholding gradient magnitude values. We have previously described a technique for finding candidate start nodes. For certain applications, where a-priori knowledge concerning the image under consideration is available, this technique can be augmented or even replaced by scene-specific methods that make use of that information. One such method is described in J. Modestino et al, "Computer Evaluation of Dynamic Left Ventricular Volume from Serial Angiograms," Proc. Computers in Cardiology, St. Louis, MO, pp. 211-218, Oct. 7-9, 1976, for the case of angiocardiograms. Since the image is known to contain the boundary of a heart for which a prototype outline has been supplied, that technique searches a restricted portion of the image for candidate start nodes that best fit the prototype model. Depending on how much a-priori information is available, such scene-specific methods may employ any number of pattern recognition or template correlation techniques to search for areas in the image that have a high probability of lying on an edge of interest. These techniques may in fact provide even better rejection of false edge points; however, they are application specific. Their effectiveness is only as good as the scene model which they exploit. Where the image does not closely match the assumed model, their performance may degrade seriously. These techniques will not be treated in any depth here. Strategies for terminating a sequential searching algorithm tend to be somewhat heuristic. Four such conditions suggest themselves for practical implementations. Others may perform well, especially where a-priori information is available. Practical digitized images are of finite extent. Thus, intensity edges contained therein are of finite length. Several situations are possible. One, an edge may close on itself (e.g. a circle or the bounding contour of an object wholly contained in the image). In this case, the search may be terminated when the current best path closes on itself. Second, an edge may intersect another. Here again, search is terminated when the best path intersects another, previously found, edge path. Third, an edge may be continued off the support of the image. For this case, termination occurs when the search reaches the image boundary. Another case is possible. Here an edge either stops abruptly without intersecting another or gradually fades in contrast to zero. These are the only really difficult situations for a sequential algorithm to handle. The approach suggested here is based on the running path metric. Since the algorithm will continue to search beyond the end of an abrupt edge, all such paths will exhibit a sharp fall off in metric beyond the end of the edge. Likewise, a strong intensity edge that begins to fade in contrast will be tracked for awhile by the algorithm, but the resulting path metric will fall from its previous high value before the fade. It is therefore reasonable to suggest a termination condition based on running metric. When the metric of the best path falls below some specified fraction of the highest metric along that path, the search is terminated. Of course, one runs the risk of terminating search just before the metric picks up again unless the fraction is fairly small. Abrupt edge ends are likely to be handled well by this technique, but slowly fading edges must always present a compromise to a sequential algorithm (and indeed to any other algorithm for that matter). It will be appreciated that the detection of edges, lines, and other linear features in two dimensional discrete images may advantageously be applied to images developed or derived in any of a number of ways, including by means of X-ray techniques, nuclear magnetic resonance techniques, CAT scan techniques, conventional photographic techniques, video recording techniques, and the use of photodetector devices which directly transform light from an image into an electrical representation of the image. The following source code listings illustrate implementation of the present invention by means of a digital computer. The C-language listing was written for a VAX 11/780 computer manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation. ##SPC1## Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.

Help Hope Missions Meet Physical Needs HOPE MISSIONS is often asked by individuals and churches about Supplies that are needed for our Short-Term Mission Trips. Hope Missions provides Gospel Tracts and materials needed to conduct many projects. However, we have been looking for ways that people can be more involved in meeting other needs. A couple of ideas were birthed from our most recent trip to Costa Rica. Below are details on how you and your group can help meet these important physical needs. BAGS OF HOPE A great need in every country we serve is for school supplies. Children in many countries are required to wear school uniforms and provide basic school supplies. Severe poverty keeps many families from providing these basic needs. This is a need that can be easily met by individuals and churches. Hope Missions wants to provide needy children with a BAG OF HOPE. Below is a list of items that are needed for these bags. - 1 Pack of Pencils - 3 Spiral Notebooks - 1 Pack of Coloring Pencils - 2 Pencil Sharpeners - 1 Pack of Erasers - 1 Ruler - 1 Small Retractable Umbrella - $40 for School Uniform & Shoes Hope Missions will provide a Special Bag to fill with these needed items. You can order bags from Hope Missinos to be shipped to your church to fill and return. Or, you can collect needed items and ship them directly to Hope Missions to be filled prior to each of our trips. Checks for uniforms ($40 each) should be made payable to HOPE MISSIONS. Uniforms will be purchased in each country as needed. CASES OF BIBLES & CHRISTIAN LITERATURE Another great need is for Bibles and Christian Literature. Many churches have very limited resources. They desperately need these resources to train and equip their members. Below are links to companies that provide some of these resources. Click on each name to be linked to their website. - Spanish Bibles - Haitian Bibles - Spanish Evangelism Training Curriculum - Spanish Evangelism Training Book - Spanish Evangelism Training CD Would you or your group like to provide one of these resources? Just place your order on the website link and have it shipped to the address below. We will take resources on trips as needed. In addition to these resources, Hope Missions has recenlty been in contact with a ministry that provides free Christian booklets in many languages. This will be a great supplement to the resources listed above. In order to ensure safe delivery, Hope Missions request that all resources be shipped directly to the Hope Missions Director. Orders should be shipped to SHAWN DOSS - 99 CHEROKEE DRIVE - JASPER, AL 35501. Please call Shawn directly with any questions at 256.620.1788. Thank you for your willingness to help us SERVE!

English – The Grapes Of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930's live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possession of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. The novel shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California. How they survive the cruelty of the land owners that take advantage of them, their poverty and willingness to work. The Grapes of Wrath combines Steinbeck adoration of the land, his simple hatred of corruption resulting from materialism (money) and his abiding faith in the common people to overcome the hostile environment. The novel opens with a retaining picture of nature on rampage. The novel shows the men and women that are unbroken by nature. The theme is one of man verses a hostile environment. His body destroyed but his spirit is not broken. The method used to develop the theme of the novel is through the use of symbolism. There are several uses of symbols in the novel from the turtle at the beginning to the rain at the end. As each symbol is presented through the novel they show examples of the good and the bad things that exist within the novel. The opening chapter paints a vivid picture of the situation facing the drought-stricken farmers of Oklahoma. Dust is described a covering everything, smothering the life out of anything that wants to grow. The dust is symbolic of the erosion of the lives of the people. The dust is synonymous with deadness. The land is ruined ^way of life (farming) gone, people ^uprooted and forced to leave. Secondly, the dust stands for ^profiteering banks in the background that squeeze the life out the land by forcing the people off the land. The soil, the people (farmers) have been drained of life and are exploited: The last rain fell on the red and gray country of Oklahoma in early May. The weeds became a dark green to protect themselves from the sun's unyielding rays....The wind grew stronger, uprooting the weakened corn, and the air became so filled with dust that the stars were not visible at night. (Chp 1) As the chapter continues a turtle, which appears and reappears several times early in the novel, can be seen to stand for survival, a driving life force in all of mankind that cannot be beaten by nature or man. The turtle represents a hope that the trip to the west is survivable by the farmer migrants (Joad family). The turtle further represents the migrants struggles against nature/man by overcoming every obstacle he encounters: the red ant in his path, the truck driver who tries to run over him, being captured in Tom Joad's jacket: And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it. The driver of the truck works for a large company, who try to stop the migrants from going west, when the driver attempts to hit the turtle it is another example of the big powerful guy trying to flatten or kill the little guy. Everything the turtle encounters trys its best to stop the turtle from making its westerly journey. Steadily the turtle advances on, ironically to the southwest, the direction of the mirgration of people. The turtle is described as being lasting, ancient, old and wise: horny head, yellowed toenails, indestructible high dome of a shell, humorous old eyes. (Chp 1)The driver of the truck, red ant and Tom Joad's jacket are all symbolic of nature and man the try to stop the turtle from continuing his journey westward to the promise land. The turtle helps to develop the theme by showing its struggle against life/ comparing it with the Joad struggle against man. The grapes seem to symbolize both bitterness and copiousness. Grandpa the oldest member of the Joad family talks of the grapes as symbols of plenty; all his descriptions of what he is going to do with the grapes in California suggest contentment, freedom, the goal for which the Joad family strive for: I'm gonna let the juice run down ma face, bath in the dammed grapes (Chp 4) The grapes that are talked about by Grandpa help to elaborate the theme by showing that no matter how nice everything seems in California the truth is that their beauty is only skin deep, in their souls they are rotten. The rotten core verses the beautiful appearance. The willow tree that is located on the Joad's farm represents the Joad family. The willow is described as being unmovable and never bending to the wind or dust. The Joad family does not want to move, they prefer to stay on the land they grew up on, much the same as the willow does. The willow contributes to the theme by showing the unwillingness of the people to be removed from their land by the banks. The latter represents the force making them leave their homes. Both of these symbols help contribute to the theme by showing a struggle between each other. The tree struggles against nature in much the same way that the Joad family struggles against the Bank and large companies. The rains that comes at the end of the novel symbolize several things. Rain in which is excessive, in a certain way fulfills a cycle of the dust which is also excessive. In a way nature has restored a balance and has initiated a new growth cycle. This ties in with other examples of the rebirth idea in the ending, much in the way the Joad family will grow again. The rain contributes to the theme by showing the cycle of nature that give a conclusion to the novel by showing that life is a pattern of birth and death. The rain is another example of nature against man, the rain comes and floods the living quarters of the Joads. The Joads try to stop the flood of their home by yet again are forced back when nature drops a tree causing a flood of water to ruin their home forcing them to move. In opposite way rain can helpful to give life to plants that need it to live. Depending on which extreme the rain is in, it can be harmful or helpful. This is true for man, man can become both extremes bad or good depending on his choosing. Throughout the novel there are several symbols used to develop the theme man verses a hostile environment. Each symbol used in the novel show examples of both extremes. Some represent man, that struggles against the environment, others paint a clear picture of the feelings of the migrants. As each symbol is presented chronologically through the novel, they come together at the end to paint a clear picture of the conditions, treatment and feelings the people (migrants) as they make there journey through the novel to the West. Please do not pass this sample essay as your own, otherwise you will be accused of plagiarism. Our writers can write any custom essay for you! The Grapes of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930's live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The Joad family had to abandon their home and Theme Of Grapes Of Wrath Sample essay topic, essay writing: Theme Of Grapes Of Wrath - 651 words The Journey Theme ofThe Grapes of Wrath In the Classic novel The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck displays in his writing many different and interconnected themes. The main idea of the novel can be interpreted many different ways through many of the different Grapes of wrath Awakening of Tom Joad Grapes of Wraith by John Steinbeck portrayed the awakening of a man's conscience dealing with his troubling trials throughout the novel. The character that goes through this monumental change is Tom Joad, son of two tenant farmers from Oklahoma. Tom's conscience was changed from a loner who cared nothing about the people to a hardy Grapes of Wrath In the epic movie Grapes of Wrath, director John Ford depicted a saga of one family trying to survive the 1930’s. In watching this film, it helped me to understand the hardships of the American migrants. The characters showed unique traits and dealt with problems each in a different way. The Dust Bowl was an ecological “The Grapes of Wrath” – Сustom Literature essay "The Grapes of Wrath" This paper gives a description of the character Al Joad and a description of the setting of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath". 2012, 435 words, 0 source(s). More Free Term Papers: "The Grapes of Wrath" This paper describes the character Al Joad and the setting of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes

The authors took their title from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but only just. The actual origin comes from Shakespeare’s source for Hamlet, the Scandinavian tale of Amleth, as given by the Danish author Saxo Grammaticus. This tale is cognate with that of Amlodhi in Iceland, who Snorri Sturlson wrote possessed a mill which ground out peace and plenty. Snorri, in turn, was quoting a tenth-century sailor named Snæbjörn Galti. This is the entirety of the scant millstone atop which the cathedral of alternative belief rests: But what if the mill metaphor doesn’t mean what they say it does? Undoubtedly, the Romans, Finns, Persians, and Vedic Indians shared a myth of the hero or god who has a great mill. But this connection isn’t cosmic but rather Indo-European. All of these peoples (except the Finns) are Indo-Europeans whose stories descend from a common source. (We can dispense with the non-Indo-Europeans the authors mention since they have no mills and are brought into the story only by analogy with the “precession” myth the authors invented from Indo-European sources. The Finns were heavily influenced by surrounding Indo-European myth systems.) De Santillana and von Dechend write that “current anthropology” denies any connection between myth systems, let alone one dating back to the Neolithic or earlier (p. 3). Contrary to alternative authors’ claims that this mill has been dismissed by serious scholars as a simple myth without meaning, in fact this mill was thoroughly investigated by German philologists in the nineteenth century, and the results of their investigations have been known in English since at least 1863, when Walter Keating Kelly reported them in Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore. Scholars of the nineteenth century recognized that the story was of Indo-European origin, and they knew that meant it was exceedingly ancient. The Indo-European myth system is current thought to have last been united around the fourth millennium BCE—the exact Neolithic period de Santillana and von Dechend targeted but wrongly believed scholars were unwilling to accept could be the source of myth. Tellingly, the Indo-Europeans do not appear in the index to Hamlet's Mill. According to the nineteenth century scholars, the key to understanding the mill imagery is the relationship between its mythic significance and fire. Far from being associated with the stars and the night, it rather is part of a constellation (pardon the pun) of myths related to Prometheus and the descent of fire. These myths can be traced back to Indo-European roots on philological grounds without question, and the mill goes with them. It has long been recognized that the mill was once part of the equipment of the heavens rather than the sea, and it first belonged, apparently, to the sun god. Amlodi’s mill was exactly parallel to the Danish Frodi’s mill, owned by a legendary first-century king. Like Amlodi’s mill, it ground peace or war, and it was also operated by maidens. Frodi, in turn, is believed to be a rationalization of Freyr (or Fro), the sun god. Snorri and Saxo rationalize the other gods as earthly kings, too, so there is no great leap here. The sun, in turn, has been associated with a flaming wheel or wheeled-chariot since Proto-Indo-European times, and the grinding wheel-stone of the mill is but another version of this myth. (Later writers would expand the idea of solar mythology to ridiculous extremes, but their wrongheaded theories have no bearing on the present question.) Many Indo-European myths discuss the kindling of the sun each day, because it was once felt that the sun was born anew each dawn after extinguishing in the ocean at night. (By contrast, non-Indo-European Near Eastern peoples imagined the sun reigning in the underworld at night.) This is where the fire comes in. To make fire requires the churning of a stick against another stick or stone. (Think of how Boy Scouts make fire.) In Vedic literature the stick is called the pramantha, from a word for violent churning, cognate with the Greek Prometheus, the bringer of fire. (This connection is well-established and has been for more than 150 years.) Thus, the gods had a mill that churned each day to rekindle the sun. According to legends preserved in Germany down to the nineteenth century, the Milky Way was the meal that spewed forth from the churning mill as it worked to light the sun each night. So, de Santillana and von Dechend were partly right: There is a relationship between Hamlet’s mill and the stars. But it has nothing to do with precession and can be completely explained by well-recognized Indo-European myths, supported by well-established Indo-European linguistics. That this was all known in English from 1863 and in German decades earlier but is forgotten by most alternative writers speaks volumes. De Santillana and von Dechend recognize the fact (though they trace it only to 1886), discuss it in an appendix, and simply assert that the order is reversed, that in reality the Prometheus myth about fire is a derivative of a precession myth of the churning skies, that fire and the sun take a back seat to the imperceptible motions of the stars. But this requires two layers of metaphor—that the Atlanteans (or whoever) invented a churning metaphor to describe precession and that the Indo-Europeans then applied this metaphor downward to the very real churning needed to create fire and sent it back up into the sky as Prometheus. Clearly, this is much more complicated than the logical sequence of kindling a fire > kindling the sun > churning to light the sun. The authors’ appendix teems with outrage at the philologists, but I think it’s mostly because the philological explanation of the relationship of fire to the mill in the sky undermines everything Hamlet’s Mill stands for, and does so clearly and logically, with no need for elaborate number games, secret knowledge, or a vanished civilization.

I kid you not. That's what they said. They also cited the Tang Dynasty. They also stated that they came to the common-law jurisdictions for the first time, as pets, in 1853, as a result of the London Aquarium, and so on and so forth. So, it was obvious to him that goldfish were clearly companion animals, at least since the Ming Dynasty. And this is what really caught my eye. With regard to the second question, about whether the defendant, Mr. Garcia, exhibited a heightened level of cruelty, the court concluded, very interestingly, that he did, for two reasons. because Little Juan suffered incredibly when Mr. Garcia stomped on Junior. And number two, because, according to the judge's reading of the statute and the legislative history, the purpose of the statute was to identify individuals who might cause harm to human beings in the future, and that Mr. Garcia's depraved and sadistic conduct--those are the terms used by the court--revealed that he would clearly be one of those individuals that ought to be identified as individuals who might very well engage in violent conduct in the future. OK. Now, the court's answer to the second question--I'll leave the question of companion animals without really discussing it. I guess I agree. I've had goldfish. I think they're companions. But I don't know. It may be debatable. But what I'm really interested in is the second question, and that's the question that gives rise to the title of my article: "Why is it a Crime to Stomp on a Goldfish?" Because, again, the court seemed to suggest that it was a crime to stomp on a goldfish because Juan suffered. And that struck me, at least initially, to be rather odd. what I am going to do during the course of the rest of this lecture is elaborate five theories that I came up with. And I actually think that this is probably the most novel claim that I put forth here. The most novel aspect of my talk is that I think this is the first time that someone has tried to identify the different interests that might be furthered as a result of animal-cruelty offenses and examine the pros and cons of each one of those approaches. This is a question that I think has remained under-theorized. People either believe that it's clearly the animal is the protected interest, or animal advocates, as I will mention later on, actually believe that anti-cruelty statutes protect property. Anyway, let me first mention the five theories, and then I'll discuss each one of them separately. OK. So one possible theory is that what anti-cruelty or animal cruelty statutes seek to protect is property. We protect animals because animals are our The second theory, and this seemed to be the one defended by the court in People v. Garcia. The second theory would be, actually, animal cruelty statutes are not designed to protect property, but rather designed to to protect those with emotional ties to the creature. In this case, Little Juan. The third theory, also suggested by the court in People v. Garcia, is that, actually, the purpose of anti-cruelty statutes is neither to protect property or those with emotional ties to the animal, but rather to prevent future violence against human beings. Why? Well, the theory holds that if you are cruel to animals today, that might indicate that you will be violent to humans tomorrow. A fourth possible theory is that animal cruelty offenses actually seek to enforce a moral principle, that engaging in this conduct is just immoral, and because it's immoral that's a sufficient reason to criminalize the conduct. So, under this theory, animal cruelty would be very much like indecent exposure, for example. We criminalize it not because someone is directly harmed, but rather because we just think that this is immoral. the fifth theory that I suggest may explain why it is a crime to be cruel to animals is because we actually want to protect the animal itself from unjustifiable inflictions of pain. Now, I will, in a couple of minutes, proceed to examine each one of these theories, the pros and cons to each one of these theories, and eventually will explain which one I think more adequately explains why we criminalize cruelty against animals. But before doing so, I want to say a couple of things, very briefly, about two concepts that are important in order to understand the rest of the lecture. One is the concept of victimhood. Now, I think the concept of victimhood is worth exploring briefly here today because, in a sense, the question that I'm asking, these five theories, the question is, who's the victim? Right? If we conclude that we are protecting property, then the victim is the owner of the property. So on and so forth. If we conclude that we're protecting the animal, then the victim is the animal itself. think that's another good vehicle with which to understand the kind of question that I'm asking here today. So I will explain, more or less, what I mean by victimhood. I will also explain what I mean by victimless crimes, which will become relevant eventually. And then, after discussing victimhood, I'll discuss the notion of consent, which is also relevant because, as we will see, consent sometimes negates victimhood, so it's directly related to victimhood. OK. First, a couple of comments on victimhood. Basically, a victim, in a nutshell, is a person whose interests are harmed by another person. Now, this is a rather strict definition of victimhood. You could conceive more, I guess, broader definitions of victimhood. But I think it's better to reserve victimhood to a class of people or beings, not necessarily human beings, but beings that are directly harmed as a result of the conduct of another. Now, many crimes, of course, involve the infliction of harm to victims, and basically all of our core offenses involve the infliction of harm to a concrete and direct victim. So, homicide protects, of course, a person who is killed. That would be the victim. In cases of theft, the owner of the property would be the victim. In cases of rape, the person unjustifiably hurt by the rape would be the victim, and so on, and so forth. So, in most of the court crimes, we have a person that is directly harmed by the conduct. I would like to point out, however, without going into much detail with regard to this concept that scholars, and sometimes courts, have also talked about the existence of so-called victimless crimes. Victimless crimes are crimes that do not directly harm a particular individual or a particular being. I think paradigmatic examples of victimless crimes might be, for example, possession offenses. So drug possession does not directly harm any human being. Maybe consuming drugs might, but the drug possession in and of itself does not directly harm any human being. And weapon offenses are another great example, or the possession of tools for a burglary, for example, which is a crime in These offenses are criminalized despite the fact that no individual is directly harmed as a result of engaging in this type of conduct. And what I will ask you to do while I am discussing the five different theories of why it is a crime to be cruel to animals is identify who the victim is in each one of these cases, or whether, if we adopt this theory, the offense of cruelty to animals becomes a victimless crime. OK. And then, before examining the theories, let me say a little bit about consent. Now, consent is very interesting, because the law usually is not very much concerned with magic, but consent actually does have magical properties. It does because consent actually is transformative of the moral quality of an And as Heidi Hurd, the great philosopher so eloquently stated once, "Consent turns what would otherwise be rape into a beautiful act of lovemaking. It turns theft into a sale, battery into a handshake, a trespass into a dinner party, an invasion of privacy into an intimate moment, and a commercial appropriation of name and likeness into a biography." Right? So, consent is magical. It turns forms that would seem to be at first glance an act of subjugation to an act that is desirable for all of the parties involved. And then the reason why I find consent to be relevant to my subsequent discussion is because consent, what it seems to do is, it demonstrates that what at first glance appears to be an act that harms an individual victim, upon closer inspection, it doesn't harm that person at all. eventually, when we say that the victim consented to the harm, what we seem to be saying ultimately is that there actually is no victim. So that's for example why the now unconstitutional offenses of consensually engaging in anal intercourse with another human being, now unconstitutional of course after "Lawrence v. Texas, " in that offense we would say that the consent actually negates the existence of a No one has been victimized by the conduct. Right? So as long the parties are capable of consent, and there was no coercion, it would actually seem that consent negates victimhood and thus it might be relevant when examining who the victim is in the different theories that I will now discuss. OK. So, now let me discuss the five different theories. First one -- the protection of property, anticruelty statutes intend to protect property. Well, first the question would be, "Who's the victim here?" Clearly the victim would be the owner of the animal. What are the pros of this approach? Well, I think the pros of this approach is that it helps to understand, it adequately explains a couple of aspects of anticruelty laws, and the one that I will focus on today is the fact that animals in the wild typically can be harmed up until the point when they become the property of someone else. Once you acquire property over that animal, magically that animal is more protected by the criminal law, and then harming that animal or killing that animal would interfere with the owner's interest. So, if the fish is lying there in the river, there's no problem, but once you catch the fish and put him inside your boat, then the fish is protected as property, right? What are the cons? Well, the cons for me basically are that owners, as you probably know, can't mistreat their animals, especially their companion animals. If you have a dog and a cat, or even you have a snake, you can't kill them at will. You can't set them on fire. You can't say, "Well, it's my So consent in a property offense negates victimhood. Consent turns theft into a sale. Consent turns criminal damages into lawful destruction of my own property. I can set fire to my own property as long as it doesn't harm others. I can destroy a wall in my house, but I can't - even if I want to - I can't mistreat my animals under many circumstances. So, that's a con. It can't explain why mistreating your own animals is criminalized. And the other con is that it can't explain that other very important context in which animal cruelty laws have a big influence, and that is dog fighting and cock fighting statutes. Statutes that prohibit this type of conduct prohibit it despite the fact that the owner of the creature is actually more than willing to have that create suffer harm at the expense of some other animal. Michael Vick...think of it. Right? Michael Vick didn't care that much about the dogs. He was the owner, but who cares? It's irrelevant. The owner's consent is irrelevant. It doesn't negate the harm, so the owner can't be the real victim in these cases. That's briefly about the protection of property. The second theory - the protection of those with emotional ties to the animal. Who's the victim? Well, the person with emotional ties to the animal. In the "People v. Garcia" case the victim would be little Juan. the pros of this approach? Well, this approach adequately explains the fact that companion animals receive more protection than non-companion animals. I think probably the best way of making sense of this is, that since they keep you company, you are in part a victim of the offense when someone harms that animal. So, I think it explains that quite nicely. It might also explain quite nicely why killing or harming animals as a result of fishing or hunting is permissible, because we don't have strong emotional ties to that fish that's swimming in that pond. We don't have close emotional ties to that wolf that we kill. about the cons, well, again, think of that stray dog that everyone hates, all right? Smelly, you don't like him. He rummages through your garbage. You actually can't kill him. You have to go by way of the procedures for disposal of animals that are being dangerous to the community, but you can't set him on fire, for example. that is what spurred the New York anticruelty statute that someone fire on a stray dog. You can't do it, even if no one likes him, even if no one cares about his existence. You can't do it. Same thing again, same problem here arises with dog fighting statutes and cock fighting statutes. You can't, even if you have no emotional ties to the animal as would think that many of the people who engage in dog fighting and cock fighting, even if they don't have strong emotional ties to the animal, even if ultimately they don't care whether the animal dies as long as they are able to engage in the activity that they like, it's irrelevant. The conduct is still criminalized. The existence of a strong emotional link is not a prerequisite for prosecution of these OK. Let me briefly discuss the third one - prevention of future harm. This one is interesting. Are animal cruelty statutes designed to prevent future harm? Well, in this case, who's the victim? And the answer is "No one." If we conceive of animal cruelty statutes in this way, animal cruelty statutes would become a victimless crime because the killing of the animal will not harm anyone other than We would only be criminalizing it because we fear that harming the animal today might mean that you are more willing to harm a human tomorrow. So, there is no direct victim that is harmed as a result of concealing the offense in this way, of harming the animal. So, what are the pros of this approach? The pros of theses approach is that it actually can explain as well why we are allowed to harm animals as a result of fishing, hunting and factory farming practices. It would seem to be the case that usually fishermen, hunters, and people who engage in factory farming are not particularly violent to other human Those seems to be - and as far as I know and I tried to read the literature - there seems to be no link, no proven scientific link between hunting and certainly between farming and fishing and being violent to animals in the future. So, that is a problem. Actually that's a good reason to believe that this is a purpose of anticruelty Another good reason to believe that this is anticruelty status is we actually do have studies that demonstrate that people who intentionally harm animals are more likely to intentionally harm human beings in the future. So, that seems to be true. OK. What are the cons? Well, one of the cons is that, as you may know, the negligent mistreatment of many companion animals is criminalized pursuant to most, if not all, US anticruelty statutes. However, there has been absolutely no empirical study demonstrating a link between negligent and mistreatment of animals and future violence towards human beings. So, here it would seem that the rationale could not explain why we criminalize negligent and mistreatment of animals. con is, again, that big elephant in the room of dog fighting statutes and cock fighting statutes. It just is not the case that people who engage or in some ways support dog fighting activities or at least it hasn't been demonstrated, that they're more likely to be more violent against humans in the future, and certainly in the case of cock fighting, which is prohibited in every state, and unfortunately, is not in my hometown in Puerto Rico. But there certainly is no link between participating in cock fighting activities and future violence to human I can actually confirm that, anecdotally. Personally, I know many people in Puerto Rico who engage in cock fighting and they appear to be peaceful citizens and do not seem to be predisposed to violence in the future. So, I think this really can't explain this prevention of future harm theory. It can't explain many significant aspects of anti-cruelty laws. What about enforcement of a moral principle? Who would the victim be here? Again, no one. There is no victim. We're just criminalizing the conduct because it is contrary to morality, not because it harms concrete individual. again, I think it can explain adequately why fishing, hunting and factory farming are not considered unlawful under anticruelty statutes. Why? Well, because we actually at this point, a majority of the population - rightly or wrongly - but a majority of the population seems to believe that fishing, hunting, and factory farming is not particularly immoral. Whereas a majority of the population does seem to believe that dog fighting and cock fighting is immoral. theory can actually explain why we criminalize dog fighting and cock fighting, but don't criminalize fishing, hunting and factory farming The cons. The problem is that saying that the fact that the conduct is immoral is enough. It's a sufficient reason to criminalize the conduct proves too much. I think that there's a general principle of criminal law that holds to the mere fact that a majority of the population believes that conduct is immoral is not a sufficient reason to criminalize the conduct. Now this principle can be traced back to the harm principle defended by John Stuart Mill and on liberty and defended later on by H.L.A. Hart in "Law, Liberty, and Morality, " stating that the state can only prohibit conduct. More specifically, the state should only criminalize conduct if it causes harm to others. The mere fact that conduct is immoral is a thing in itself not a reason to criminalize the conduct. So, again, this conception of anti-cruelty statutes would seem to run a foul the harm principle. I personally think that is a bad thing. By the way, it's also worth mentioning that the Supreme Court in Lawrence v Texas also suggested that due process, substance due process, may not allow the state to criminalize conduct solely because it is immoral. in Lawrence v Texas, the court stated that and aside the fact that the majority of the population believes that it is not a sufficient reason to criminalize a practice. That's what the Supreme Court said in Lawrence v Texas, so there is some authority there to also state that the harm principle is in some way intermingled with US constitutional Another con of the enforcement of morality as a reason for animal cruelty statutes is that it is odd to claim that animal cruelty statutes are victimless of crimes. It is odd to claim that no one, that is no discreet being or individual, is harmed and that this crime is similar to indecent exposure, for example. That's not the way that I think we intuitively - at least it is not the way that I intuitively think - about animal cruelty statutes. I don't think it's a victimless crime. I don't think that most people believe that it's a victimless crime. So, I think that the fact that it doesn't jive well with the conventional intuitions about the interest out to be protected by animal cruelty offenses is a problem for this approach. it might very well be the case that the purpose of anticruelty status is to protect the animal itself from unjustifiable infliction of pain. Who's the victim here? The animal. The animal would be the victim here. the pros would be well, this can actually explain what most other theories fail to explain. It can explain why dog fighting, for example, and cock fighting are criminalized. Well, because, of course, the dogs suffer serious and unjustifiable inflictions of pain as a result of dog fighting, same thing as a result in the case of cock fighting. It can also explain quite easily why negligent, mistreatment of animal is a We don't care whether there's a link between the negligent and mistreatment and future violence. We don't care about whether someone loves the animal or not. We care about the animal itself. You unjustifiable cause harm to the animal, that's enough reason to criminalize the content. OK. But what's the con? What's the argument against this theory? Well, the argument against this theory is that there are many exceptions to anticruelty statutes. The argument against the theory is, as we already know, that you can harm animals pursuant to hunting activities. You can harm them pursuant to fishing. You can harm them pursuant to factory farming. You can harm them pursuant to animal research. This is what animal law advocates or many, not all, but Gary Francione for example, the champion of animal rights has repeatedly argued these exceptions to anticruelty statutes actually reveal that we don't really care about animals, but rather that we care about protecting our property interest in animals. again the argument is all of the exceptions that animal cruelty statues actually demonstrate that the purpose of anticruelty statutes is not to protect the animal, but rather to protect our property interests in the I'm just going to cite from Professor Bryant who teaches in UCLA here, a west coast animal law advocate. She is an animal rights scholar who follows Gary Francione's hard-line approach to animal law. She states, she's discussing, the way in which the criminal laws deals with cases involving harm cause to egg-laying chickens. what she states and I cite, "The law does not identify as cruel the practices that directly cause their suffering. If the suffering of these hens is deemed necessary for the eggs they supply to humans, then" and this is what really matters to me. Professor Bryant claims, "then that suffering simply doesn't count in legal terms. Nor does the suffering of the humans who care about that suffering." OK. And I think this position is a position widely shared by many animal rights advocates. And I think the position is wrong. I think it's confusing because it fails to take into account certain foundational aspects of the structure of criminal offenses, so this is why I say at the beginning of this talk that I think that many animal law advocates need a lesson in criminal law theory. What I think is going on here is that people like Professor Bryant and Gary Francione and others confuse the exceptions that justify the infraction of the elements of the offense or the prohibition with the offense itself. words, they claim that because there are a lot of exceptions or a lot of justifications to infringe the elements of the offense that that demonstrates that the offense is not really intended to protect animals. And I think that is a non sequitur, but let me explain this in a little bit more detail. In order to drive my point home...this is the last part of my talk...in order to drive this point home, what I need to do now is briefly talk to you about the structure of criminal offenses generally. Now, this argument that I will defend now is a conceptual argument about the structure of all criminal law offenses in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, China, Germany, Japan, doesn't matter. basically, what I want to share with you...and you're probably may know this...is that there are two very distinct reasons why conduct may be considered lawful. One is because it doesn't satisfy the elements of an offense. The other is that because even thought it satisfies the elements of the offense, it's justified pursuant to a permissive norm. this is what animal law advocates miss, and this is just true of every single law in every single jurisdiction. You have a general rule that that's the whole debate between [Inaudible 37:27] or no vehicles in the park. Of course you have a law prohibiting vehicles in the park, but you may have other norms, either judicially or created by way of the legislature, that allow you to have vehicles in the park in exceptional And that's what's going on here. You always have laws that explain what the elements of the offense are, and laws that basically put forth justifications to engage in the elements of the offense. And in both cases, either both when your conduct does not satisfy the elements of the offense, and when your conduct is justified, your conduct is lawful, but for different reasons. order to illustrate this, I want to borrow an example from a great 20th century German, probably the greatest criminal law scholar of the 20th century. His name was Hans Velsel. And Hans Velsel illustrated the difference between the offense and the justification by pointing out that it just simply is not the same thing to kill a fly than to kill a human being in self-defense. It just simply isn't the same thing, right? Velsel pointed out, if you kill a fly, you engage in conduct that doesn't satisfy the elements of the offense. If you kill a human being in self defense, you engage in conduct that satisfies the elements of the offense, but it's justified. Both of them are lawful, but both of them are lawful for different reasons, OK? In my talk, instead of talking about the fly, I'll talk about shooting at a piece of paper, because a fly is an animal, and I don't want to confuse animal law people by trying to state that killing a fly is not a crime. I think it probably isn't, but we can debate that later. I don't want that to be a distraction, so I'll substitute the killing a fly with shooting at a piece of paper vis-Ã -vis, shooting and killing a human being. claim is that shooting at a piece of paper is lawful, obviously, because it's not an offense, unless it's someone else's piece of paper, but I don't think that matters either. It's a minimus infraction in any case. OK. So, if this is my piece of paper, and I shoot at it, no offense. But, vis-Ã -vis shooting and killing a human being in self-defense, both are lawful, but for different reasons. nutshell, why are they lawful for different reasons? Well, number one, conduct that does not satisfy the elements of the offense causes no legally relevant harm. So, you can't say that you harmed an interest that's protected by the criminal law. No, the piece of paper is not protected by the criminal law or by any other law. So, you don't harm a legally relevant interest. Vis-Ã -vis, when you're justified, you engage in conduct that harms a legally protected interest. After all, you have the dead body lying there of the person, and just by the mere fact of that person being an aggressor, it doesn't' mean that his life no longer is of value for the law. That's not what it means. means that given that there is a conflict here between the life of the aggressor and the life of the defender, we choose the life of the defender over the life of the aggressor if it comes to that. But it doesn't mean the life of the aggressor is of no value. So, there still is harm. However, the harm is outweighed by the benefits reaped by the Another way of looking at the difference between the defense and the justification has to do with reasons. The offense provides you, and the offense provides me with reasons -- legally relevant reasons - with reasons to abstain from engaging in certain So, the offense of homicide provides me a very legally relevant reason to abstain from killing someone else. There might be other reasons, moral, social but clearly provides me with a legally relevant reason to abstain from killing someone else. on the other hand, do not provide reasons to abstain from engaging in conduct. What they provide, actually, are reasons that may outweigh the reasons represented by the offense in order to abstain from engaging in So, when you say, for example, that I can...the famous criminal law textbook example...that I can set fire to a farm in order to create a firewall to save the whole town. Well, the justification afforded as a result of necessity or choice of the lesser evils is grounded on the fact that the reasons for engaging in the conduct outweigh the reasons represented by the offense for abstaining to engage in the conduct. In other words, saving the town provides you with reasons that outweigh the reasons against engaging in the conduct which would be saving the farm. But these reasons that justify conduct do not wipe away the existence of an offense. They do not wipe away the existence of reasons that exist there in favor of abstaining from engaging in the conduct. Just ask the farm owner. His farm is destroyed. That's still a reason that's there for abstaining to engage in the conduct, but it's overridden. It's outweighed by other more important reasons. And finally, regret. What does regret have to do with all of this? Well, it has something to do with it. When you engage in conduct that satisfies the elements of the offense, you have reason to regret what you have done, I think, even if your conduct turns out to be justified. So, if Professor Calandrillo kills Professor Nicholas for whatever reason, right...let's say that Professor Nicholas...there he is...that Professor Nicholas was attacking him because he wanted to be the Charles I. Stone Professor of So, if Professor Nicholas was attacking him, and Professor Calandrillo kills him in self-defense, we would...I think...and at least up to this attack, they were friends...one would think Professor Calandrillo even though he acts justifiably, and he doesn't act unlawfully when he kills Professor Nicholas, because Nicholas is an aggressor, Professor Calandrillo still has valid reasons to regret having done what he did, right? Certainly. Why? Because the reasons that make the killing of a human being an offense are still there. They're overridden by the justification, but they're still there. So, they give us reason to regret the conduct. Professor Calandrillo has reasons to regret having killed Professor Nicholas. He can say, "It would have been better if I never had the opportunity to do this." That would have been a better outcome, right? So, there are still things to regret. And that regret some scholars have argued...and I agree...that regret always provides us, provides Professor Calandrillo with good reasons to look for alternative, less intrusive means of repelling the aggression, because there's something to regret in killing that person. Whereas of course, when there is no offense, there is no reason to look for less intrusive means. If you step in a piece of grass, it is not legally relevant. There is no harm, no foul, you don't have to look for less intrusive means to harm the grass, it is irrelevant. OK. Now, finally, why is this essentially important for determining why it is a crime to stomp on a goldfish. Why is it a crime to harm egg laying hens? Well, it is important because we understand why conduct is a crime by examining the offense, not by examining the justification. So, for example, it would be wrong headed. Well, it would just be plain wrong to say that because the law allows Professor Calandrillo to kill Professor Nicholas in self defense, that reveals that the purpose of the law of homicide is not to protect human life. That doesn't make any sense. It doesn't follow it. It is a non sequitur. The fact that there is an exception that allows you in some circumstances to infringe the elements of the offense doesn't mean that the offense was not designed to do whatever it is that it was assigned to do in the first place. It just means that there are in this case, reasons that outweigh the reasons represented by the offense as reasons to obtain and engage in the conduct. And this is exactly the mistake committed that I argue that many animal law advocates commit, right? What they say, for example, the excerpts that I read some minutes ago. What they say is well, egg laying chickens, right, if you inflict pain on them for egg production, necessary for egg production, the argument goes that the means that they're suffering and I site again, their suffering doesn't count as legally relevant suffering. Well, that is wrong. It does. legally relevant suffering just like Professor Nicholas death is legally relevant. It just outweighed by the competing considerations that justify the conduct. So, the fact that the hen that you are entitled, your justified inflicting harm on the hand that is necessary for egg production doesn't mean that harm that you inflict doesn't It doesn't mean that it is irrelevant and it certainly doesn't mean as animal law advocates hold that it proves that the purpose of anticruelty statutes is not to protect animals in general or hens in particular. It just means that rightly or wrongly, we have decided to include a whole host of justifications that actually justify satisfying the elements of the offense. What we are really taking issue with, I argue, is not with the offense of cruelty to animals but rather with the many justifications that allow us to inflict pain on animals. What we want to prove then is that if these justifications are unwarranted that they are too broad. We should fight against the justification not against the offense. The purpose of the offense is to protect animals from pain, but we might just be wrong about the different instances that actually justify inflicting pain. That is my argument. Now, finally before I conclude why does it matter? I think it matters for several reasons. The first one is purely conceptual. I think the animal law advocate here is confusing certain concepts. They are conflating the offense justification distinction and this is conceptually unsound. I think it is good in a pure sense to be conceptually sound even if no practical implications follow from it. in this case, practical implications do follow from it. First, if the judge in Garcia were to have to determine whether there was aggravated cruelty, one of the possible ways of answering the question is what is the purpose of the statute? Why do we advocate punishment when there is a heightened level of cruelty? And of course, the animal law advocates claim: well the purpose of the statute is to protect property interests, really doesn't help a lot. Whereas the position we all know, the purpose of this statute is actually to protect the animal from unjustifiable infliction of pain helps because it shifts the inquiry from the perpetrator to the animal and the suffering inflicted on the And the last the reason why it matters is purely strategic and this is my main beef with animal law advocates or many of them. Again, not all, I don't want to generalize. But my main beef is: look, the problem here is that we all want the same thing. I want factory farming to be either intensely regulated or eliminated. want unjustifiable infliction of pain of inflicted to animals to be eliminated and you do, too. Now, the difference is that the animal law advocates claim that animal cruelty statutes are not intended to protect animals, holds a very cynical position. And it is a position that I believe is not appealing to main stream America, main stream people in other countries are saying, OK, so you are telling me that we enacted statutes when we believe we were concerned with dogs and cats but we didn't do it because we were concerned with animals, but rather we did it to protect some sort of property interest? That I think is somewhat cynical and off putting for a lot of people. other reason is: look, why not if there are a lot of arguments as I have argued here today, in favor of claiming that the purpose of anticruelty statutes is to protect animals from pain. Why not tap in to that basic sentiment and explain to people, look there is a basic incoherence here. If you actually enacted animal cruelty statutes to protect animals, why do you allow so many justifications to afford you permission to inflict pain on animals for rather trivial reasons, for the entertainment value of hunting or fishing or for the fact that meat tastes good. But Tyson is the best chicken on earth, right? Is that a sufficient justification to inflict incredible amounts of pain on I think it is better to engage the public that way to say I know you care about animals that is why you enacted animal cruelty statutes than to hold the more cynical view. Actually, you have never cared about animals in the first place so let us scrap the whole anticruelty statutes and start from scratch. I don't think that will OK. So let me just conclude. Let me just get back to junior. I think that once it is understood that the principle purpose of anti cruelty statutes is to prevent injury to animals. One can see why the decision in Garcia cannot withstand careful scrutiny. court asked in my opinion all the wrong questions because it seemed to conceive animal cruelty statutes as laws that are designed either to prevent future harms to humans or to prevent emotional harm to those with close ties to the animal. [Inaudible 50:20] . The former concept to all this statute of animal cruelty statutes lead the court to focus on the state of mind of a perpetrator in order to determine whether his act has been to a heightened level of cruelty. The later, emotional harm conceptualization of these statutes led the court to focus on this emotional harm caused to little Juan, the custodian of the pet. believe that by misapprehending the nature and purpose of anticruelty statutes, the court gave short shrift to the only being whose interest were thought to be protected by such legislation. The animal harmed in this case, Junior, the goldfish. Therefore, the question that should have been asked in Garcia is whether the instantaneous killing of the goldfish by stomping on him constitutes an act of simple or aggravated The decisive consideration should thus be the amount of pain and suffering endured by the fish as the amount of pain inflicted increases, the arguments in favor of considering the act to be one of the aggravated cruelty gets stronger. Contrarily, if the amount of pain and suffering decreases, the case in favor of finding of aggravated cruelty gets weaker. Now, I actually believe that reasonable minds might disagree with regard to whether the suffering endured by Junior was of such degree to warrant a termination of aggravated cruelty and the felony status of the crime that this entails. On the one hand, I believe that the defendant's contention that the fish did not suffer because he was killed instantly, seems to point in the direction of not considering this act to be one of extreme cruelty. agree. Usually, dying instantly is not as bad as dying a slow and painful death. On the other hand, it might be argued that the killing of a being constitutes a supreme act of cruelty. Especially when the killing of a human being is not independently criminalized in animal If that were the case, a finding of aggravated cruelty would be warranted. Now, regardless, of whether one believes that the defendant should have prevailed in these arguments, I believe there is little doubt about who was the real victim of the court's analysis in Garcia, a little goldfish named Junior. Thank you.

To John Bishop of Scyllacium. Gregory to John, etc. It is evidently a very serious thing, and contrary to what a priest should aim at, to wish to disturb privileges formerly granted to any monastery, and to endeavour to bring to naught what has been arranged for quiet. Now the monks of the Castilliensian monastery in your Fraternity's city have complained to us that you are taking steps to impose upon the said monastery certain things contrary to what had been allowed by your predecessors and sanctioned by long custom, and to disturb ancient arrangements by a certain injurious novelty. Wherefore we hereby exhort your Fraternity that, if this is so, you refrain from troubling this monastery under any excuse, and that you try not, through any opportunity of usurpation, to upset what has been long secured to it, but that you study, without any gainsaying, to preserve all its privileges inviolate, and know that no more is lawful to you with regard to the said monastery than was lawful to your predecessors. Further, inasmuch as they have likewise complained that your Fraternity has taken certain things from the monastery under the guise of their being, as it were, an offering , it is necessary that, if you recollect having received anything unbecomingly, you restore it without delay, lest the sin of avarice seriously convict you, whom priestly munificence ought to have shown liberal towards monasteries. Therefore, while you preserve all things which, as we have said, have been allowed and preserved by your predecessors, let it be your care to keep careful watch over the acts and lives of the monks residing there, and, if you should find any one living amiss, or (which God forbid) guilty of any sin of uncleanness, to correct such by strict and regular emendation. For, as we desire your Fraternity to abstain from incongruous usurpations, so we admonish you to be in all ways solicitous in what pertains to rectitude of discipline and the guardianship of souls. The monks of the aforesaid monastery have also informed us that the camp which is called Scillacium is built on ground belonging to their monastery, and that on this account those who live there pledged themselves in writing to pay a solatium every year; but that they afterwards thought scorn of it, and idly withheld their stipulated payment. Let then your Fraternity take care to learn the truth accurately; and, if you should find it so, urgently see to their not delaying to give what they promised, and what also reason requires; that so both they may possess quietly what they hold, and the rights of the monastery may incur no damage. Furthermore, the monks of the aforesaid monastery have complained to us that their abbot has granted to your Fraternity by title of gift land within the camp of Scillacium, to the extent of six hundred feet, under pretext of building a church: and accordingly it is our will that as much land as the walls of the church, when built, can surround shall be claimed as belonging to the church. But let whatever may be outside the walls of the said church revert without dispute to the possession of the monastery. For the ordinances neither of worldly laws nor of the sacred canons permit the property of a monastery to be segregated by any title from its ownership. On this account restore this gift of land which has been granted against reason. Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 12. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360208034.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.

Class: Thiazide diuretic - Tablets 250 mg - Tablets 500 mg - Oral suspension 250 mg per 5 mL - Injection, lyophilized powder for solution 500 mg Enhances excretion of sodium, chloride, and water by interfering with transport of sodium ions across renal tubular epithelium. Chlorothiazide crosses the placenta but not the blood-brain barrier. Chlorothiazide is not metabolized. Excreted by the kidney. Plasma t ½ 45 to 120 min. Following IV administration, 96% is excreted unchanged in the urine within 23 h. Within 2 h after oral administration; within 15 min after IV administration. Approximately 4 h after oral administration; approximately 30 min after IV administration. Approximately 6 to 12 h after oral administration. Indications and Usage Adjunctive treatment in edema associated with CHF, hepatic cirrhosis, and corticosteroid and estrogen therapy; edema caused by various forms of renal function impairment such as nephrotic syndrome, acute glomerulonephritis, and chronic renal failure (oral and IV); management of hypertension (oral). Calcium nephrolithiasis; diabetes insipidus; osteoporosis. Anuria, hypersensitivity to sulfonamide-derived drugs or any component of this product. Dosage and AdministrationDiuresis and Control of Hypertension Children younger than 6 mo of age (see Precautions) PO 30 mg/kg in 2 divided doses may be required.Children 6 mo to 2 yr of age (see Precautions) PO 10 to 20 mg/kg/day in single or 2 divided doses (max, 375 mg/day).Children 2 to 12 yr of age (see Precautions) PO 1 g/day.Edema PO 500 to 1,000 mg once or twice daily. Many patients respond to intermittent therapy (alternate day therapy or administration on 3 to 5 days each wk). IV 500 to 1,000 mg once or twice daily. Should be reserved for patients unable to take oral medication or for emergency situations. Individualize dosage according to patient response, using the smallest dosage necessary.Hypertension PO 500 to 1,000 mg as a single or divided dose. Increase or decrease dose according to BP response. Rarely, some patients may require up to 2 g/day in divided doses. - Tablets and suspension - Administer without regard to meals. Administer with food if GI upset occurs. - Shake suspension well before measuring dose. Use dosing syringe, spoon, or cup to measure prescribed dose of suspension. - Reconstitute powder for injection following manufacturer's recommendations using sterile water for injection. - Do not administer if particulate matter, cloudiness, or discoloration is noted. - Administer by slow IV injection or IV infusion as ordered. Take special precautions to avoid extravasation. Do not give subcutaneously or IM. - Discard any unused portion of vial. Do not save for future use. For single dose only. Store oral suspension at controlled room temperature (59° to 86°F). Protect from freezing. Store powder for injection between 36° and 77°F. Store tablets at 68° to 77°F. Dispense in light-resistant container. Drug InteractionsAlcohol, barbiturates, narcotics May potentiate orthostatic hypotension.Antihypertensive agents Coadministration may result in additive antihypertensive effects, or the effects may be potentiated.Bile acid sequestrants May reduce thiazide absorption; give thiazide at least 2 h before bile acid sequestrants.Cisapride Cisapride is contraindicated in patients who experience rapid reduction in plasma potassium, including patients receiving chlorothiazide.Corticosteroids Increased electrolyte depletion, especially hypokalemia.Diazoxide May cause hyperglycemia.Digitalis glycosides Diuretic-induced hypokalemia and hypomagnesemia may precipitate digitalis-induced arrhythmias.Dofetilide Dofetilide is contraindicated in patients receiving chlorothiazide because hypokalemia may occur, increasing the risk of torsades de pointes.Insulin, sulfonylureas May decrease hypoglycemic effect of sulfonylureas. Because chlorothiazide may elevate blood glucose levels, may need to increase dosage of sulfonylureas or insulin.Lithium May decrease renal excretion of lithium.Loop diuretics Synergistic effects may result in profound diuresis and serious electrolyte abnormalities.Nondepolarizing muscle relaxants (eg, tubocurarine), skeletal muscle relaxants Response to muscle relaxants may be increased.NSAIDs Pharmacologic effects of chlorothiazide may be reduced.Pressor amines (eg, norepinephrine) Effect of pressor amines may be reduced. Laboratory Test Interactions May produce false-negative results with the phentolamine and tyramine tests; may interfere with the phenolsulfonphthalein test because of decreased excretion; may cause diagnostic interference of serum electrolyte levels, blood and urine glucose levels, and a decrease in serum protein-bound iodine levels without signs of thyroid disturbance. Hypotension; orthostatic hypotension. Dizziness; headache; paresthesia; restlessness; vertigo. Alopecia; erythema multiforme; exfoliative dermatitis; Stevens-Johnson syndrome; toxic epidermal necrolysis. Transient blurred vision; xanthopsia. Anorexia; constipation; cramping; diarrhea; gastric irritation; nausea; pancreatitis; sialadenitis; vomiting. Hematuria (IV use); impotence; interstitial nephritis; renal failure; renal function impairment. Agranulocytosis; aplastic anemia; hemolytic anemia; leukemia; thrombocytopenia. Jaundice (intrahepatic cholestasis). Anaphylactic reactions; fever; necrotizing angiitis (vasculitis and cutaneous vasculitis); photosensitivity; purpura; rash; respiratory distress, including pneumonitis and pulmonary edema; urticaria. Electrolyte imbalance; glycosuria; hyperglycemia; hyperuricemia. Muscle spasm; weakness. Monitor blood sugar in diabetic patients when drug is started or dose is changed. Advise patient to report significant changes to health care provider.BP/Pulse Monitor and record BP and pulse. Should hypotension result, advise patient to hold medication and notify health care provider.Chloride deficit Generally mild except in certain circumstances (eg, liver or renal disease), which may require treatment including chloride replacement for the treatment of metabolic alkalosis.Orthostatic hypotension Take safety precautions if orthostatic hypotension occurs.Routine tests Ensure that serum electrolytes, BUN, creatinine, and uric acid are monitored periodically. Category C . Excreted in breast milk. Safety and efficacy not established. Oral dosing recommendation is supported by empiric use in children and published literature regarding the treatment of hypertension. Use with caution, usually starting at the low end of the dosage range, because of the greater frequency of decreased hepatic, renal, or cardiac function, and concomitant diseases or other drug therapy. May occur in patients with or without history of allergy or bronchial asthma; cross-sensitivity with sulfonamides also may occur. Drug may precipitate azotemia; use drug with caution. Minor alterations of fluid and electrolyte balance may precipitate hepatic coma; use with caution. May become manifest. May occur in edematous patients in hot weather. Increased urinary excretion of sodium, potassium, or magnesium may occur; decreased urinary excretion of calcium may occur. May occur or frank gout may be precipitated. Increased cholesterol and triglycerides may occur. Exacerbation or activation may occur. Antihypertensive effects may be enhanced. Electrolyte depletion (hypochloremia, hypokalemia, hyponatremia); dehydration; hypokalemia may accentuate cardiac arrhythmias if digitalis is being administered. - Tablets and Suspension - Advise patient to take prescribed dose once or twice daily without regard to meals, but to take with food if stomach upset occurs. - Advise patient or caregiver using suspension to shake well before measuring dose and to use dosing spoon, syringe, or cup to measure prescribed dose. - Advise patient that medication will initially increase urination, but that this should go away after a few weeks of treatment. - Advise patient if a dose is missed to skip that dose and take the next dose at the regularly scheduled time. Caution patient not to double the dose to catch up. - Inform patient that drug controls but does not cure hypertension and to continue taking medication as prescribed even when BP is not elevated. - Instruct patient to continue taking other BP medications as prescribed by health care provider. - Instruct patient in BP and pulse measurement skills. - Advise patient to monitor and record BP and pulse at home, and to inform health care provider if abnormal measurements be noted. Also advise patient to take record of BP and pulse to each follow-up visit. - Instruct patient to lie or sit down if experiencing dizziness or light-headedness when standing. - Caution patient that inadequate fluid intake, excessive perspiration, diarrhea, or vomiting can lead to excessive fall in BP, resulting in light-headedness or fainting. - Instruct patients with diabetes to monitor blood glucose more frequently when drug is started or dose is changed and to inform health care provider of significant changes in readings. - Caution patient to avoid unnecessary exposure to UV light (eg, sunlight, tanning booths) and to use sunscreen and wear protective clothing when exposed to UV light until tolerance is determined. - Emphasize to hypertensive patient importance of the following modalities on BP: weight control, regular exercise, smoking cessation, moderate intake of alcohol and salt. - Instruct patient to inform health care provider if any of the following occur: abnormal skin sensations; drowsiness; excessive thirst; increased heart rate; muscle pain, weakness, or cramps; persistent nausea or vomiting; unexplained joint pain; unexplained tiredness. - Advise patient that medication will be prepared by a health care provider and administered in a health care setting. Copyright © 2009 Wolters Kluwer Health. More about chlorothiazide - Chlorothiazide (AHFS Monograph) - Chlorothiazide Sodium (AHFS Monograph) - Chlorothiazide (FDA) - Chlorothiazide Injection (FDA) - Other brands: Diuril

Ambassador Jan here! When you think of DBG and spread the word about us, it is our utmost wish that “Welcome” is the first thing that comes to your mind. And this is where I come in. I guess you could say that I come in where YOU come in! So what’s a day in the life of an Ambassador? First and foremost, IMHO, I have the best job at the Gardens! When I check in (I usually spend 3 or 4 hours at the garden) I grab my goody bag of informational literature for you (and maybe even a surprise!) and I head out for the gardens – I probably walk at least 4 miles on any given day. I literally worship the ground I walk on…. On most days, I have no other itinerary than to greet you, answer your questions and assist you in any way I can. Your comfort, comments and questions are my priorities. If I don’t know the answer to your question, I will get the answer for you! If you need directions to find a plant, garden, photo opportunity or amenity, I will take you there! If you need a smile or help, I have an unlimited supply. You can recognize me by my “uniform” of DBG khakis (staff members wear green), big hat and water bottle (two MUSTS for you and me). I also have a big dinosaur pin that says “Ask Me” and I tend to walk up to all visitors (I don’t know the meaning of “stranger”) and say, “Hi! How’s it going for you today? Are you finding everything you were hoping for and more?” At the end of the day, I walk away content, joyful, full of Vitamin D and so thankful to have met you. Please make Denver Botanic Gardens your next magical excursion and tell me how I may serve YOU! Our next free day is Thursday, Aug. 20. Check this blog for tips on making your experience as comfortable and enjoyable as possible and please post your comments and questions here to let us know how we are doing, how *I* am doing, and what I can do to improve your experience with DBG. See you in the Gardens! Jan Dillon, Gardens Ambassador

More buying options by other sellers on infibeam.com New innovations in assisted reproductive technologies have opened up numerous options for the treatment of infertility and have improved our understanding of the process in gamete interaction and implantation. This book has been conceived with the objective of providing the most current scientific information and would serve as a very useful source to professionals dedicated to improving and understanding the problems associated with the management of infertile couples. The book summary and image may be of a different edition or binding of the same title. Book reviews are added by registered customers. They need not necessarily buy book. These books are NOT available for reading online or for free download in PDF or ebook format. Price can change due to reprinting, price change by publisher or sourcing cost change for imported books. www.infibeam.com/Books is the biggest online bookstore in India for sale of books at best price - fiction, literature, audiobooks, study guides, novels, story books, rare books, textbooks and books by popular authors. These are available in various editions and bindings e.g. paperback and at best discount.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) A selective list of online literary criticism for the nineteenth-century English Romantic poet Lord Byron, with links to reliable biographical and introductory material and signed, peer-reviewed, and scholarly literary criticism Introduction & Biography "Lord Byron (George Gordon)." Poetry Foundation. An extended introduction to Byron, and excerpts from his poems. Biography, publication of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, The Giaour, The Corsair, Parisina, Hebrew Melodies, Manfred, Beppo, relationship with the Shelleys, the Byronic Hero. Includes text for some of his most famous poems. "George Gordon Byron." A brief biography and introduction to Byron, and text for some of his best known poems. Academy of American Poets. "An Introduction to the Poetry of Lord Byron," by Germaine Greer. The Observer 23 January 2010. "Lord Byron." A brief biography to Byron from the educational publisher Gale/Cengage Learning. "Byron's Poems About Scotland." Prof. Peter Cochran discusses Byron as an Anglo-Scots poet, providing numerous examples of his Scottish-themed and Scottish-influenced poetry. A biography of Byron from the International Byron Society. Covers his Early Childhood and School Days, University, Grand Tour, Years of Fame, Marriage and Separation, Exile, and Last Will and Testament. "Lord Byron in Arcadia," a short biography of Byron by Jay poet Rogoff. "Byron's Gothic Readings," by Prof. Douglass H. Thomson, academic web site. "The Messolonghi Byron Society." Web site devoted to Byron's involvement in the nineteenth-century Greek struggle for independence. Kelsall, Malcolm. "George Gordon, Lord Byron." An introduction to Byron, from a database that provides newly written, signed literary criticism by experts in their field, and is available to individuals for a reasonably-priced subscription. Literary Encyclopedia, 8 Jan. 2001. Eds. Robert Clark, Emory Elliott, Janet Todd [subscription service]. Elfenbein, Andrew. "Paranoid Poetics: Byron, Schreber, Freud." Considers Sigmund Freud's only discussion of a work of Byron, his drama Manfred. Romanticism on the Net 23 (Aug. 2001). Garofalo, Daniela. "Political seductions: the show of war in Byron's Sardanapalus." Byron's dramatic tragedy Sardanapalus and the Napoleonic wars. Criticism Winter 2002. [Subscription service, which provides links to additional scholarly articles on Sardanapalus through this page.] George, Laura. "Reification and the Dandy: Beppo, Byron, and other Queer Things." Special issue on Queer Romanticism, Romanticism on the Net 36-37 (2004-2005). Goldberg, Brian. "Byron, Blake, and Heaven" [and William Blake]. Prof. Goldberg discusses similarities in both poets' ideas about heaven. Romanticism on the Net 27 (August 2002). Goldweber, David E. "Byron, Catholicism, and Don Juan XVII." Renascence Spring 1997 [first half only]. Jones, Christine. "'When this world shall be former': Catastrophism as imaginative theory for the younger Romantics." Romanticism on the Net 24 (Nov. 2001). LaChance, Charles. "Don Juan, 'a problem, like all things.'" Papers on Language and Literature Summer 1998 [first half only]. Richardson, Alan. A preview of Chapter 8, "Byron and the Theatre," in The Cambridge Companion to Byron (2004) [preview]. Rosa, George M. "Byron, Mme de Stael, Schlegel, and the religious motif in Armance." Comparative Literature 46, 4 (Fall 1994) [first half only, jstor]. Sandy, Mark. "'The Colossal Fabric's Form': Remodelling Memory, History, and Forgetting in Byron's Poetic Recollections of Ruins." An interpretation of Byron's Manfred and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage through Friedrich Nietzsche's Untimely Meditations. Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net 51 (2008). Stauffer, Andrew M. "Romantic Anger and Byron's Curse." Anger as a poetic stance in Byron's work. Romantic Circles. Stein, Atara. "Immortals and Vampires and Ghosts, Oh My!: Byronic Heroes in Popular Culture." On the continuing influence of the Byronic hero. Romantic Circles, 2002. Walker, David. "'People's Ancestors are History's Game': Byron's Don Juan and Russian History." Studies in the Literary Imagination (2003) [subscription service]. Whissel, Cynthia. "'Tis more than what is called mobility': Structure and a Development towards Understanding in Byron's Don Juan." Romanticism on the Net 13 (Feb. 1999). Performing Byron's Don Juan, a project involving high school students, organized by Professor Jonathan Gross. Romanticism on the Net. Ed. Michael Eberle-Sinatra. An international, peer-reviewed electronic journal devoted to British Romantic studies, an impressive scholarly enterprise that has been making essays freely available since 1996. Romantic Circles. Eds. Neil Fraistat, Steven E. Jones, and Carl Stahmer. "A refereed scholarly website devoted to the study of Romantic-period literature and culture." An innovative publication on topics in Romanticism. "A Romantic Natural History." Ed. Ashton Nichols. The relationships between literary works and natural history in the century before Darwin, with articles on Byron and other Romantics. The Atlantic Monthly from 1857 to 1901 can be browsed (there is no search function) at a site provided by Cornell U. A patient researcher will find early reviews of Byron and other 19th-century authors in the archives. Elfenbein, Andrew. A review of two Byron publications: Andrew Elfenbein's Byron and the Victorians (1995); and Donald A. Low (ed.), Byron: Selected Poetry and Prose (1995). Review by Matthew Scott in Romanticism on the Net 3 (Aug. 1996). Goode, Clement Tyron (ed.) A review of George Gordon, Lord Byron: A Comprehensive, Annotated Research Bibliography of Secondary Materials in English 1973-1994. Reviewed in Romanticism on the Net by Andrew Nicholson. Gross, Jonathan David. Byron: The Erotic Liberal. Reviewed by G. Todd Davis in Romanticism on the Net 25 (Feb. 2002). McGann, Jerome. Byron and Romanticism (Cambridge UP 2002). Reviewed at Romantic Circles. Stabler, Jane. A review of Byron, Poetics and History (Cambridge UP 2002). Reviewed by Jonathan Sachs, Romanticism on the Net 38-39 (May-Aug. 2005). Vail, Jeffrey W. The Literary Relationship of Lord Byron and Thomas Moore (John Hopkins UP 2001). Reviewed by William Brewer in Romanticism on the Net 26 (May 2002). 1998-2012 by LiteraryHistory.com

Iraq (MNN) — A December Facebook threat against English teachers working in Iraq is symptomatic of a larger problem for Christians. For better or worse, Muslim nationalists link Christians with all things Western. It’s no secret that extremists in the region hope to lead Iraq and Syria down the path of fundamentalist Islam. Part of that means the eradication of non-Muslim minorities. That’s been born out in a year of violence, which includes a Christmas Day church bombing in Iraq. According to the Associated Press, the total number of people killed this month in Iraq is 441, while the United Nations estimates more than 8,000 people have been killed since the first of the year. Because so many have been Christians, Iraq moved up five spots to No. 4 on the 2013 Open Doors World Watch List, a ranking of countries that are the worst persecutors of Christians. An Open Doors field worker said in an earlier report: “We received documents and threats stating that the aim of Islamist insurgents is to make Iraq a ‘Muslim only’ country. They want Christians out.” Dr. David Curry, president/CEO of Open Doors USA, says that’s what makes this time of year so dangerous for believers in Iraq. “This is a time where people know that they can attack believers at these holy sites or churches, these kinds of places where we’re going to gather to celebrate this season there in the Middle East.“ Believers are no longer attending church in large numbers. What’s more: despite promises of higher security, “The government isn’t actually protecting the Christians at these holy sites, so we are very concerned here for the next few weeks about believers who are going to church. We need believers to pray about this situation.” Experts guess that 45,000 Christians (out of two million) have fled Syria, and the pace is increasing. The statistics from Iraq are even more shocking. It is estimated that here are only 330,000 Christians left in Iraq, as many have fled the country due to violence and persecution. In the early 1990s there were an estimated 1.2 million Christians. Curry says what this boils down to is spiritual warfare. “We need to be praying for these believers. We need to be supporting them. I would be thrilled if Christians in the West knew what was happening and cared on a deep enough level to pray every day for believers throughout this season.” For those who remain, the situation is particularly difficult, with high unemployment, discriminatory religious legislation, and concerns for their personal safety. A spokesman for Open Doors noted that by the year 2020, Iraq could find itself without any Christians. Since the beginning of the war in Iraq, more than 1,000 Christians have been killed and 61 churches destroyed. And yet: God. “People are sharing their faith. We are seeing people be open to the faith. That’s happening at the same time that there’s a mass exodus,” Curry shares. The Open Doors ministry in Iraq includes trauma counseling, biblical training for church leaders and Muslim-Background Believers, distribution of Bibles and Christian literature, community development projects, and working with Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) in northern Iraq.

| Common Core alignment to "Reading: Literature and Subject-related Content" is to 3 key phrases:| "Particular Topic", "Context" and "Reading Literature". CCSS Alignment Strand Numbers for Specific Grades: Particular Topic= "CCSS.ELA-Literacy." precedes these numbers: 4.6. 5.6, 6.6, 7.6, 8.6, 9-10.6, 11-12.6 Context= "CCSS.ELA-Literacy." precedes these numbers: 2.4a, 3.4a, 4.4a, 5.4a, 6.4a, 7.4a, 8.4a, 9-10.4a, 11-12.4a Reading: Literature= "CCSS.ELA-Literacy." precedes these numbers: RL.2.4, RL.3.4, RL.4.4. RL.5.4, RL.6.4, RL.7.4, RL.8.4, RL.9-10.4, RL.11-12.4 Reading: Informational Text= "CCSS.ELA-Literacy." precedes these numbers: RI.2.4, RI.3.4, RI.4.4. RI.5.4, RI.6.4, RI.7.4, RI.8.4, RI.9-10.4, RI.11-12.4 Notice: This 104 vocabulary word list for The Things They Carried is for personal use only. The study of the word list will improve reading comprehension. Any commercial use of the vocabulary word lists at MyVocabulary.com is expressly prohibited unless requested and permission granted. Email email@example.com or use the Contact Us in the footer below. A vocabulary word list for The Things They Carried is arranged in order of appearance: The Things They Carried: foxhole, perimeter, poncho, grunts, intransitive, taut, topography, bayonet, antipersonnel, shrapnel, monsoons, volition, arsenal, entrench, tangible, muzzle Spin: ammo, grid, exuberance, fungal On The Rainy River: stash, dispense, aggression, stooge, imperative, province, summa cum laude, infantry, jingo, smoldering, decapitate, eviscerate, schizophrenia, censure, acquiescence, platitude, pious, gentry, bewilderment, chrome, giddy, reticence How To Tell A True War Story: rectitude, salvage, denotation, skewed, artillery, scenario, mongoose, ordnance, definitive, rucksack, drudgery, napalm, anarchy, civility Sweetheart Of The Song Tra Bong: improbable, bedlam, mundane, warranty, vulnerable, sniper, intrigue, casualties, gore, adrenaline, hammock Stockings: plod, invulnerable Church: pagoda, swab The Man I killed: cadre, cowlick, piaster Speaking Of Courage: causation, gargling, mortar, hoist Notes: catharsis, nucleus, valor In The Field: platoon, giddiness, condolence The Ghost Stories: cushy, battalion, bunker, hooch, botch, rapport, illumination Night Life: grope, defoliant, kilter The Lives Of The Dead: infatuation, chronology, taper, tranquilizer, translucent, essence, blatant, formaldehyde Thank you, Jan Cook, a former teacher at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton, California, for being the teacher contributor at www.myVocabulary.com of a 104 vocabulary word list for The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.

Allana Marshik, Advisor: Leila DeVriese The global population of immigrants has exploded in recent years, and this has led to the question of what is the best method to respond to large influxes of immigrants? Many countries have struggled with this because immigrants can have a profound effect on the country in which they settle. Depending on the immigration policy of the host country, immigrants can have a negative or positive impact. A policy that positively affects immigrants, i.e., facilitates their settlement, integration and functionality in society, will positively affect the host country. A policy that has a negative effect such as loss of human rights and agency results in immigrants who cannot contribute to society, negatively impacting the host country. Many different ideas have arisen in an attempt to solve this question. Multiculturalism is one of the ideas that has had a large impact on the way that people think about immigration policy. Using a literature review as well as interviews and surveys taken while abroad in Spain, this paper will examine the case of Spain and the way in which the Spanish government has responded to its growing immigrant population. The Spanish government has created La Ley de Extranjería (Aliens Act) that guarantees specific rights to immigrants. These rights range from basic human rights to political, social and economic rights. This paper will examine the history of the Act and the history of multiculturalism and other policies designed to manage immigrants. The overarching question this paper poses is whether or not La Ley de Extranjería is a positive, effective immigration policy? This paper argues that, while La Ley de Extranjería has its flaws, it is an effective policy that does not limit the agency or rights of immigrants.

Every writing in the OT and NT emerged from a particular social, political, and cultural environment over the course of many centuries, and historical criticism is a modern and tested method of exploring their various origins and tracing their development and significance within their specific historical contexts. This discipline has not been rendered otiose by literary and narrative criticisms. Dates and events, as well as people and places mentioned in the narratives, have all to be scrutinized. The scriptures were certainly studied in detail by the Fathers with abundant use of typology, as by Justin Martyr (c. 150 CE), for whom the OT is primarily a type-source for the NT in his Apology and Dialogue with Trypho the Jew. Inconsistencies between the gospels were noted, and Origen was aware of the necessity of textual criticism. Medieval theologians also found an application or meaning beyond the literal, through allegorical, typological, and mystical interpretations. But with the Renaissance there came a determination to give to the Bible that same rigorous scrutiny of what purported to be history as that which was already being applied to the classical literature of Greece and Rome. The first known critic was a French Roman Catholic priest, Richard Simon (1678–1712 CE). He thought that the uncertainty about scripture brought by criticism undermined Protestant dependence upon it, from which Catholicism was happily free. After him most of the great names are German. The method involved an examination of the texts to check their authenticity and to establish their probable authorship. Comparison is made with documents from other sources and with external evidence provided e.g. by archaeology. Motives, tendencies, interests, presuppositions will all be taken into account. Vocabulary and style must be scrutinized. A major achievement of the 19th cent. was the recognition by Karl Graf and Julius Wellhausen that the Pentateuch was compiled from different sources and reached its final form after the time of the great prophets. Other books were seen to be later than had been supposed: Daniel apparently describes events of the 6th cent. BCE but has been shown to come from the middle of the 2nd cent. in virtue of its accurate account in ch. 11 of Antiochus Epiphanes; the book of Isaiah has been divided to reflect at least two historical periods. Hermann Gunkel (1862–1932) was the founder of OT Form Criticism after a study of the laws of folk-behaviour in passing on traditions. The OT exhibits characteristics similar to those of early Scandinavia; there exist in the OT recurrent literary categories with a related form, and the social situation in which they were produced can be sought, and the functions which the traditions served can be surmised. Gunkel's OT method was applied to the NT by his pupils, e.g. Rudolf Bultmann. The first attempt to map a consistent historical study of the NT was also made in Germany. F. C. Baur (1792–1860) used the terms thesis, antithesis, and synthesis of the philosopher G. W. F. Hegel (Jewish Christianity met Gentile Christianity and gave birth to Early Catholicism). J. J. Griesbach (1745–1812) was a pioneer in synoptic criticism. Research into the life of Jesus took a sceptical turn with D. F. Strauss's Life of Jesus Critically Examined (1835), which argued that the apparent historical form of the gospels was but the clothing for legends. Much further work on the quest for the historical Jesus continued with J. E. Renan, Adolf von Harnack, and William Wrede; until more recently Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976), Gunther Bornkamm (1905–98), and Hans Conzelmann (1915–89)—who were two of the many workers in this field—laid the foundations for their successors in the 21st century. Scholars in America and Great Britain have been no less active. It has always been important to determine both the date and authorship of each composition, which is done sometimes by indications within the text itself or, sometimes, by archaeological evidence. The dates of 1 Cor. and 2 Cor. are established by the discovery of an inscription at Delphi proving that Gallio was proconsul of Achaia in 51/2 CE. Many hypotheses and guesses have been offered for the places where the books of the NT were compiled: Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, Rome. Sometimes fragments of an author's work have been collected together and edited, and sometimes editorial work has combined several sources into a composite whole, as with the Pentateuch. Historical criticism is therefore closely related to this kind of analysis, and the effects on historical criticism of Form Criticism were very marked: it suggested that the gospels consist of collections of small units which have passed through a stage of oral tradition shaped according to the needs of the community. Hard on the heels of Form Criticism came Redaction Criticism, which emphasized the overriding theological ideas of the evangelists which governed their selection and placing of the available material, and this method too had important implications for the historicity of the narratives. To what extent did the aim of interpretation (e.g. about eschatology) affect the narratives of the teaching of Jesus? Or the necessity to invoke the authority of the OT to buttress the claim for the Messiahship of Jesus? Thus the gospel of Luke is not written to prepare for the imminence of the Parousia but to teach Christians to live in the continuing future. The gospel of Matthew, especially in chs. 11 and 12, contrasts the new era which Jesus has brought with the old which preceded it, which is part of the doctrine of Messiahship. Historical-critical scholarship continues to be alive and well in the 21st cent., but there is also a vigorous group of literary critics who believe it is possible to move on: biblical texts have an historical context but all texts also have an after-life and convey a new meaning to new generations of readers.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Scenic Design Email | Bio » The M.F.A. in Scenic Design combines diverse opportunities for realized design work and a strong curriculum as the foundation for its training. Taught by working professionals, the program of study offers intensive instruction in both studio and classroom settings coupled with one-on-one tutorials with the students major professor. Students receive instruction in the use of the traditional and contemporary tools of visual communication as it relates to the theatre and allied fields. With a focus on drawing, painting, model building, and both hand drafting and CAD; importance is placed on script analysis and research and its interpretation in scenic design. In an atmosphere of healthy collaboration, and effective communication, students participation in production work is equally balanced and enhanced with course work. To ensure a deep understanding of related fields, a student will also earn a minor in Costume Design, Lighting Design, Theatre Technology, Sound Design, or successfully complete an approved sequence of courses from at least three of these areas. The goal of the program is to prepare the student for participation in professional theatre and associated disciplines. Students are admitted into the program after proving competency as shown by their portfolio, statement of goals, and required onsite interview. Judgments of portfolio, writing quality, and professional potential are made by members of the Design and Technology Faculty Committee. Each year students are invited to continue in the program after the faculty has assessed a student’s academic success, artistic growth and professional development. A 3.2 GPA or higher typically indicates academic success. The studentís faculty advisor provides an interim evaluation at the end of each Fall semester, and at the end of the first and the second year, students are required to present their portfolio with an oral interview to the Design and Technology Faculty Committee. At this time the committee will determine whether a student shall be advanced in the program. Weaknesses in the areas of academic success, artistic growth and professional development will be identified and may result in a probationary semester or dismissal from the program. M.F.A. Scenic Design candidates are assigned at least five productions during their tenure in the program. Students receive actual design and production experience by being shop carpenter or property master for other designer’s shows, supervising undergraduate stagecraft students, assisting faculty designers, and by designing their own productions. One production in the third year will be designated as the M.F.A. thesis project which will be documented and then evaluated by the students Thesis Committee. The MFA is a sixty-hour curriculum including scenic design, allied skills and technology courses, dramatic literature, history and criticism courses. The successful student will complete the MFA with a diverse portfolio of realized designs, highly developed research, collaborative and communication skills, a mature professional process and a rich understanding of the breath and depth of scenic design. Scene Design I Beginning level (Not for graduate credit) course in scene design. Basics include; research and its interpretation, script analysis, designer’s process and responsibilities, sketching and the presentation of ideas using the visual tools of communication. Also covered in the course are design drawings, color theory, perspective grids, and rendering. Scene Design II Intermediate level of scene design. Projects include; advanced design drawings, exercises in renderings of dramatic light, model building and Greek, Shakespeare, and wing and drop scenic designs. Advanced Scene Design Advanced level of scene design. Projects include; property research, design and presentation, manipulation of forced perspective, traditional box set, multi-set production, and musical theatre scenic designs. Studies in Scenic Design Continuation in advanced scene design with projects including; a non-realistic play, touring rock show, ballet or modern dance, and opera designs. Course covers drawing and painting methods and materials useful to all theatre designers. Skills and techniques include; composition, color and media manipulation, and rendering of dramatic light. History of Decor Studies of architecture, ornamental motifs, and enrichments, including painting, sculpture, and furniture. Scene Painting I Beginning projects in the skills and techniques of scenic painting. Projects include; brick, wood grain, rough and cut stone, cement and marble. Included is an introduction to paint elevations. Scene Painting II Advanced projects in the skills and techniques of scene painting with a concentration on paint elevations and its interpretation. Projects include; molding, wallpaper, sepia photograph reproduction, drapery, stained glass, and foliage. Production Design for Television and Film Advanced projects in design, communication and presentation for the television and film industry. Projects include; sitcom, talk show, and game show scenic design. Additional work includes production design for an original film project. Research and Collaboration for the Theatre (Taught by Design and Technology Faculty) This studio course builds and strengthen research, collaboration, communication and artistic/presentation skills. Student teams research, investigate, design and present innovative approaches to major projects, devised to challenge their individual and collective growth as collaborative artists and technologists. Independent Studies Research work Typical subjects might include a research paper/presentation on an historical or contemporary designer, theatrical trend, or pertinent historical subject. Advanced study and practice of art methods, styles, or theory. Graduate students in the Design and Technology M.F.A. programs are typically awarded an assistantship which includes a tuition waiver covering most fees, in addition to a stipend (currently a minimum of $11,000) for working 20 hours a week in their area of expertise. Academic merit fellowships and research/creative activity travel grant opportunities are also available on a competitive basis. Student Academic Appointees and Fellowship Recipients are automatically enrolled in the student insurance plan and the cost of the student premium is paid by the university. The plan also includes dental, mental health and prescription drug benefits. Eligible students may also insure their dependents. Eligible dependents are the spouse/same-sex domestic partner (residing with the Insured student) and unmarried children under the age of 24. Learn more about the Student Academic Appointee Health Insurance Plan Additional benefits include a "green conscious" campus with free buses, free Adobe and Microsoft products, and a ubiquitous wireless internet. How many realized, fully-mounted production assignments can I expect in the program? Students can expect at least 5 main season production assignments in their area of study over the course of their 3-year program. How many shows do you do each season? The Department of Theatre & Drama produces 8 fully-mounted stage productions each season in addition to a 4-show summer season, a modern dance concert, a new musical, and special events. Will I work on the "Main Stage" or on the "student season" We offer one season that we cosider a main stage, 8-production season, where graduate students serve as the primary designers (lighting, costumes, scenery), technical directors, scenic artists, and properties masters for all shows. See details about the season here. Is the GRE required for admittance? No, the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) is not required for the M.F.A. program. How many students are in the program? We have graduate students in all design & technology areas. There are 5 Scenic Designers, 5 Costume Designers, 4 Lighting Designers, and 4 Theatre Technology (TD) students. When combined with M.F.A. Acting, Directing, and M.A. and Ph.D. graduates, the Department of Theatre and Drama has 55 graduate students and approximately 250 undergraduate majors. What types of financial aid are available? Financial aid resources are available from the financial aid office. Does the program offer assistantships? Yes, all M.F.A. students accepted into the program are offered graduate assistantships which provide a full tuition waiver, plus a competitive stipend, for each of their three years of study. Some fees cannot be waived. Are teaching opportunities available? If teaching coincides with the students professional goals, opportunities exist to gain college-level teaching experience through both laboratory instruction and classroom lectures. What styles of shows do you do? The department takes pride in offering a wide range of theatrical genres to students and audiences. Two musicals are produced each season in combination with six plays which are presented in diverse styles. How do I apply to the program? You can find admission information here. What types of job placement services are offered? Students are mentored into their respective professions by the major professor in their area (Lighting, Costumes, Scenery, or Technical Direction) with the purpose of meeting each individual student’s professional goals. Where do the faculty instructors work professionally? All Design and Technology faculty maintain active professional careers. Please see individual faculty profiles for more details. What jobs do recent graduates have? Recent graduates of our programs are employed all across the country. Please see specific program web pages for further information.

Originally Posted by usuallee Not to nitpick becuase I kow it would be impossible to list every genre and subgenre, but any such poll really should have literature choices, i.e. "Classic Lit" and "Modern/Contemporary Lit". I disagree. Literature is not a category. Classic is also not a valid category.

PetzLife Oral Care Testimonials I've attached a picture of my Bernese Mountain Dog, Lucia, smiling because I haven't brushed her teeth in over a month. Last Spring I spend over $800 having her teeth cleaned ( the pre-tests were most as much as the anesthesia and procedure). Despite weekly brushing and application of another dental gel, her gums were getting red, bleeding with a lot of tartar accumulation on her teeth. Dr. Joe from Mountain Lore Animal Hospital in Plantsville CT. recommended your product. I was skeptical - he said he was too. So he tested it on his two Berners and it was NOT too-good-to-be-true! I guess I was more surprised that instead of scheduling Lucia for another appointment that would be over $500.00, he sold me a bottle of your gel for $26.00. I guess he really loves animals and would not want to subject them to the risk. After almost a month, her gums have not bled, they are not swollen and there is a very noticeable tartar reduction on her teeth. Thank you for this great product! PetzLife dental care for dogs is effortless, easy and works - My little Maltese, above, has beautiful, sparkling white teeth. Thank yo/,u for such a Great product. I have started to write you at least 20 times and keep getting pulled away. However I am glad that this happened. Now let me tell you why. I have already come to the conclusion that your Oral Care Products are the best! I have used Petrodex and Tropiclean, along with many others. I have been grooming for over 10 years.... I absolutely love my job as a mobile groomer. But, I have a client that I groom who has open tumors everywhere. There is one right on his mouth and I am telling you it is awful. The owners have tried literally everything to cut the smell. I got there and the smell was way worse then normal, I was gagging. First thing I did was spray PetzLife in his mouth!!!! I honestly didn't expect much, but thought the minty smell would do something. I continued to groom him and after about 30 minutes it dawned on me that I was working right by his mouth and wasn't about to get sick. Yes, it was that bad. The difference was awesome. I knew it had to be the PetzLife, I couldn't have become immune to the smell that quickly so I did ask the owner if they noticed a difference, they did and were astounded. I know that a picture is worth a thousand words, however I wish there was a way to gauge the smell before and after. It was truly amazing. Thank You Very Much!!! I love how fast and effective your oral care products work and now I will try all your products, because obviously you have products that truly work. Every Groomer should be introducing their customers to your fantastic Holistic PetzLife Oral Care! Thank you again," Sarah Rogers | All Pets Grooming | 308 Beverly Dr. | Ladson, SC 29456 | 843 303 5831 | firstname.lastname@example.org Testimonial for PetzLife. I highly recommend PetzLife. I have used this product on my own dog and was tremendously impressed with the results. There are many cases where I have been able to offer my clients an alternative to a full dental procedure by recommending PetzLife. Client compliance has been among the highest I’ve seen. My clients are motivated by prospect of avoiding an expensive dental procedure. PetzLife gives the opportunity to provide an impressive visual to my clients. I will have them return after several weeks of using the PetzLife product. During the examination I will lift the lip exposing the teeth and gums. The teeth are noticeably whiter with the tarter line receded, and the gums will look healthier. In my practice, I avoid risky anesthetic procedures when possible, especially with compromised patients. PetzLife has become an important tool for this outcome. Like all veterinary practices, the economy has had an impact on my decisions and the decisions my clients make. Offering PetzLife as a way to postpone a dental procedure, or to go longer between dental procedures has been greatly appreciated by my clients. PetzLife company has been responsive and a pleasure to work with. They stand behind their product 100% and honor their guarantees. It is very rare that we get a customer return of PetzLife. Customer satisfaction is refreshingly Anette Heaslet DVM, CVA | Lithia Springs Veterinary Care | 1756 Ashland Street | Ashland, OR 97520 On a visit to Petsmart a ver knowledgeable employee listened to my problem and recommended PetzLife, I did not believe her, however, I was so desperate I decided to try the product...... After two weeks there was an significant improvement, our veterinarian was so surprised, her teeth and gums showed no sign of the disease after 2 months of using the product. I faithfully brush Angels teeth every day with PetzLife, she loves the taste and she looks forward to having her teeth brushed. With so many products on the market that never work, it is refreshing and rare to find a product that works so well as PetzLife. I cannot thank you folks at your company enough for prolonging my dogs life and preventing her from suffering, and for the security of knowing Angels' mouth is now healed and healthy. Carole Morrell and "Angel" |I am in shock! A product that actually does what is says it will do. I've been spraying the Oral Care Spray in my dogs mouth for about a 2 weeks. I just took a piece of guaze , rubbed my dogs teeth and the brown plaque and tartar came off. Amazing!!! Word of mouth is a great advertising tool and I will be telling everyone. Thank you so much!!! TO ALL ANIMAL LOVERS, For over 40 years I have dedicated my life to breeding, grooming, boarding and caring for not only my own dogs and cats, but my clients as well. Great health comes from addressing the total dog and cat, and starting with the health of their teeth and gums is an absolute necessity. The bacteria that is allowed to decay on your pets teeth and gums effect the overall health of your pet. Your pet cannot be healthy without keeping their mouth cleaned, just as in us humans. I have owned and bred numerous Best In Show winning dogs with the most recent of them being, "Tyler Joe." On all of my personal dogs teeth I use PetzLife Oral Care and I recommend it to all of my customers. I can tell you of countless success stories with these products, but the best success story you will know is to use the products yourself and see the results. I vowed never to take "Tyer Joe" to the vet to have his teeth cleaned and since he was 6 weeks old I have taken care of his teeth with PetLife. They are beautiful and white. I believe in these products 100% and know they work. There are other products out there, but none compare to PETZLIFE! Here's to your pet's great health and happiness. “My fiancé and I use F’rst Defenz at the first sign of getting a cold. It works great and has kept us healthy for the past 2 winters. We also use the Oral Care Spray on our dog Jade. Every time we go to the vet they comment on how beautiful and clean her teeth are. Trust me, there is no smelly dog breath in our house. We love the PetzLife products and recommend to all friends and family.” – Barbie Bexell I am the owner/operator of GENTLE DENTAL & ASSOCIATES, a non-anesthesia teeth cleaning business for dogs and cats. I started using your oral spray about 5 months ago after seeing one of your ads in a local magazine. I use the oral spray while I clean the animal's teeth and was immediately impressed with the way it changed the composition of calculus on the teeth. It was definitely easier to remove the heavy calculus with a dental scalar after using your spray. After working on an English Setter, whose gum tissue was very inflamed and the dental scaling had caused bleeding to occur, I recommended the owner use PetzLife spray everyday for two weeks, and return for a follow-up visit. The owner returned a few weeks later with the dog, and I could not believe the difference in the dog's mouth. The gums were much healthier and pink, and I was then able to finish the dental scaling procedure with no bleeding! The client had used PetzLife spray once a day faithfully for two weeks and the results were amazing! I now recommend PetzLife Oral Spray to all of my clients! I was also able to convince the owners of two of the stores I work out of (Dexter's Deli in Del Mar and Carlsbad, CA, and Muttropolis stores in Newport Beach, Solana Beach, and La Jolla, CA) to carry your product. They tell me that they cannot keep enough stock on hand to meet the demand! I felt that I had to let you know how impressed I continue to be with your great product. I am a believer! Thank you for making my job easier, and especially for caring for our pet's health! Owner, Gentle Dental & Associates Dear Bud it was very nice talking with you today. I am very pleased with the improvement I have noticed in my dogs teeth and his breath. We have only been using your PetzLife product for about 10 days and I even skipped a few days and already I notice a nice improvement. I am glad we have found a product that works as good as all the claims. I have tried dogie toothpaste, and even the new dental probiotics for dogs and they either did nothing or gave them the runs. I am looking forward to continued improvement in our 12 year old dogs mouth. At 12 our little dog Hazel has had a bout with pancreatic conditions as well, so we were very concerned about anesthesia complications. I will send pics soon to show you the before and after's. I am also looking forward to trying your stronger human version F'rst Defenz as I have an extreme phobia of the Dentist. THANK-YOU for a Great product. A dedicated consumer. St. Petersburg, Fl. 33710 Dear PetzLife Products! I would like to let you know that I received the PetzLife Oral Care to treat my 5 year old Yorkshire terrier "Puddin". I was distraught to find puddin's teeth in such bad condition and feared professional cleaning for obvious reasons! Her gums were swollen, red and bleeding. I had never tried brushing her teeth before now and was only clued in to their drastic condition from her very bad breath. I received your product on 3/22/2007 and began using it right away, following the directions. I only wish I had taken a picture to show you the improvement in just 10 days! The difference is astonishing! Her gums are now pale again and the heavy plaque is beginning to wear away. I can't remember when I have been so pleasantly surprised and completely satisfied with a product. I can not understate the importance of this product, and finding ways to share the good news with others. Thank you so much and please let me know how I can help get the word out!" With much appreciation, My name is Dr. Elizabette Cohen and I am a pet owner, a practicing veterinarian for 21 years, a radio pet reporter, and the author of Most of My Patients Wear Fur. In chapter 4 of my book, I discuss the importance of oral hygiene. Brushing teeth at the puppy and kitten stage can help with teething, prevent many mouth problems and can even prevent heart, liver and kidney diseases later on! I have 2 wonderful dogs that I love very much. The oldest is my black Labrador retriever, Allie. She is 18 years old and I am convinced she made it to such an old age because I do a lot of preventative care like daily teeth brushing. I have been brushing her teeth for many years now and luckily, she has good genes. I never had to perform dentistry on her. However, my 5-year old Rottie rescue, Roxy, is not as lucky. Even though she gets her teeth brushed daily, she must have lousy genes, because she still builds up some plaque and tartar. Performing a proper dentistry requires anesthesia and I do not want to put her under if I do not have to. No matter how many precautions are taken, anesthesia still poses a risk. This is why I am so excited about PetzLife oral care products. I love the fact that these products are all natural. They are so easy to use. Every night, (because my dogs are used to me brushing their teeth) I apply some gel on the toothbrush and brush the gel directly onto the teeth. In the morning, I take a piece of gauze and wipe the plaque and tartar right off. Wow! After using the product for just 1 week, I saw results. Note: For patients that are not used to brushing, I suggest that you rub the gel liberally onto the teeth in the evening before bedtime, then wipe with gauze in the morning. After 1 week of doing this every night, you too should see a difference. Some of you might be concerned about the grain alcohol in this product, but many liquid medications use the same grain alcohol that gets safely ingested by the patients. These oral care products get applied directly to the teeth, so if some gets swallowed there is no need to worry. Thank you PetzLife for oral care products that help keep my pets and everyone else's, "Healthy and Happy!" Dr. Elizabette Cohen Host of "Healthy and Happy Pet" heard on WCBS880.com worldwide and WCBS 880 AM News Radio in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut In our Integrative and Complementary Medicine practice we see many fragile, compromised animals. In treating so many with immune mediated disease, cancer, and metabolic disorders we have found that reduction of dental and gingival disease is critical in reducing antigenic stimulation and systemic inflammation. Anesthesia for conventional dental procedures and prophylaxis is not always in the best interest of these animals; but we have to clean up their mouths and gums as quickly as possible to reduce the burden of infection on their systems. The Petzlife products have been a huge help in making these animals healthier very quickly without compromising them in any way. They are well accepted by most animals (and owners.) The speed with which they work is amazing and owners are very compliant when they see such rapid results. Every animal in our practice has an exam and a recommendation for appropriate oral hygiene; it's a humane issue as well as a lifetime healthcare necessity and Petzlife products make it easy for us to help all of our patients to be happier and healthier and to live longer. Judith M. Shoemaker, DVM (www.JudithShoemaker.com) AlwaysHelpful Veterinary Services Internationally known practitioner and eductaor in complementary veterinary medicine and therapy. She has served as a board member and representative for AVCA, AAVA, IVAS, and AHVMA Hi Petzlife People: I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR THE BEST PRODUCT A DOG COULD HAVE AND FOR HELPING TO MAKE MY TWO CHIHUAHUAS HEALTHIER AND HAPPIER. Last year I bought some chew bones (not rawhide) and noticed Cha Cha's teeth were full of plaque after ONLY ONE MONTH of her chewing on them and I found the loose teeth. I noticed she had quit chewing on anything. I will never give my dogs man-made bones again! In September I was told by my Vet that Cha Cha would have to have at least 10 teeth pulled - 3 were loose. Her mom (Chewie) previously had her teeth cleaned and 5 pulled - costing over $500!! I dreaded taking Cha Cha in for her teeth cleaning etc. Not for the money (including 'blood work' over $100) but I was afraid of the anesthesia and trauma. Also, they both have epilepsy seizures 3-4 times a yr. On Line I ordered Petzlife salmon gel and Leba III as well. I got the Leba III sooner and started using it. But when I got your product it seemed to work a lot better and had better ingredients. So I quit using Leba (which cost more)- and have been using your miraculous gel - twice a day. I was so happy to see Cha Cha's gums healing, tightening and her teeth getting whiter. I am hoping to save two of the loose teeth, and I know she won't have to have 10 teeth pulled now!!! I am telling every pet owner I know that Petzlife is the best they can use and can save not only lots of money but also their pet's LIFE!! My friend Chris had two of Chewie's pups. Last month she lost PePe (Cha Cha's brother) after he had his teeth cleaned! It is like losing your best friend!! I KNOW HE WOULD BE ALIVE TODAY IF SHE HAD YOUR PRODUCT SIX MONTHS AGO. She is now using the gel on her remaining dog. It's working!! Vets are making a fortune on cleanings and tooth pulling! Of course your product will stop that - and will also save many pets from suffering and DIEING!! PETZLIFE IS A MIRACLE FOR OUR BELOVED PETS. THANK YOU FOR A PRODUCT THAT WORKS AND IS MADE IN THE USA!! AND LETS SPREAD THE WORD. EVERY DOG/CAT OWNER SHOULD USE THIS FAITHFULLY. (And more vets should start recommending it!) Hello, It's very rare to find a product that lives up to its word and PetzLife is truly such a product! Slater, my 7 year old male, Bernese Mountain Dog is truly asweetheart and he was born with an overbite. Plaque forms so quickly on his teeth and no amount of brushing helped. I've reluctantly had Slater's teeth cleaned, under anesthesia, with very short term success. I know someone who lost a dear elderly cat, and their veterinarian thought it could have been a reaction to the anesthesia during a toothcleaning. It wasn't until I found the PetzLife site and after reading the entire site, I ordered both the gel and spray. I used it day and night as directed and within two weeks I saw the plaque crumbing away!!! Within 30 days the plaque was gone! Slater's plaque was as bad as any of the before pictures on this site. I now tell EVERYONE I know about this product, family members, co-workers, friends, strangers, veterinarians, feed store owners. Bud and his company Petzlife, are top-notch and Slater and I give them my highest, warmest, heartfelt thanks!! My best to you, Lorrine, Slater, and Jolene Note: The picture I have attached is of my two loves: Slater and Jolene. Slater is the larger dog on the right. Slater is 7 years old and Jolene will be 2 in January. Hi, Just want to say what a great product you have. My little dog is 9 years old, the first time I had her teeth cleaned she lost a tooth, the second time the same thing. I was concerned about the anesthesia and how hard it was on her. Now her teeth are wonderfully clean and I don't have to put her through all that truma, and I am saving hundreds of dollars. thanks so much, I am simply amazed with your oral care gel! I have a Sheltie rescue dog, Sparkle, who has been suffering from severe tarter and gingivitis. As the owner of Furry Friends, Inc. a mobile pet food delivery service, I often run across articles in the trade journals about new products. We are always on the lookout for healthy, nutritional supplements and look for products with a holistic, safe and natural approach. Well, I ran across an article about Petzlife. The article claimed all sorts of wonderful things, like never needing a teeth scaling again! As a Registered Radiologic Technologist, with 20 years of medical experience, I was a bit skeptical of the claims. However, I also know the dangers of anesthesia, and the expense. Putting our older dog Sparkle under anesthesia for a teeth cleaning, was just not an option. I called and thought I would try a bottle on Sparkle and see if she would benefit. I also want to help our thousands of customers who have the same problem as we do in our home. I started Sparkle on the recommended schedule, twice daily. She seemed not to mind the process at all. Well, by the FOURTH day, I went to put some on her back gums and holy cow! the plaque was falling off on my finger. I simply cannot believe it! I am now using it on all 5 of our dogs and the cat. The cat just licks it off his paw, no problem. I am excited to be getting this product in for our customers. I know they will have the same results I personally experienced. Thank you for bringing such a great product to market. Debbie Brookham Furry Friends, Inc. 'The Pet Food Store That Comes To YOUR Door' www.furryfriendsinc.com 719-495-PETS (7387) A few months ago I adopted a little rescue dog, at a year and a half her teeth were really bad and she needed them surgically cleaned. I just didn't have the money so started using your product about 2 months ago. I bought the gel and used it a few times a week, with a brush. Within a few weeks her teeth looked AMAZINGLY better. I kept using it and her teeth kept getting better. tonight I took a scaler and popped the last two tiny brown bits off of her canines. Her teeth are absolutely perfect, I am in shock. I keep lifting her little lip and looking at them. The stuff is a miracle. I wish I had taken before pics. Thank you for your terrific product. I have been using Petzlife oral spray for over a year and my cat's teeth look great. Where I live, they are charging $600-$800 per cleaning! So not only is my cat's health protected by having less bacteria in his gums and mouth, but he also avoids anesthesia risks at age 15 and I don't go broke! I love that the product uses natural essential oils. When I get the spray, I use a glass dropper and drop it into the corner of his mouth. It's much easier. By the way, his name is Bud also. Laura and Bud My name is Marsha and my dog is a 16 year old Cocker Spaniel named Buffy. My vet wanted to put her under anesthesia and clean her teeth but I was afraid because of her advanced years. Then I read in Dog Fancy magazine about PetzLife Oral Care Gel so I ordered it and in about 4 weeks had amazing results! Buffy's breath is so much better, before you couldn't stand being in the same car with her. Now it's not a problem and the tarter is noticeably better. I recommend this product to everyone with a dog young or old. I am so blessed to have been introduced to your product and I am sure it has added years to my faithful friends life. I have recommended PetzLife Oral Care to all my friends and will continue to. Thank you so much! To tell you how well your gel worked for my dog. Her teeth were getting pretty awful looking, bones and rawhide were not helping at all. I used the gel for a couple of weeks by simply adding it to peanut butter and the difference is absolutely astounding. Wish I had taken some before photos. I plan to tell absolutely everyone i know with pets about your product. Thank you so much! Angela RussellMemphis, TN I'm writing you this letter to let you know how much I like your product. My puppies were about 1 year old, when they first started showing signs of tartar build up even though I had been brushing their teeth with dog toothpaste. I came across a competitors(Leba) ad in a magazine, so I tried it for awhile and saw no results. Then I saw your product in a magazine claiming to do the same, but I almost did not purchase it because of my experience with the last product. However, we tried it. My girls( She-She and Bella) are now 2 1/2 yrs old and their Vet says their teeth look great. They are no were near ready for a dental cleaning. I now only have to use your products for maintenance a few times a week. We will continue to use PetzLife and recommend your product forever. Thanks from all of us. Robin & Davida She-She & Bella Woody is a 9 year old Sheltie with Dermatomyositis. This inherited disorder can cause skin lesions and in severe cases, affect the muscles of shelties and collies. DM primarily affects Collies and Shetland Sheepdogs, although is seen occasionally in other breeds. It has been recommended that I have his teeth cleaned every 6 months and that is probably not enough. My veterinarian has state of the art equipment for monitoring heart rate, blood pressure, x-rays, etc. My dog receives excellent care, but each cleaning costs me over $500.00 and dogs with DM are adversely affected by stress and surgeries. I desperately looked for alternatives to semi-annual cleanings and found PetzLife on the internet. After talking with the product owner I decided to give it a try. One month later Woody's teeth and gums look great. There is slight staining on his teeth, but no tartar and his gums are a healthy pink! I now use PetzLife on all my dogs. I have three Papillon's and Woody, my Sheltie. I highly recommend PetzLife products. They have made a huge difference in Woody's life. Before: Right Side After: Right Side Before: Left Side After: Left Side I just placed my 2nd order for your Petzlife oral gel. We have several young cats and 1 dog and had planned on taking them all to the vet for the dreaded anesthesia teeth cleaning. After learning about your product in Animal Wellness Magazine, we decided to try it out several months ago. Our pets had moderate tartar, mostly in the hard to reach back molars. We followed your instructions of 2 applications a day for about a month. The first week, we noticed a drastic improvement in breath quality - from stinky breath to neutral breath. There was also a noticeable decrease in redness and inflammation around the gums. After a month, we saw a lot of the tartar removed. We tapered off to applying Petzlife once a day around the 2nd month. After the 3rd month, we were on a maintenance schedule of applying the gel every other day. It is now 4 months later. All the tartar is gone except for a tiny strip in my pets' molar crevices. This area may just require a vet dental instrument to nudge out. Needless to say, we are amazed and thrilled with the ease and effectiveness of your product. After this year's pet food scare, we altered a lot of our pets' food and health regimens. It is important to us to use a nontoxic and natural alternative for our pets' dental health, also. Thank you for offering this effective option to the potential upset, cost, and worry of going to the vet for dental anesthesia and cleaning. Especially for those of us with multiple pets. Since our pets are young, we intend to use your product to hopefully keep them in great dental health for the rest of their lives! I don't usually give feed back on products I buy, but this is the exception. I have an English Cocker Spaniel named Daisymead Angel Maxwell, Max for short. He'll be eight in June. He's well cared for, regular vet visits and has had his teeth cleaned about a year ago. He gets holistic dog food with minimal wheat gluten and no byproducts. Obviously, he is loved dearly. Recently, his breath has gotten really bad. I have never brushed his teeth but give him tooth cleaning treats, so I was surprised at how truly awful it was. I did a check of his mouth and found only minimal gum line discoloration. Nothing to warrant such odor. Last week we had him groomed. His end of winter shave down. While at the groomer, I remembered the ad I saw for your product in a holistic magazine. I picked up the product on June 4th, but failed to try it until the 5th. Today is the seventh. I've used in twice a day for two days. His breath is wonderful! From your literature I expected it to take longer, but I'm already more than pleased. I will recommend it to everyone I know with dogs. I am just back from taking my little papillon for her annual check up and boosters. Last year I was horrified when the vet pointed out how bad her teeth had got without my noticing (I have got to that awkward age where the short sight and the long sight mean contact lenses AND reading glasses!) - she has a heart dysrhythmia, so I was anxious to avoid an anaesthetic to have her teeth cleaned. I combed the internet, and found your brilliant oral gel, and made daily use part of the bedtime routine. Today our vet was truly impressed at the improvement! Tomorrow I intend to start using it on the cats as well - I have promised all three animals the salmon flavour next! Frances Murphy and Flissy For the past 20 years I have been fortunate to be a pet, exhibitor and breeder of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. As you may or may not know showing a dog with nice clean teeth is such an important factor. Showing dogs is job within itself as they have to always be kept in top shape and as I'm sure everyone know that infection in the mouth goes to the heart therefore causing other health issues. As an exhibitor I have over the years tried I'm sure every product that has ever come on to the market and not with much success. Some of these products were double the money, some you put in the water and some you brush the mouth with. I have in the past used Oxyfresh both in the drinking water and brushing and gave up on it as I found with my dogs it did not make a difference, I then used Leba III with some success but there again a difference but not a great one with my dogs. As with children some dogs have good teeth and some don't, but the fact that clean teeth help keep a dog healthy. This year I was exhibiting in the US and I looked into the mouths of the 2 dogs I was taking and was completely surprised that although they had just had their teeth cleaned less than 8 months previous, their teeth were colored with tartar. It was then that I decided I would try Petzlife. I had 2 weeks till the show. Amazing does not really cover what this product did. I went to the show with 2 veteran dogs with sparkling white teeth. No other product I have used ever produced such results and in such a short period of time. Impressed is not a strong enough word to describe this product. When my puppies go to their new home I enclose product information on Petzlife and recommend that they start their new pet around 8-9 months of age. Using this product will in all probability save your pet from going under anesthetic and the risks involved with that. Starting with a clean mouth will produce the best results and remember that like us, products do not get rid of teeth that are already bad. I AM ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED. Two and a half years ago, we found a poodle on our back porch at 6 a.m. Both her eyes were fully covered with cataracts. Someone had to have put her there, because she could not see at all. I took her to the vet, after we were unable to locate her owners. He said at that time that he believed her to be about 9 years old. That makes her 11 1/2 now. Her teeth were fully covered with plaque, but because she only weighs 5 pounds, I was unwilling to put her through anesthesia to have the vet clean them. I stumbled on your web site about 5 weeks ago, and I bought your PetzLife Oral Care Spray. After using it for only 3 weeks, almost all of the tartar build up was gone ! I only wish that I had taken photos of her teeth before I started using it, so you could see how truly bad they were. As long as we have any dogs in our household, we will be using this product. I would love it, if you would send me information on a distributorship. My 7 yr old yellow lab was scheduled to go in for a teeth cleaning at the vet, and I was just dreading it (I didn't want him to have to go under anesthesia). That was when you sent out an announcement about Petzlife Dental Care. So I cancelled the vet appointment and started using Petzlife (2 times a day for 7-10 days, then once a day for several weeks after that). My dog's teeth have gone from yellowish brown to white, his gums are no longer red, and no more bad breath. It is really remarkable. Thank you for finding this awesome product. I just started carrying PetzLife and have already had 2 testimonials. One said she noticed a difference when she was getting ready to apply the 2nd application within a week of the first. The other customer who has a 10 year old rescued dog said she had been to 2 different Vets in the area who made the observation that the dog had "severe" dental problems with tartar and plaque and wanted to do a dental, but had to wait on a second test for heartworm. She said she sprayed the teeth last week and came in yesterday to tell me that she applied gentle pressure on some of the teeth with large deposits falling off. She was amazed and relieved the dog would not have to go under for a dental. Thank you for your wonderful products. I began testing PetzLife Oral Care Gel in January 2006 in my 10 generation raw meat feeding cat breeding program (ala "Pottenger's Cats"). The teeth and gums of raw meat eating cats and dogs is extraordinary. However, as you recall, I suggested including pharmaceutical grade salmon oil to the gel, and my results, including palatability, were excellent. We, at Celestial Pets, are pleased to offer our clients this excellent product for their dogs and cats. We are always excited to see what new things you develop as well. PetzLife Oral Care Gel certainly gets our stamp of approval. Celeste Yarnall, Ph.D. Celestial Pets Natural Nutrition & Holistic Healthcare for Cats and Dogs I have to write to let you know how terrific your product is. I started my cat (Buttons) on the Salmon Oil Gel about 2 weeks ago and I have already seen a great improvement in his teeth, his gums look great and the tartar is coming off. Over 2 years ago we had to have two teeth extracted so this product really means a lot to me to know that we can keep Buttons' gums healthy and will no longer need to worry about having more teeth pulled. I plan on taking one of your brochures in to my Vet. and hope she will introduce your products to all of her patients that need oral care. Thanks Again, PetzLife for such a great product. Cassandra McCourry Hanover, PA To All concerned Pet Owners!! I have been using Petzlife on my dogs for 3 1/2 years now on my Havanese. I swear by it. At a year old my vet recommended Maddy having her teeth cleaned. I thought it was something that probably needed to be done. Well, Maddy had a reaction to the anesthesia they used, and her gums got infected. Once this was all cleared up, I went on a hunt for a product. I too investigated all the ingredients. I decided it was better than putting my dogs under. Since that time, I have 2 more Havanese and their teeth have never ever had to be cleaned due to using PetzLife nor have they ever had any gum problems. I use it 3 times a week or at least 2 times a week depending on our schedule around here. They have no tartar at all! I got Dr. Joanne Baldwin to using it too and she swore by it, and she sells it in her practice, and PetzLife has her testimonial on all of their brochures. Thank you PetzLife for your amazing oral care products!! Groomer, Handler, Friend Claudie Parrish I just got of the phone with the nicest gentleman from Petzlife. He wanted me to tell all of you my 8 year old Siberian, Kira's experience with anesthesia for dental cleaning. Two years ago I was told by the Vet that she needed a cleaning and would be put under general anesthesia. With great reservations, I agreed to it but only because, as a dental hygienist by profession, I knew how important a healthy mouth was. Well, I should have found this site sooner---and listened to my heart because it took her 2 days to recover. My heart broke to watch her look so confused and scared and wobbly. Now I was told today that my 5 year old Siberian, Lizzie, needs a cleaning too and I know she does by looking at the tartar on her molars. As soon as I got home I went searching online to find an alternative--and voila--here I am! I have read the testimonials and am sooooooo elated to have found this product and can't wait to try it.What a relief. I will definitely send in before and after pics of "the girls" and their bright new smiles! Thanks for allowing me to vent! I just had to write and tell you how thrilled I am with your product. I am telling all of my friends. It costs $200-$500 to have an animals' teeth cleaned at the vet and I was concerned about having our old dog go under anesthesia. Upon my holistic vet's recommendation I went to a local pet store and purchased your wonderful product. I am very pleased to say that after daily application for 2 1/2 weeks and a couple of minutes of scraping with a dental tool 2-3 times a week that all three of my dogs teeth are 95% better! Their teeth had heavy tartar, like many layers of paint on a wall. After a week or so, I was able to start chipping some of it off. My dogs have become more tolerant of having their teeth brushed over time too. I am also going to start getting them some hard bones to chew on to help keep the tartar off. I consider your oral gel a miracle product and I have saved many hundreds of dollars! Thank you, thank you for your wonderful product!!! June Johnson Melba, ID "Hello" to the Folks at Petzlife I just wanted to tell you what a reur gel nearly a year ago and have been using it ever since on my Greyhound Fleetie, who goodnaturedly, allows me to brush her teeth each night. Afterward, I use theally great product you have. I first purchased yo spray formula on those areas which are particularly difficult to reach. These are truly products which produce visible results! I use your product faithfully on "Fleetie" and recommend it to others whenever an opportunity arises. Fleetie's teeth still look as they do in the photos I sent which were taken almost a year ago. Thanks for the great products! We liked the shampoo too! I think this one truly "says it all", as her teeth are still beautiful after faithfully using your spray and gel for several years now. Fleetie underwent specialized surgery last March and every veterinarian we came in contact with commented favorably upon the appearance of her teeth. As Greyhounds tend to accumulate tartar somewhat more heavily than other breeds, I am so happy to have found products which really work. Louise Bullard and Fleetie I am an employee at the Animal Healing Center, a holistic veterinary practice in Yardley, Pennsylvania. Our Chief of Staff found Petzlife at a seminar and brought it to our practice. I couldn't wait to try it and I'm so glad I did. We are recommending this to all of our clients and are having a hard time keeping in stock. It seems to be flying off the shelves. After two weeks of using Petzlife on my show dog Chase, the tartar and plaque on his teeth are gone. I have used both the spray as well as the gel. It has made my life easier and Chase likes it that way too. Thank you Petzlife for this fantastic product. Tobi Krueger and Chase I have been using your PetzLife oral gel and spray for about 2 months on my 4 treasures. My 9 yr. old Schnauzer (Abby) has a stage 4 heart murmur and my vet told me the plaque and tartar on her teeth could be contributing to the seriousness of her condition. After researching the pros and all the cons of anesthesia scaling I found your wonderful product on-line and ordered the spray and gel. After about a month I took Abby back to my vet and she was shocked at how great her teeth looked and she asked what I had done. Soon you will have another clinic on board selling your products I am sure. I am now using your products on all four of my loves and their teeth all look wonderful. I recommend this product to everyone. It will cut down on your vet bills associated with bad teeth, including cardiac and renal disease. Order these products today and you too will be amazed!! These products are fantastic!! Fan of PetzLife PS: I hope you like the collage of my 4 pets that I made using your product brochure. We are Greyhound adopters since 1992 and have 3 now plus an occasional foster. Petzlife oral products actually do everything that the information tells you. Removes plaque, tartar and freshens breath. Just follow the directions and you will get positive results. Most results you can see in 2-4 weeks and other as long as 6 weeks. We placed our order in the summer of 2006 and now ready to order again. We followed the directions and after 1 month a maintenance program was started. As Petzlife information tells you, this is very cost effective. We use the gel in the evening every other day and the spray 2 days a week and regular dog tooth pasted the other days. We get comments on how well our Greyhounds teeth look all the time. We tell people the people this product works. The product is so good that if any plaque builds up you can scrape off with your finger nail. We took one of our Greyhounds to our vet and he scraped the excess loose tartar off without anesthesia. This is a first for us. We have used the Cranberry shampoo and had good results with this product also. Want to have a good healthy life with your pet, make sure you get this product whether a dog or cat, you cannot go wrong. Please read the other testimonials, as they all talk the same language on how pleased the results are from these products. We are referring many Greyhound adopters and adoption groups. We Also refer distributors to try these products and sign up to sell. Thank you again for all you do to assist our loving pets to have a great life. Bob Taylor, WSP, MN I recently ordered your products and have been using them on my 3 Bichons and cat. I don't know about the cat as she won't let me open her mouth, but it seems to be doing a good job on the dogs. It isn't even 2 weeks yet and I am already seeing a difference. I keep telling people about your product as I am so pleased with it. Anything that can keep us away from the vet has my wholehearted endorsement. It's not that I don't like my vet....I just don't agree with so many of the things they do, including vaccines. We're a very holistic household. I was just looking through your web site and I saw that beautiful Havanese. They are a "cousin" to the Bichon and a lot of people think my Ciaobaby is a Havanese, but he is actually a Maltese/Bichon mix. Have a great day! We are very pleased with the results of PetzLife dental care products. We use your product with our rescue dogs and cats, as well as our own personal pets. The results are great. The product is so easy to use and many of the dogs actually enjoy it. We are especially partial to the dental gel with Salmon Oil. Many of our rescues are too old or have medical problems that prevent them from undergoing dental surgery – PetzLife has been an effective alternative. It also freshens their breath and nothing helps improve a rescue's chances of adoption as sweet, smelling kisses. Your product has improved these animals health, reduced their exposure to risky surgery, and improved their adoptability. It is easy to use and affordable. Thank you for such an excellent product. Shannon Landers, Director Central Coast Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals P.S. Attached is a Christmas photo of 3 rescue dogs that really enjoy using PetzLife. The Lab is 14 years old and too old to safely undergo dental surgery. The chocolate Lab/red nose puppy is just 1 year old but has already undergone 4 surgeries for and has 2 metal plates in his legs and thus is not a candidate for dental surgery as it could risk introducing bacteria into his system. The black/brown American Bull Terrier is perfectly healthy but thanks to your product, the vet has said he does not need dental cleaning. I just wanted to thank you for making such a great product with the dental gel! We use your products regularly in our rescue organization as we see a lot of older dogs that have not had the best food or oral care in their lives, and are badly in need of teeth cleaning. Most are too old or sick to undergo anesthesia, and when we have an animal that can undergo the treatment the cost is usually beyond what we can afford. Your dental gel has changed that entirely! We recently took in a 10 year old beagle named Major who needed his teeth cleaned, and he just wasn't getting adopted with his bad breath. After just two weeks on your dental gel his teeth were white and his breath fresh - a huge difference! Major has found a home with a wonderful couple and they will continue to purchase this product. It all started with my own 3-year old dog, Bailey, when he had some health issues last year and went into liver failure. He made it through, but had a stroke coming out of the anesthesia when they put him under for a liver biopsy. Because he was on so much medication, for so long, his teeth really suffered - but I couldn't take a chance on getting his teeth cleaned and putting him under again. When my friend and co-Board Member, Shannon, told me about your product I agreed to give it a try. Boy was I amazed! Bailey now has a beautiful white smile and it is all because of this product. My own vet was so amazed at the results they want to test this product and possibly use it for their own clinic. Thanks Petz Life for making a wonderful product that actually works wonders! Jeannine Wade (and Bailey) Central Coast SPCA P.O. Box 2952 Orcutt, CA 93457 An update on our kitties + 1 now that we added a rescue a month or so ago. I have been using the Oral Gel since March. The kitties have just now started to go in to the vet. Two down and a few more to go. Our oldest cat, 15, was in a month ago and the Vet said she has great teeth, no need for a cleaning. Another one who is 7 also had a great report. Our only hold outs seem to be four litter mates, who are taking a bit longer to come around but seem to be improving with continued use of the Gel. I have begun to consider it might be a genetic thing since it is only those four rescues that are taking longer to clear up. They are the ones that don't go in until the end of the year so am in hopes they, too, will get glowing reports by then. I am very pleased with PetzLife Oral Gel and plan to keep using it. I am looking forward to trying the new Salmon Oil Gel next time I order since it wasn't available last time. Thank you for a wonderful product. Although it was impossible to get them altogether at one time in one place, some of their pictures follow. I ordered your products on Aug. 28th., they arrived on the 30th (very fast shipping!) and I began using them on the 31st. Today is Sept. 5th. I am amazed at the difference that this is making. I have 6 dogs and we are spraying in the am about an hour after breakfast and using the Gel at night about an hour after last turn out treats. Several of my dogs have pretty good teeth but the brown staining that is on one girls teeth is disapearing. The dog with the worst teeth had wonderful breath almost immediately and now I'm just using my finger nails and popping off this horrid nasty plaque in huge chunks. I don't have strong nails either, this stuff has never come off like this. Before I was giving my dogs knuckle bones and brushing with CET every other day and the results were not that good. I am now using your products exclusively. 5 of my dogs are retired racing greyhounds and they are well known for usually having horrible teeth (all greyhounds, not just mine!!) I have recommended your products to many of my friends. I will be using your products for a long time! I wish I could have taken pics of their teeth, but I can't hold their mouths open and take a pic at the same time. Just wanted to drop a line to tell you how pleased I am with the Petzlife Oral Care products. I have received very encouraging feedback from my clients who have used it. I have also been using it on my own dogs and, even though I am not as "regular" as I should be with it, my 14 year old Havanese with 'sewer breath' (who sleeps on my pillow) has been a much more pleasant sleeping partner! I've been practicing veterinary medicine for over 30 years and, while I have not had any experience losing a patient during a dental procedure, I much prefer dealing with tartar problems without anesthesia when at all possible and the Petzlife Oral Care products are simply the most effective that I have found, short of ultrasonic scaling. Thanks for a great addition to our dental tool chest! Joanne V Baldwin DVM Cardinal Animal Hospital Dr. Joanne V. Baldwin is a 1973 graduate of Kansas State University. She has been practicing small and exotic animal medicine in Richmond, VA since 1974. Her goal is to educate animal owners to the needs of their pets to optimize the life of the pet and to make the most of the human/animal bond. Her focus is on a combination of conventional and holistic medicine to provide an opportunity for the animal's immune system to assist medical therapy. The ability to decide when to intervene and when to allow nature to do the healing is an integral part of the art of veterinary medicine. Doc raises and shows Havanese dogs and also belongs to Caring Canines visiting, as time permits, with Poppy and Pearlie. She and her longtime companion, Richi, live in Goochland with 4 adult Havanese, Poppy, Posy, Pearlie and Pala, and 3 cats, Willy, Rip and Cinder. I am a holistic veterinarian and am always in search of natural products for my patients. Petzlife dental products have been a great addition. I feel like I have a new "tool" against tartar. In my 17 years in practice I have often seen older pets undergo anesthesia for dental cleanings or growth removals, and they were never the same afterwords. Some even developed seizures.PetzLife Oral Care products have worked on my patients that have had severe tartar and gingivitis. Before discovering these products we had to perform dental cleanings under anesthesia or resort to keeping the animal on antibiotics (As a holistic vet I don't use antibiotics very often). Now we can cure the problem while avoiding the anesthesia and the drugs! Keep up to good work Petzlife. Susan Maier, D.V.M. Well, we brush daily. Brushing in the morning, and spraying in the evening. Breath has become much better indeed! And.... gums are not bleeding anymore!!! Willy had his last anesthesia when he was 8 years old in 2003. Things almost went wrong, as he stopped breathing almost completely. It was good he was in an extremely modern clinic where he was on heart- and breathcontrol. They had to give him oxygen, and help him breathing and it took about 30 minutes before they had him stable again. We were scared to death that he wouldn't make it!! We were advised to never put him under anethesia ever again unless we had no other choice and something had to be done that could not be done without it. Cleaning teeth under anesthesia was not an option for us any longer. The vet said the anesthesia probably would be more dangerous for Willy than his teeth built up with tartar. Of course we tried to keep them as clean as possible, and scaled them regularly too, but it didn't prevent the tartar building up slowly bit by bit. He is 11 years old now, and we hope we can keep "the love of our life" with us for many years to come! All my best, It was nice speaking with you yesterday. Attached are a couple of pictures of our poodle, Zonker, taken this past summer. He will be 19 the end of this month. He was in a lot of pain from his teeth, but we didn't believe he would survive anesthesia at his age. Zonker had gone under about 5 years ago and looked near death afterward and we weren't going to risk that again. I'm so glad that I found your Oral Spray. His pain was reduced within days and he has been eating well again. The tartar is disappearing too. I would never take a pet in to get their teeth cleaned ever again -- not even a young one. There's no point in puting an animal through that because your stuff works. Thank you very much! Lake Hopatcong, NJ This is Munchkin, and she is 15 years old. I first learned about Petzlife when I attended the HH Backer Trade Show looking for great products to retail in my grooming salon. I had just been looking at Munchkin's teeth and thinking that I was going to have to have another dental on her, just a year after her first one. Even though she is very healthy, shown by yearly bloodwork, I am hesitant to put any dog under anesthesia. There is always a risk when putting a dog under, especially when they are older. And of course it gets expensive with the anesthetic, dental work, antibiotics, bloodwork, etc. So, when I saw Petzlife I was intrigued and willing to give it a try. I ordered a case for my grooming salon as I had a few other people in mind that would like to try it especially since there are many ways to effectively use the products. I am able to brush my dogs' teeth nightly, so that is the method I use. The products really do soften up the buildup on the teeth. I was amazed one night when I saw little pieces of tarter breaking off Munchkin's teeth as she enjoyed a chew treat. Even without brushing, PetzLife oral care along with her normal chewing would have helped her teeth and gums get healthier. Her gums used to bleed when she would chew on treats or I would brush them, now they are healthy and don't bleed. Others have told me that the products are working for them as well. A Sheltie with kidney disease (so higher risk for anesthesia) was told that a dental would probably need to be done this winter. Ricky's owner tried the product for a month before his annual vet appointment, and it was decided that he didn't need the dental - by using the gel his teeth were getting better. I just ordered two more cases so I have enough on hand to get me through the busy holiday grooming season. I am waiting for a couple clients to come back in so I can see how much their teeth and breath have improved with the use of the Gel or Spray. Thanks for the great product. Before After only 2 weeks!!! After 6 weeks!!! Note: Redness Cleared! I enjoyed talking with you. I have used your product on my ten poodles with great success. I spray every day and I brush about twice a week. I will reduce the brushing to once a week. This is the best product I have ever used on my poodles in 37 years. The stain it was on some of my poodles came right off after the third brushing. Their teeth are now pearly white. Thank you for developing this great product. I love it. These are pictures from the annual Premier show in Kalamazoo MI where he took the breed under very heavy competition. Dynamite was listed in the top 25 winners for the year 2003 with AKC. These are Cindy Raft's Ragdoll cats "The Rag-a-muffins" Cindy Just ordered our product after hearing all the great things about our spray and gel-especially after what Lee Taylor had to say about her 2 cats. We thought the Ragdolls were so sweet looking they would look great on our site! Thanks for the pics Cindy!! Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 8:00 PM Subject: your product I ordered your product, and after a little over one week all tarter and bad breath are gone from my two cats. I sprayed in the morning and brushed at night (and picked at it). Both have always had very bad mouth problems since I got them from a rescue agency. The vet wanted to do the teeth cleaning thing; now I can't wait for the vet to see them. I will certainly direct my vet and pet supplier to you, as they are very open to holistic/natural products. By the way, I think the gel is the best dental product for humans that I have tried. Does anyone else use it on themselves? No flouride, no isopropyl alcohol, no fake stuff....I think you should market to humans also. Thanks for a great product, This is Chopper, my sister's 12 year old female Pomeranian/Yorkie mix. Chopper had an infection in her uppler palet which had caused her gums to swell and part of her pallet was pertruding through her front teeth. The plaque was really bad and her breath was terrible. As you can see by the before picture Chopper needed extensive dental work. Because of her age, I did not want my Sister to put Chopper through the ordeal of anesthesia until she had a chance to give PetzLife a chance. I gave a bottle to my sister and asked that she use it twice daily. After two weeks, I asked sis how it was going. She said they have been faithfully spraying every morning and evening, and they had just taken her in to the vet for her routine shots and the vet even commented that her breath wasn't nearly as bad, but he still wanted to do the dental work. They told their vet they were going on vacation and wanted to wait, and indicated they were using a new dental product but didn't say what it was. About a week later (three weeks out from the time they started using the Spray ) they dropped Chopper off at my house while they went on vacation. Because of her severe condition, I wanted to speed up the process so I used a dental scraper to see how much of the plaque I could get off. I have used a scraper on my own 2 dogs many times. As I started scraping, I was amazed at how easy it came off. Three weeks earlier I could not get anything off of Choppers teeth and she would pull away because of the pain caused by the infections. As you can see on the after picture, even her gums are looking 100% better. There was one tooth the vet thought should be extracted but that too is healing and might not be a continuing problem. Again, a picture is worth a 1,000 words, the infection that was going on has now lessened and Chopper is a much happier and healthier dog and my sister is amazed, all this without anesthesia. I can't say enough about how great this product is. I recommend it to every concerned pet owner! Way to go PetzLife. Before: Note Redness After only 3 weeks: Redness cleared Here are my dogs, Amber (the red fawn) and Perry (the white and brown). I have been selling the Petzlife tooth products to many greyhound owners here in North Carolina. They all tell me how wonderful it is to find a product that is safe for the greyhounds that keeps their teeth clean without the need for a dental cleaning by a veterinarian. Greyhounds have special needs when it comes to anesthesia, so greyhound owners like to do all they can to avoid having to use anesthesia. Most of the greyhound owners use the gel because we are already brushing our dogs teeth. I have had several people tell me that when they have taken their dogs to the vet for their annual check ups, the vet has commented on how wonderful their dogs' teeth look. And then, of course, there is the money saving factor. A dental cleaning by a vet can cost anywhere from $150 to $300. So people are thrilled to find a product that is reasonably priced that can eliminate that expense. Thanks for a great product.!! Janet Pike -Petstuff 4 U Here is Jim and his dog Cibo Read about Jim's problem with Anesthesia!!! I wanted to let you know that I highly recommend your product. Just like your product states after two days of use my pet Dog Cibo's bad breath cleared up. After the first week of brushing twice per day almost all the brown stains have disappeared. I had canceled my appointment with the Vet for his teeth cleaning that was going to cost around $300.00. The cost of the teeth cleaning at the Vet was a strain, but what really bothered me was I had lost my previous dog, (which my wife and I considered as part of the family) to an over dose of Anesthesia at the Vets office for what we were told was a routine operation. I laid in bed for weeks, wondering if this would happen again to our new dog which again is considered part of the family. One night while all this was going through my head about his up coming cleaning appointment I thought of doing a wild search in the Internet for Pet's Teeth, when I did your web site came out first, of course that is when I decided to give your product a try. I am so happy I did. Please use me as a reference anytime. The Barkery Inc.(located in Lafayette, N.J.) received our first order from PetzLife Products in April and we put it to use in our grooming salon and retail store. Trying to get people to brush their dog's teeth sometimes can be difficult This product "Petzlife Oral Care Spray and Gel" takes some of the work out of selling and customers love the spray on idea. Check the Vet bill vs.. this product and the customer is on your side from the beginning....It is not like other products on the market......believe me our customers in the grooming salon are tough ....just like yours.....this product shows results quickly....... "Say Goodnight Gracie" & "Georgie Girl" are the two Old English Sheepdogs. "Pandi Bear" and "Niles" are the Lhasa Apso's. They were the test dogs for your product and not easy ones ..They love it and use it every 2 days.......They are the real owners of The Barkery. "Say Goodnight Gracie" & "Georgie Girl" are the two Old English Sheepdogs. "Pandi Bear" and "Niles" are the Lhasa Apso's. They were the test dogs for your product and not easy ones ..They love it and use it every 2 days.......They are the real owners of The Barkery. Our customers have been raving about it since........It's easy...Good price ..............and most importantly ... it works.......We sold out of our first order by the end of April and doubled our next order......I do not work for this Company and I am extremely tough on Vendors that sell products that do not work or sell. We are in business to make money and pets happy......It does both...... Thank You! PetzLife Owner: The Barkery Inc. This is background info as to what happened before Claudia's Testimonial Claudia called me at the end of Sept--She works at a Grooming Salon in California--She read about us in Groomer to Groomer Magazine--wanted to try the product before she recommended it-- the day she got her bottle of Petzlife Oral Spray--in walked the owner of Robin--an 11 year old Maltese--terrible teeth--ugly breath-- & other health issue-- the vet said she needed her teeth cleaned but Robins owner was concerned about anesthesia and the overall general health of Robin--she wasn't sure just what to do---Claudia said, "I just got this product in today, I was told it's a fantastic product, if you want to try it, it is up to you." Without a good alternative she agreed to try it. Claudia told her to follow the directions carefully. This was the first e-mail after seeing Robin back after 30 days---and Claudia has now ordered over 70 bottles and most are already sold!!! I work in a grooming shop where Robin a 5lb Maltese had the rotten teeth beyond belief. Well we gave her mom your spray and she was faithful twice a day for 30 days. She came in Sat. to our amazement her plaque thick thick came right off. She will only need a brushing next time and the poison lessen in her mouth add years to her life. So what I would like to know do you sell whole sale and need printed directions.Lab test results letting people know it is safe for their dog. I just bought the package for two people last night. Please let me know thanks. |Tilly Before||Tilly After only 10 days||Tilly After 38 days using “Life forTeeth”| Well here is miss Tilly and boy if we didn't do the cleaning we wouldn't believe it was the same dog. I got that big black plaque off her back molar . Her dad said he has only been spraying once a day, but said boy does her mouth smell better. *Note: Fur Friend Z has sold over 90 bottles of spray and gel in their first 2 months!! That is an extra $900 profit and are excited about all the referral business! "I have two small dogs that I love dearly, a few years ago I was able to afford getting my dog's teeth cleaned. Then life appended and now I struggle buying there food. My dogs teeth were getting so bad I thought I would have to take out a loan to get her teeth cleaned. Then a friend of mine told me about Life for Teeth and I bought a bottle right away. It has been about three weeks. One of the dogs teeth are completely clean and free of tarter the other one has a few more weeks to go. The dog with the tarter on her teeth is a pit-bull/Chihuahua mix, needless to say she is very moody. In the last two weeks she seems happier. I can only guess but I would say her teeth must have been bothering her. Thank you for this wonderful product, now I can take care of my dogs and provide them with healthier teeth." A big Thank You! We are Chipper Jones and MIA (Martina Issa Angel) Needham. I'm Chipper the Yorkie and Mia is a Maltese. We live in Memphis, TN. and we are "owners/security officers" of Bartlett Nursery & Landscaping. We patrol all 11 acres for chipmunks and any "critter or client" that shows up! Our mommy bought us a bottle of Petzlife Oral Care Gel and Spray. We Love It! I'm older and my teeth were very stained...now they are pearly white. Mommy puts gel on her finger and rubs it on my teeth every morning. I'm 7 & 1/2 and into lots of things...dirt, dust, dirty toys,and chew bones left outside...so my breath hasn't always been great! Anyways, the Life for Teeth Spray has freshened me up and I'm also feeling better from my stuffy nose! Mia's just a baby, only 10 mo. So she just gets the spray right now. Mommy caught the kitty teaching her to catch a vol(mouse-looking critter), and she started squirting Mia's mouth as fast as she could grab the bottle! Ha, Ha she got squirted alright! Mommy said it helps kill germs. Now, I'm helping mommy tell our doggie friends about the spray & gel. She's been showing my teeth to everybody...they say "Wow"! And I bark to let'em know that my breath is fresh too! Our bottles have lasted 5 months, two doggies and spray once a day, every day. Thanks to Bud, we really do feel better! Well, Good Luck and order some today! Chipper Jones & Mia Needham

The First Hundred Years of Detective Fiction. 1841-1941 By One Hundred Authors On the Hundred Thirtieth Anniversary of The First Publication in Book Form of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown. English Literature mss. Illustration by G.K. Chesterton of a scene from Sherlock Holmes (n.d.)Back to main catalogue.

In the coming months, we will be featuring interviews with musicians of various backgrounds. If you are a musician and would like to be featured in our series, please contact us at elijah.ho[at]hotmail.com. A full list of interviews can be found here. Born in Jerusalem, Assaff Weisman is the Executive Director and pianist of the Israeli Chamber Project. Founded in 2008, the group consists of the finest young talents from Israel, including violinist Itamar Zorman, First Prize winner of the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition. An alumnus and former student of the late Herbert Stessin, Weisman currently teaches in the Evening Division of the Juilliard School. Monday at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco, he joins the Aeolus Quartet in works of Beethoven and Dvořák to open the 11th Music at Meyer season (tickets). Below is a transcript of our recent San Francisco conversation with pianist Assaff Weisman. (A selection of this interview can be found in the San Francisco Examiner newspaper). EH: I read that at twelve, you are the youngest to ever appear on the WGBH radio program ? What is your musical background ? Weisman: Well, I haven’t checked their records of late, but yes, at the time I was (laughs). I started at the age of six, and there were no musicians in my family. When I was ten, we moved from Israel to Boston, where I began studying at the New England Conservatory, Pre-College division. It was the first time I was surrounded by other young musicians, performing regularly, and I was inspired. It was daily work and dedication, but I enjoyed it, and it was very fulfilling. Not long after this, I began thinking that this was what I wanted to do with my life. EH: You studied at Juilliard with Herbert Stessin, who passed away a little over three years ago. What are your memories of the man, his ideas about music making, and what are his contributions to your growth as an artist ? Weisman: I met Herbert in Aspen, where he was on the faculty for many years. I was about sixteen at the time, the year before college auditions, and a student of his thought that I should play for him. It was our trial, to see if we could work well together, and Herbert was absolutely wonderful. We spent a lot of time on sound, on getting the right touch at the keyboard. Oh, he had such a great knowledge of the keyboard, and he loved figuring out solutions to technical problems. Everything was really tailor-made for the specific student. I stayed with him throughout my time at Juilliard, and I often find myself quoting him in my own teaching, giving the same suggestions he gave to me. He had such a legacy, so many wonderful students, and I feel honored to have been a part of that, in my small way. EH: What are your thoughts on the public’s understanding of competitions and the overall perception of its winners ? Weisman: Music, by nature, has nothing to do with competition: it’s something you feel. The criteria are almost entirely personal, and nobody should be standing on-stage measuring a performance with a stop-watch. I don’t know if I have anything new to contribute to the subject, but it really has something to do with the business side. Competitions are an easy way for presenters to market their seasons, to say, ‘This artist has won a stamp of approval’. There are many more deserving pianists out there than the ones able to win first, second, or third prizes. Of course, sometimes it’s not even enough to win one competition; in order to really make it big, you have to win several. It’s a sad state of affairs, but performance opportunities are limited, and competitions are a simple way for people who market our business to do just that. But I think it should be clear that artistry is not a subject suited well for competition. It’s sort of a necessary evil that we have to put up with in the business. Tennis players, for example, play in the big competitions because they want to win: that is the goal. I don’t know if tennis players enjoy playing the exhibition games quite as much, as there’s nothing riding on them. But it seems to me that artistry is the reverse of this, where it really is more about the exhibition match, and we play the competitions in order to play more exhibitions. It’s a reverse paradigm, but there seems to be something in that analogy, for me. EH: You are a founding member of the Israeli Chamber Project. What can you tell us about this exciting group and its raison d’être ? Weisman: We founded the Israeli Chamber Project in 2008. At the time, we were eight musicians - a string quartet, two pianists, a clarinet, and a harp - and these were really among the finest Israeli musicians of our generation. Five of us were in New York at the time, either having just finished at Juilliard or still enrolled. We realized that in order to make an international career as an Israeli artist, we almost always have to live outside of our home country. You see, there is little support there for the arts – in this country, as well, but even less in Israel. On the one hand, we all wanted to make international careers, but we also didn’t want to forget where we came from. It was our mission to go back and perform regularly. We established our group on the foundation of several ideas: 1) to go back and perform regularly – not just in the big cities, where you can hear the great artists, but also in remote towns and faraway places, often where there are no concerts at all; 2) to include educational outreach in our mission, to commission new works from Israeli composers to support the next generation of composers. The past seven years have been wonderful. We tour two or three times in Israel every year, and we’ve been fortunate enough to bring with us some tremendous artists: two members of the Guarneri Quartet (Peter Wiley and Michael Tree) and the principal flutist of the Cleveland Orchestra (Joshua Smith). We’re actually getting ready to make our Town Hall debut (read Bruce Hodges' review), as part of Peoples Symphony Concerts, one of the most respected series in New York. The last artist they presented was Radu Lupu, and so we’re honored to be in that setting. Of course, I learn something every day from my colleagues. The level of musicianship is very, very high – our violinist is the winner of the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition - and I always feel I have to be on top of my game in order to be a part of it. We play a diverse repertoire, and we push ourselves to be as versatile as possible. It’s just a tremendous honor to be a part of this. EH: You’re currently teaching in the Evening Division at Juilliard. Looking back at your time there, was there something that would have been of great use, career-wise, coming out of conservatory, that wasn’t taught ? Weisman: That’s a great question. The first thing that comes to mind actually has nothing to do with musicality or music, per se. When I was coming out of school, the idea of music entrepreneurship was really just starting to take hold; it's now a big buzzword in conservatories across the United States, and for good reason. Certainly, the generation before ours was told, ‘Just play very, very well, and the rest will take care of itself,’. It’s now clear, to anyone trying to ‘make it’ in the music world, that that’s really not enough. I wish there was more of a focus on how to create a career. We seem to be moving away from the artist-seeking-approval model - winning competitions, getting approval from the gatekeepers of the business – to making something of our own. I believe many artists who came out with me were not quite prepared for this. In addition to performing with the Israeli Chamber Project, I’m also the Executive Director of the group, and as such, I’ve received a crash course on the business side of music. Many of the things we never had to think about as musicians – e.g. as a non-profit in New York, we have a board, etc. - suddenly landed on my desk, and continue to arrive on a daily basis. I’m constantly learning on the road, and it’s fascinating to see the world of music from the other side. I now have a much greater understanding of music presenters and their perspective. As an artist, of course you want to play concerts, but it’s important to realize that the presenters in the United States have almost unlimited options. There are so many wonderful, deserving artists out there. You might think you are the best in the world, but you might not get the call simply because there’s an endless supply. That’s the difficulty, but it’s something you have to come to terms with. You need to differentiate yourself, to sort of raise your chances of getting picked. Different ensembles do this in different ways, and it has been the case for some time now. It’s simply not enough to play well - not enough to sustain a career, and certainly not enough to build one. So that’s something that’s fascinating to come to terms with, face to face, and what we deal with on an ongoing basis. EH: I’d like to talk a little about piano technique. At what age did you begin thinking of the problem of piano technique and how to improve your understanding of the instrument ? Weisman: I still think about it a lot, actually. My earliest experiences at the piano were perhaps not the most efficient. I spent five years with a terrific Russian teacher in Israel, right before going to Juilliard, and he basically re-hauled my technique. By the time I arrived at Mr. Stessin’s studio, there were many things to think about still, and he introduced many different perspectives. It’s something I find myself immersed in when I’m teaching, being constantly in the mind-frame of ‘what’s the most effective way of handling this’, ‘how do we get a better sound’, ‘how do we find a way to get the structure across’, etc. I used to think a lot more in terms of imagery when I was younger, but I now find myself thinking about a character rather than a scene. What is the mood of the passage that we’re striving for ? As far as technique is concerned, when you’re putting a piece together, anything that helps is fair game - whether it’s through imagery, or thinking of where the hands are in-relation with the keyboard. However, when you’re playing the concert, it’s ideally all forgotten. It should be engrained in your subconscious, to the point where you can just play, making the character of the piece come alive. I never feel that the work is done, and it’s exciting because every day is an opportunity to improve. EH: A question I ask every pianist: which Chopin Etude is the most difficult for your hand ? Weisman: You’re assuming I’ve tried all of them, but I haven’t (laughs). I’m going to say probably a toss-up between the first (Opus 10 No. 1) and the double-thirds (Opus 25 No. 6). I have to sweat a lot to get those going (laughs). Weisman: Thank you for saying that, Elijah. As you know, that used to be how the great symphonic repertoire became known - through reading it at home - before there were so many orchestras and public concerts. I really do enjoy playing two-pianos, and I loved playing those concerts with Koji; he’s one of my favorite pianists, and I’m happy to play with him anytime. I didn’t even know he really championed that Russian repertoire, with the Medtner work he suggested, but as you can see, it’s really in his blood. I’ve done some two-piano performances with him since, and it’s something I’d definitely want to do again. EH: Collectors of old musical recordings often reject the talents of today in favor of yesterday’s glorious sound world. On the subject of conductors, Arnold Schoenberg said, “It must be admitted that in the period around 1900 many artists overdid themselves in exhibiting the power of the emotion they were capable of feeling…”. What comes to mind when you hear this ? Weisman: First of all, I find that to be such an interesting quotation. Right now, I’m actually practicing Schoenberg’s First Chamber Symphony, which is Opus 9, and we’re actually going to be performing a Webern arrangement of the piece, written for quintet. It’s hard to imagine anything more passionate than early Schoenberg. I used to listen to recordings a lot, but I now prefer hearing performances live in concert halls. My favorite pianists are probably a couple generations from myself: Radu Lupu, Daniel Barenboim, etc. Aesthetics are different today, technical standards are always on the rise, as they are in athletics. Great artistry is just as hard to find as it was then, and tastes and paradigms shift. We live in an age now where there is more freedom, where it’s easier to go your own way rather than coming from a school of thought. It makes for very fascinating listening. For me, it’s more important to feel that the artist is honest. I understand where Schoenberg is coming from, but self-expression is what this is all about. EH: I’d love to hear you describe your February 24 San Francisco program, with the Aeolus Quartet (currently in-residence at Juilliard) at Temple Emanu-El. Weisman: Yes, I’d love to. This is my second appearance with Music at Meyer; I was there two years ago with the Israeli Chamber Project. The first half of the concert will be devoted to Beethoven. I’m opening with The Tempest, the sonata I’ve played most often through the years. I learned it at the age of twelve, and it’s without a doubt one of my favorites. Its character is murky, shifty, and hard to define; there’s a nervous energy throughout the piece, and I love that it constantly shimmers, boils, and unsettles in that way. The Aeolus Quartet, which is absolutely wonderful, is in residence at Juilliard this year and next. They’ll play a quartet of Beethoven (Opus 18 No. 1) from around the same time as The Tempest, written a year or two earlier, and published the same year The Tempest was written. It’s a wonderful way to see what Beethoven was doing in his life, at a specific time, in two of his favorite mediums. We’ll then join forces for the Dvořák Piano Quintet, Opus 81, one of the most beloved pieces of chamber music in the literature. Audiences everywhere really flock to it, and I’m looking forward to the collaboration with the Aeolus. Its melodic inventions are captivating, and it scrapes the lines between Czech folk music and various Western elements. It is really uncanny to hear Dvořák’s impression of the United States through notes; what an incredible way to synthesize a culture. And in this Quintet, I feel he really did this for his homeland - you really feel the Moravian-Czech countryside, the different dances, etc. EH: Are you pleased with the direction that classical pianism has taken ? Do pianists have the duty to perform the works of contemporary composers ? Weisman: I’m trying to get away from the feeling of duty. It’s important to do what you feel strongly about, and I think Classical music has suffered – and maybe it still does - over obligations. Walking through the halls at Juilliard, it seems to me that there are more and more people auditioning every year. People are still very much interested in studying this art form; what they’ll do once they graduate is another matter. As it stands right now, the established concert organizations cannot account for all the talent that’s out there. Students need to find creative ways to get to the public. It’s a sad reality, but we won’t hear many deserving talents. We need to consider wider audiences, rather than duties. It’s paramount to reach out to the audiences who can find fulfillment in what we do. If you’re going to go into a life in music, you have to be 120% sure of it, because there are so many obstacles. But I find it incredibly satisfying to be able to share these works, to preserve these great accomplishments of mankind, because they ennoble us. I look at my job a little bit as a curator. I want to make the music the focal point. I clean it, dust it, I think of how to present it, and then we put it on stage for the public to enjoy. The fact that it passes through me is secondary; it’s all about the music. A musician needs to have the pull into that world. New composers need to be encouraged, given a platform, to share their insights. And I feel very lucky spending my life doing this. EH: Assaff, it's been a pleasure speaking with you. Best of luck Monday evening in San Francisco. Weisman: Thank you, Elijah. It's been a pleasure!

which involve the drinking of beer or other alcoholic beverages . These games commonly take place at house parties, public bars or pubs . Often the objectives are to either simply drink competitively for speed or to win via others becoming too drunk to continue playing. Participants are primarily college students, young adults and high school students. The games are often designed in a way that being inebriated significantly increases their fun factor. According to Dr. Rupert Thompson of the University of Cambridge, the earliest reference to drinking games in Western literature is from Plato's Symposium The Drinking Party. The game was simple: fill a bowl with wine, drink it, slap it, and pass it on to the next person. Kottabos is one of the earliest known drinking games from ancient Greece, dated to the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Players would use dregs to hit targets across the room with their wine. Often, there were special prizes and penalties for one's performance in the game. Drinking games were enjoyed in ancient China , usually incorporating the use of dice or verbal exchange of riddles . During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Chinese used a silver canister where written lots could be drawn that designated which player had to drink and specifically how much; for example, from 1, 5, 7, or 10 measures of drink that the youngest player, or the last player to join the game, or the most talkative player, or the host, or the player with the greatest alcohol tolerance, etc. had to drink There were even drinking game referee officials, including a 'registrar of the rules' who knew all the rules to the game, a 'registrar of the horn' who tossed a silver flag down on calling out second offenses, and a 'governor' who decided one's third call of offense. These referees were used mainly for maintaining order (as drinking games back then often became rowdy) and for reviewing faults that could be punished with a player drinking a penalty cup. If a guest was considered a 'coward' for dropping out of the game, he could be branded as a 'deserter' and not invited back to further drinking bouts. There was another game where little puppets and dolls dressed as western foreigners with blue eyes (Iranian peoples ) were set up and when one fell over, the person it pointed to had to empty his cup of wine. Types of games The simplest drinking games are endurance games in which players compete to out-drink each other. Players take turns taking shots, and the last person standing is the winner. Some games have rules involving the "cascade", "fountain" or "waterfall", which encourages each player to drink constantly from their cup so long as the player before him does not stop drinking. Such games can also favor speed over quantity, in which case players race to drink a beer the fastest. "Loser buys" games These are games played where whoever loses must buy the next round of drinks for all other players, such as spoof Many pub or bar games involve competitive drinking for speed and not necessarily quantity consumed. The object of these games may not be inebriation , but may involve simply "bragging rights" or wagers of cash which benefit the fastest drinker. Examples of drinking games involving speed are boat races, Edward Fortyhands , beer bonging World records for speed beer drinking The Guinness Book of Records began to list world records for speed drinking in this category in the early 1960s. These early drinking records involved drinking beer from challenging vessels such as the yard of ale glass, which, if not correctly mastered, resulted in the user receiving a blast of beer in his or her face. The 1969 edition of the Guinness Book lists Lawrence Hill (age 22) of Bolton as having consumed a 2.5 pint yard of ale in 6.5 seconds on December 17, 1964. The 1974 edition lists Jack Boyle, age 52, of Barrow-in-Furness as having consumed a 3 pint yard of ale in 10.15 seconds on May 14, 1971. In the mid 1970s, Guinness began to list speed records achieved using any drinking vessel. The 1977 edition dropped the earlier records established by Hill and Boyle, and listed a 2.5 pint yard record by the RAF at Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire in 5.0 seconds and a three pint yard record established at Corby Town F.C. on January 23, 1976 in 5.5 seconds". The 1977 edition listed the new world record established at the Gingerbreadman Pub by Steven Petrosino, (age 25) of New Cumberland, Pennsylvania on June 22 1977. Petrosino drank 1 liter of beer in 1.3 seconds. Video: ¼ liter in 0.18 seconds Petrosino approached the challenge scientifically, and used two specially designed half-liter drinking vessels to establish this world beer record. The 1977 edition also lists Peter G. Dowdeswell of Earls Barton for drinking two pints of beer from a single vessel in 2.3 seconds on June 11, 1975 and two liters in 6.0 seconds on 7 February, 1975. These records were all dropped from the Guinness book in 1991 due to concerns about litigation., Thinking games rely on the players' powers of observation, recollection, logic and articulation. Such games are not difficult at the onset, but become much more challenging as the game continues as players become inebriated and their coordination and memory deteriorate. Numerous types of thinking games exist. In memory games, each player must repeat a series of events, add to it, and when a player forgets, he or she must take a drink. Thinking games include 21 , beer checkers , bizz buzz , Captain Paf , one fat hen , roman numerals , fuzzy duck , and zoom schwartz profigliano Observation games require drinking when some trigger occurs, often based on the group of drinkers, a major sporting or news event, or popular movies . For instance, participants caught uttering a habitual figure of speech must drink (Dirty D's prohibits the use of the word "drink" or any form of the word, and has been adopted as a sub-rule within other drinking games); or all players watching a show must drink when a character speaks a catch phrase or a commonly repeated action or plot twist occurs. Games can be adopted for almost any TV show, program, or movie. A popular drinking game with many rules circulated from 2005 through 2007 to be played while watching President Bush's 2005 State of the Union Address. See also "Movie Games" below. Drug Dealer is a playing card based drinking game of the observation type. Players start by selecting from a pile of cards matching in quantity the current number of players. Players then proceed to "hang out" facing each other in a circle (usually at a table), going about their business as usual. The player who selected the predetermined "dealer" card must then try to successfully complete a "deal" by winking at a fellow player. If the "dealer" happens to wink at the player who drew the predetermined "cop" card or if that person sees the wink, they are busted immediately by the "cop" revealing his/herself. Whenever the "dealer" is busted, he/she must consume beer equal to the remaining players. Once winked at, the "solicited" player may at any time toss his/her card into the middle and declare "the deal has been made". They are then out for the round. If the exclamation was false, the "dealer" may declare immunity by stating he/she did not yet make the deal. This causes the "solicited" player to bear the burden of the owed drinks (based on remaining number of players). If the call was legit, the "cop" must then reveal him/herself (come out from being undercover) and drink for the missed "deal". He/she must then attempt to guess at the "dealer's" identity. If correct, play is then reset and the "dealer" must drink for each remaining player. If not, the dealer must continue to try and eliminate players by completing additional winking transactions. This is all much easier once the "cop's" identity has been revealed. Each time a player is eliminated this way, the "cop" must drink once for the missed "deal" and once more if unable to pick the "dealer" from the remaining "perps". If he fails to figure it out by the time there are only two perps left, he has failed and must drink equal to number of all players. If he/she is successful (the cop fails), the "dealer" may then assign owed drinks of a quantity equal to the number of players who participated. These may be metered out to any one person or any combination of people who are participating but they, along with the "cop's" drinking burden, must be consumed immediately. Play then continues with a new round and new draw. Honesty is required at all times to play this game and anyone found to be cheating or otherwise hampering the play must be ejected. Since this game requires less hands-on interaction than other games, it may be played while playing other simple drinking or card games (often euchre or pitch) at the same time. This drastically complicates and compounds the tension of both games. Drinking games involving players performing certain skills become more difficult as the level of intoxication increases, such as Bloody Stepchild, beer die, beer pong, flip cup (tippy cup), jackball and Beer Blow, but also include those that use quarters or other coins, such as bouncing coins, chandeliers, land mine, moose, caps, pennying and quarters. Some chessboards are manufactured with each piece represented by a shot glass with characteristic markings. Several popular drinking games involving cards are asshole , fuck the dealer , Circle of Death , liar's poker , ride the bus and Up the River(Down the River) Dice games include 7-11-doubles , beer die , liar's dice , ship, captain, and crew , tablero da Gucci and three man Tolerance games are about seeing which player can last the longest. It can be as simple as going shot for shot until one person passes out. Power Hour and its variant, Century Club , fall under this category. Movie drinking games are played while watching a movie (sometimes a TV show or a sporting event) and have a set of rules for who drinks when and how much based on on-screen events and dialogue. The rules may be the same for all players, or alternatively players may each be assigned rules related to particular characters. The rules are designed so that rarer events require larger drinks. Rule sets for such games are usually arbitrary and local, although they are sometimes published by fan clubs. There are popular drinking games associated with the film Withnail and I and the song Roxanne (song) by the Police . Another popular game is associated with the movie Top Gun , where players drink whenever a call sign (Maverick, Goose, Iceman, etc.) is said. There are many other drinking games that cannot be categorized any certain way, such as never have I ever and the Vegetable Game . Another game involving external interaction uses a busy roadway and a lawn sign labeled "Honk = Drink" or something similar. Whenever a passing driver honks their horn the participants drink. Debate drinking games Some political pundits have noted the ability of alcohol to increase the fun of this most important function of the democratic political process. Americans everywhere who wish to enjoy a greater feeling of participation in the debate will want to try this fun drinking game. Take a drink when John Sidney McCain does one of the following: - Refers to himself as a 'maverick' or 'reformer' - Says 'my friends' - Attempts humor - Uses a non-sequitur (i.e. "We're not rifle shots here, we're Americans!") Take a drink when Barack Obama does one of the following: - Says "Now look..." or "Now listen..." - Links Bush and McCain - Says "folks" - Refers to John McCain's statement that "the fundamentals of the economy are sound." Take a drink when either candidate does one of the following: - Refers to "change" - Refers to "Main Street" Researchers have noted that the prevalence of heavy drinking has increased among adolescents and young adults , particularly at colleges . For many college students , heavy alcohol use occurs during drinking games. A review of the drinking games literature indicated that between 47% and 62% of college students participate in these games. Also important is the relevance of alcohol consumption while playing drinking games and its link to alcohol-related problems. It is often assumed that all drinking games pose similar health risks such as heavy alcohol Results of current research indicate that variations emerged regarding popularity, type of alcoholic beverage consumed, and participants’ intoxication level among different drinking games. Beer Pong, Kings, Never Have I Ever and Flip Cup were popular drinking games. Most participants who played Beer Pong and Flip Cup consumed soft liquor and many respondents who played kings/queens and never have I ever used both soft/hard liquor Participants who played funneling, chugging and power hour reported higher perceived intoxication levels compared to those who played jenga. Hazardous alcohol use was associated with the use of both soft/hard liquor during drinking games, increased drinking games participation, greater alcohol consumption while playing, and higher intoxication levels. Consumption of soft/hard liquor was related to higher alcohol consumption and intoxication levels; increased drinking games participation and elevated alcohol consumption during drinking games were associated with higher intoxication levels. - Benn, Charles (2002). China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517665-0. - Schafer, Edward H. (1963). The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A study of T’ang Exotics. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles. 1st paperback edition: 1985. ISBN 0-520-05462-8.

The good news about Barbados' Owen Arthur SCHOLARSHIP on the contemporary political history of the Caribbean can benefit from the autobiographies, memoirs, papers and correspondence of political leaders, especially prime ministers. This is a well developed and invaluable tradition in England and the United States, motivated in the former by an overweening sense of the importance of their history and the latter by the possibility of lucrative gains. Every former president has at least one book giving his version of history. Mr Owen Arthur, the former three-term prime minister of Barbados has relinquished the role of Leader of the Opposition after his party narrowly lost the recent general election. Several aspects of this development are significant, starting with the smooth and quick manner in which the transition to a new opposition leader was made. This is a tribute to all concerned and represents a timely passing of leadership to a younger but experienced leader, although Mr Arthur is by no means "old" in political terms. He will remain in parliament where he will continue to employ his renowned debating skills. Perhaps the best news is that he intends to write an autobiography which will be bifurcated between his growth to adulthood in Barbados and his formative years in Jamaica during the tumultuous decade 1971 to 1981. Even more important is that he will be compiling his papers and speeches made during his prime ministership. In the Caribbean, it has become a fashionable act of narcissism and an ego booster to put out a book of speeches as has been done by Messrs Kenny Anthony, Ralph Gonsalves, James Mitchell (as well as an autobiography), Denzil Douglas, Said Musa and Lester Bird. Mr Lynden Pindling set out a "vision" in his own words. There are collections of speeches by Messrs Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan. These tomes are intended for political promotion and can be useful, but what is really needed is some analytic insight and a recounting of details not available to the scholar or historian confined to newspaper reports. Hopefully on demitting office these leaders will give the public a fuller accounting in print. The advantage of ex-post collections is that the author has had time to reflect and can bring to bear the value of hindsight. Writing after retirement also has the advantage of the long view of a completed tenure. There is no shortage of published speeches and articles by Mr Fidel Castro and a lengthy autobiography spoken to Mr Ignacio Romonet, plus a vast literature of unauthorised biographies. We do not have such from Mr Norman Manley (not counting the snippet by Rex Nettleford) but considerable material on Sir Alexander Bustamante, including some of his published letters. Mr Michael Manley wrote several books providing an invaluable insight into his thinking. There are three biographies on Mr Manley, two of which were not written by a Jamaican and the third by someone who was not a close political associate. There are biographies of Messrs Eric Williams and Donald Sangster, as well as Mr Hugh Shearer, thanks to the late Mr Hartley Neita. There is also a book on Sir Howard Cooke based on extensive interviews. There is a biography on Mr Edward Seaga and copious autobiographical volumes and collected papers by Mr Seaga himself. We look forward to the same from Jamaica's longest-serving prime minister, Mr P J Patterson. And it is to be hoped that this will become a tradition in the Caribbean.

Definition of Iditarod trail 1. Noun. A trail that extends 1,100 miles from Anchorage over the Alaska Range to Nome. Iditarod Trail Pictures Click the following link to bring up a new window with an automated collection of images related to the term: Iditarod Trail Images Lexicographical Neighbors of Iditarod Trail Literary usage of Iditarod trail Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature: 1. Adventure Guide to the Alaska Highway by Ed Readicker-Henderson (2006) "The iditarod trail starts in Seward and goes to Nome (the dogs run from outside Anchorage to Nome). Most of it is a winter-only trail, but the Crow Pass ..." 2. Adventure Guide to the Sierra Nevada by Wilbur H. Morrison (2000) "... runs Husky Express, has been active in dogsled racing since 1972, having competed all over North America and worked as a handler on the iditarod trail. ..." 3. Alaska by Anne Hart (2000) "But the highlight is, of course, the finish of the iditarod trail Dog Sled Race, which attracts worldwide media attention. This 1.100-mile (1.770-km) race ..." 4. Easy File Folder Reports by Yvonne Despard (2004) "... Supreme Court Georgia O'Keeffe contemporary American artist Libby Riddles first woman to win 1000-mile iditarod trail Sled Dog Race first American woman ..." 5. Bulletin by Geological Survey (U.S.) (1917) "Near station LXXXVIII near Georgetown-iditarod trail. ... One mile west of station LXXXVIII, Georgetown- iditarod trail. Ostrea sp. Inoceramus sp. ..." 6. Emil Von Behring: Infectious Disease, Immunology, Serum Therapy by Derek S. Linton (2005) "Dissertation, 1996. Miller, Debbie S., and Jon van Zyle. The Great Serum Race: Blazing the iditarod trail. New York: Walker, 2002. ..."

Definition: serving as an aid or accessory; auxiliary; N. Definition: serving as an aid or accessory; auxiliary; N. Sentences Containing 'ancillary' "Starstruck" can be considered one of comics' premiere hypertext fictions, in the sense of using supplementary texts, adjunct stories, and ancillary art to expand, deepen, and even alter the narrative experience. (Ancillary material: A licensed "Inhumanoids" storybook, "Cult of the Great Protector", suggests that Metlar may also have an aversion to water: in this tale, Earth Corps' plans to lure Metlar to a cliffside which they will then blast from underfoot, dumping him into the ocean where they foresee that he will "rust away to nothing." An ancillary badminton achievement of Fu is that while competing in the 2005 Sudirman Cup, one of his smashes was clocked at 332 km/h (206 mph), the fastest propulsion of a shuttle on record. Fu also fired a 303 km/h smash during game 3 of the 2010 BWF World Championships men's doubles final, which was confirmed by the commentator Gillian Clark as the fastest of the tournament. BSP was emblematic of the possibilities of India's public sector: the integrated steel plant and township spanned over 22,000 acres, operated captive iron ore mines in Dalli Rajhara, limestone quarries in Dani Tola and spawned a network of privately owned ancillary factories that employed thousands of workers. Erhardt v. Boaro, , was a suit in equity ancillary to the action for the possession of the Erhardt v. Boaro, (113 U.S. 527) mining claim the court had just decided. In 1959 Durgamohan Bhattacharyya Professor at Sanskrit College, Calcutta could collect many manuscripts of the Paippalāda-Saṃhitā and its ancillary literature like the Āṅgirasakalpa after painstaking search over years in Odisha and southern West Bengal. Durgamohan Bhattacharyya’s discovery of a living tradition of the Paippalāda-Saṃhitā, unknown till then, was hailed in the Indological world as epoch making. It is located about 3 km east of the urban centre of Funchal, 4.5 km southwest Camacha and only 3 km west Caniço. The area is an urbanized section of the municipality of Funchal linked by ancillary roads to other sections of the island, as well as roadway that extends across the island. It may now be taken as well settled that Article 32 does not merely confer power on this Court to issue a direction, order or writ for enforcement of the fundamental rights but it also lays a constitutional obligation on this Court to protect the fundamental rights of the people and for that purpose this Court has all incidental and ancillary powers including the power to forge new remedies and fashion new strategies designed to enforce the fundamental rights. Later the town developed very rapidly with the discovery and excavation of many coal mines.The coal production from the M/S SCCl is catering to the needs of the National Thermal Power Corporation, Ramagundam and many surrounding industrial buildings such as cement plants in Devapur,Steel factory in Vishakapatnam and power plants in Maharashtra Bellampalli has played a vital role in Maoist revolutions in the history and a first union was formed as singareni karmika samakya (si ka sa) under ancillary part of peoples war. Many other ancillary disciplines and specialists are available at larger units. Near the house are ancillary agricultural structures, such as a stone barn (an unusual material for the area) that appears to have built around the same time as the house, a later wood barn of an identical configuration as the first. The other group, south of the road, is centered around a New World Dutch barn, older than the main house. Once a program is offered to, and accepted by, PBS for distribution, PBS (and not the member station that supplied the program) retains exclusive rights for rebroadcasts during the period for which such rights were granted; the suppliers do maintain the right to sell the program in non-broadcast media such as DVDs, books, and sometimes PBS licensed merchandise (but sometimes grant such ancillary rights as well to PBS). Rental Services Ancillary equipment such as generators, drill collars as well as proprietary tools such as the Hydra-Walkr automated pipe handling system. Shivarahasya Purana (Sanskrit: शिव रहस्य पुराण; IAST: "śiva rahasya purāṇa") is one of the 'Shaiva Upapuranas' or ancillary Purana regarding Shiva and Shaivite worship and is also considered 'Indian epic poetry' (Sanskrit: Itihāsa). The ancillary equipment and materials included in the donation was: 20 steel hangars, 30 portable wood and canvas Bessonneau hangars, radio and photographic equipment, complete engine and airframe workshops with tools, trucks, tenders, trailers, 50,000 gallons of engine oils and 20,000 gallons of paints, varnishes and dope. The Company procures certain ancillary fixtures for installation, such as elevators, windows and entrance doors. The facility is renamed Craig Rehabilitation Center in 1958, followed by another renaming to Craig Rehabilitation Hospital in 1966 and a move to Englewood, Colorado in 1970 where an 80-bed rehabilitation hospital was built adjacent to the Swedish Medical Center to share ancillary services. The invasion fleet was drawn from eight different navies, comprising 6,939 vessels: 1,213 warships, 4,126 transport vessels (landing ships and landing craft), and 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels. The narrator can be the protagonist (e.g., Gulliver in "Gulliver's Travels"), someone very close to him who is privy to his thoughts and actions (Dr. Watson in "Sherlock Holmes"), or an ancillary character who has little to do with the action of the story (such as Nick Carraway in "The Great Gatsby"). The waterwheel was used to work ancillary machinery until 1968, when the cast iron pit wheel was broken in the floods of that year. The Wellington Lake also has about 27 ancillary lakes and together they form the primary source of irrigation for nearly 25,000 acres of land and over 67 villages dependent on it for cultivation. These are six Central Line stations in the Epping Forest district of Essex (and two on the boundary) that are included in zones 4, 5 and 6; seven Metropolitan Line stations in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire that are included in local ancillary zones 7, 8 and 9; three London Overground National Rail stations in Hertfordshire, included in local ancillary zones 7 and 8; and fourteen National Rail stations of other operators just outside Greater London that are included in zones 5 to 8. These are the books: Twenty of the ancillary articles appeared in Nature; others were in Philosophical Magazine, London or Edinburgh Proceedings of the Royal Society, Physical Review, and Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They are symbolically focal. It consists of two spirals: one principal and one ancillary. This treaty was an ancillary treaty to the Treaty of Paris (1783), through which Great Britain officially recognised the end of the American Revolutionary War. Unlike the first generation B-Class, the replacement is able to share engines and ancillary components with larger models in the Mercedes range, albeit mounted transversely, an initiative aimed at reducing overall costs. Until the mid-20th century, much of the interior of this parish was pasture and agricultural lands (central and western section), with denser forest in the northeast and northwest. The encroachment of urban housing, especially after the Carnation Revolution resulted in a transformation of this area into an ancillary bedroom community of Funchal. Santa Maria Maior has a school, a lyceum, a gymnasium, a church and a square ("praça"). More Vocab Words::: reverie - daydream; abstracted musing ::: acclaim - applaud; praise; greet with great approval; announce with great approval; Ex. The new drung has been acclaimed as the most important discoveries for years; N: strong expression of approval and praise ::: imponderable - weightless; that cannot undergo precise evaluation; CF. pound ::: indicative - suggestive; implying; serving to indicate ::: pharisaical - pertaining to the Pharisees, who paid scrupulous attention to tradition; self-righteous; hypocritical ::: prurient - having or causing lustful desires and thoughts; arousing immoderate sexual desire ::: parchment - writing material made from the skin of a sheep or goat ::: incentive - spur; motive; something which encourages one to greater activity ::: emollient - soothing or softening remedy (for the skin); ADJ. ::: mollycoddle - pamper; coddle; baby; indulge excessively

Discussions in the early church regarding the doctrine of the Trinity, the relationship of the deity and humanity of Christ, the doctrine of predestination, and the consequences of Adam’s sin are widely-known and well documented. The church fathers did not, however, neglect the institution of marriage or ignore its place in the life of the church. Marriage and sexuality had been a subject of importance for secular philosophers, Jewish rabbis, and Jewish ascetic groups like the Essenes for centuries. Though some maintained the importance of marriage, others taught the need to abstain from sex in order to pursue more spiritual or philosophical endeavors. In the second century, heretical groups such as the Gnostics, Marcionites, and Encratites emerged, denying the goodness of human sexuality and demanding celibacy from believers. In response, second century apologists defended the goodness of marriage. However, several factors helped popularize sexual renunciation as a path toward greater spirituality. Extra-canonical writings such as The Acts of Paul and Thecla and The Acts of Thomas gained a wide readership and glorified celibacy. The third century Alexandrian theologian Origen taught that asceticism was essential to the process of sanctification for believers, and he greatly influenced many of the early hermits who retreated into the deserts of Egypt. Athanasius’ Life of Antony helped promote their sacrifices and struggles to Christians in the East and West throughout the third and fourth centuries (1). Despite the growing popularity of the ascetic movement, however, not everyone believed that sanctification needed to involve sexual renunciation. Although by the end of the fourth century celibacy was viewed by many as a superior path to favor with God, not everyone agreed. One Roman churchman, a monk named Jovinian, challenged this emerging consensus and articulated the belief that marriage and celibacy were equal in God’s sight. He critiqued not only celibacy as superior in God’s sight, but also the hierarchy of merit that had emerged in patristic soteriology. Though most of Jovinian’s work is lost, his ideas challenged the church to think deeply about the institution of marriage. “Marriage replenishes the earth, virginity fills Paradise” (2). So wrote Jerome (c. 347-420), the Bible scholar and Mascetic of Bethlehem, in the last decade of the fourth century. He argued that marriage fulfills God’s plan to populate the earth, as Genesis 1 and 2 explain. Virginity, however, has a special place of importance in the mission of the church. In making this argument, he did not intend to denigrate marriage. “If I have called virginity gold, I have spoken of marriage as silver.” Furthermore, he argued, Jesus’ parable of the soils teaches us that while all believers bear fruit from the same soil because of the same act of sowing, the amount of fruit differs widely—some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirtyfold. Thus while marriage bears fruit for Christ, virginity bears more (3). In his writing on virginity and marriage, Jerome made clear that he considered virginity to be worthy of greater merit in heaven than marriage. Jerome was not alone in his conviction that virginity bears more eternal fruit than marriage. Many contemporaries shared this opinion. Augustine (354-430), bishop of Hippo in North Africa, stated regarding a vow of life-long virginity that “there is a special splendor there . . . that is not bestowed on everyone who lives for- ever, but only on certain ones.” While marriage should not be condemned, it also should not be made equal to the gift of celibacy (4). Siricius, who served as bishop of Rome from 384-399, made a similar statement in a letter addressed to several western bishops: “Assuredly we receive without scorn the vows of those marriages which we assist at with the veil, but virgins, for whose existence marriage is necessary, as being devoted to God, we honor more highly” (5). Ambrose (c. 339-397), the bishop of Milan, echoed that opinion in his reply letter to Siricius, “Marriage is good: through it the means of human continuity are found. But virginity is better: through it are attained the inheritance of a heavenly kingdom and a continuity of heavenly rewards”(6). Jerome wrote his treatise on virginity and marriage in 393 at the request of some friends in Rome because of the popularity of a new treatise that challenged popular thought on celibacy and marriage. The new treatise was written by a Roman churchman named Jovinian, whom Jerome called “the Epicurus of Christianity” (7). According to Siricius, Jovinian and his followers spoke at church meetings about marriage and celibacy and garnered a significant following (8). Jerome marveled that Jovinian’s followers did not come only from the married laity, who might understandably be attracted to his arguments. Indeed, some clergymen and monks who were devoted to a celibate life were also convinced. Jovinian’s teachings also led to changes in his lifestyle. He was himself devoted to celibacy, but based on negative comments made by Jerome, Jovinian must have allowed himself the indulgence of eating finer foods, taken greater care in his appearance, associated freely with women, and made use of the public baths. Jerome considered all such activity to be contrary to the ascetic ideal (9). Several responses to Jovinian’s teachings came rather quickly. Jerome, though living in Bethlehem, wrote Against Jovinian and sent the treatise to his contacts in Rome. Pope Siricius responded too, excommunicating Jovinian and his followers as “promoters of the new heresy and blasphemy,” and notifying a number of western bishops of this decision (10). Ambrose, in response to Bishop Siricius’ letter, likewise condemned Jovinian and likened his views to those of the Manicheans (11). The condemnations of Siricius and Ambrose must have come after Jerome received the request to write Against Jovinian, because Jerome proceeded with his argument as if the matter had not been resolved by the Church. Later in the year 393, however, and because his own treatise against Jovinian had raised concerns, Jerome wrote another letter (“Letter 48”) defending his own arguments in which he referenced the official condemnation. Finally, in 398, Jovinian was condemned by the emperor to be beaten with leaden whips and exiled to the island of Boa. His other conspirators were likewise sentenced to exile on “solitary islands situated at a great distance from each other” (12). Jovinian’s challenge to the consensus regarding marriage and sexuality had led to the branding of heresy, the sentence of excommunication, torture, and finally exile. Despite Ambrose’s accusation, Jovinian’s teaching was not Manichean, but it did present a significant biblical and theological challenge to the teaching regarding marriage, sexuality, and sanctification that had become popular at the end of the fourth century. Though his work has been lost, Jerome preserved a substantial amount of his argument in Against Jovinian. In this response, Jerome neatly summarized his adversary’s assertions in four propositions. First, Jovinian argued, “Virgins, widows, and married women, who have been once passed through the laver of Christ, if they are on a par in other respects, are of equal merit.” Second, he asserted, “They who with full assurance of faith have been born again in baptism, cannot be overthrown by the devil.” Third, he explained, “There is no difference between absti- nence from food, and its reception with thanksgiving.” Finally, according to Jerome, Jovinian stated, “There is one reward in the kingdom of heaven for all who have kept their baptismal vow” (13). THE FIRST PROPOSITION Jerome’s refutation makes evident that Jovinian’s assertions regarding marriage, sexuality, and sanctification were heavily occupied with presenting a defense of the goodness of marriage based on his interpretation of Scripture (14). His defense began in Genesis 2, where God himself declares, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24).” Lest anyone should undermine the significance of this statement because it is merely Old Testament teaching which has been superseded by the gospel, Jovinian pointed out that Jesus himself confirmed the continued significance of marriage when he declared, “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” Because Jesus has affirmed the institution which God ordained in the Garden of Eden, his command in Genesis 1:28 still applies to the Church today: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” Based upon the evidence Jerome provided, Jovinian believed both that the creation mandate was still fundamental for the Church today and that it demonstrates that marriage still plays a part in God’s plan for humanity which is equal to celibacy. Jovinian illustrated the important role of marriage in Scripture by demonstrating how many saints of the Old and New Testaments were married. He listed all of the patriarchs between Seth and Noah and commented that Enoch walked with God and was taken up into heaven. Noah and his family were the only ones saved from the flood, though no doubt many single people of marriageable age were condemned. After the flood, he pointed out, the creation mandate was reissued. He further mentions Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Samson, Barak, Deborah, Jael, Boaz, Ruth, Jesse, David, Elijah, Elisha, Josiah, and Huldah. In the New Testament, he mentioned Zachariah, Elizabeth, Peter, and the rest of the Apostles. Jovinian’s point in each case was to show that individuals who performed meritorious deeds for the Lord or who played an important role in the history of redemption were married. In some cases, the individuals he cited might be just as heavily criticized for their misdeeds as praised for the important role they play. Not all of Jovinian’s examples seem to work in his favor, and Jerome did not miss an opportunity to point these instances out. Nevertheless, Jovinian believed that both the Old and the New Testament present solid evidence that married people were often favored by God and served vital roles in his plan. Furthermore, Jovinian argued, the New Testament contains plenty of instruction validating the goodness of marriage. As Jerome explained, he continued his argument by quoting Paul’s injunction that younger widows marry and bear children (1 Tim 5:14), that a widow is free to marry (1 Cor 7:39), and that women are saved through childbearing (1 Cor 7:29). Furthermore, the author of Hebrews asserted that marriage is honorable and the marriage bed should be undefiled (Heb 13:4). In Jovinian’s opinion, all of this evidence should help put in context Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 7 regarding sexuality, marriage, and remarriage: “Surely we shall hear no more of the famous Apostolic utterance, ‘And they who have wives as though they had them not.’” This passage from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was often used to defend the position that celibacy is superior, but in Jovinian’s view that interpretation of Paul’s words was misguided. He concluded, “All of this makes it clear that in forbidding to marry, and to eat food which God created for use, you have consciences seared as with a hot iron, and are followers of the Manichaeans” (15). After explaining New Testament teaching, Jovinian proceeded to present evidence from secular authors in favor of the valued place of marriage, demonstrating that the ascetical views popular in his day had never been accepted in the world and were “a dogma against nature” (16). Jovinian’s opinion that marriage and celibacy were of equal value in attaining merit in God’s sight was grounded in his belief that God’s creation mandate continues to apply to the church. He bolstered this position by citing New Testament teaching plainly asserting the continued importance of marriage, and concluded with examples demonstrating that marriage has been valued and honored in the secular world. THE REST OF JOVINIAN’S ARGUMENT Jovinian went further, arguing over the doctrine of baptism, the merit of abstinence, and nature of the believer’s final reward. Jerome allowed his response to the first proposition an entire book by itself, while he dealt with the final three propositions together in one book which is shorter than the first. Though Jerome spent far more time interacting with Jovinian’s view of marriage and sexuality, the other three propositions are not ancillary issues. Inevitably all four propositions tie together to present a unified argument. Jerome probably did not grasp every nuance of this argument, and if so, he missed something significant. According to Jerome’s opening summary of his adversary’s propositions, Jovinian asserted that “they who with full assurance of faith have been born again in baptism, cannot be overthrown by the devil.” As he took up this second proposition, Jerome altered the wording of the proposition and argued that those who have been baptized can be “tempted,” not “overthrown” as he initially recorded (17). Jerome provided ample evidence from the Old and New Testaments that believers can fall into sin and must guard against it. This, however, was probably not an adequate response to Jovinian’s proposition. There is evidence that Jovinian also stated that believers can fall into sin, and when they do they must repent. Rather, Jovinian seems to have been arguing that something significant occurs in the life of the believer when he or she is baptized, something that goes beyond peccability. Not knowing exactly what Jovinian said here, it is impossible to reconstruct his argument infallibly, but Jerome probably got closer to the heart of the issue in his closing comment on this proposition: “We flatter ourselves on the ground of our baptism, which though it put away the sins of the past, cannot keep us for the time to come, unless the baptized keep their hearts with all diligence.” This quote reveals a concern not simply over the presence of sin, but over the future state of believers. Jovinian evidently argued that baptism, administered “with full assurance of faith,” places believers in a state in which the blessings they experience as a result are not diminished by the presence of sin. Jovinian did believe that believers could sin, but this sin will not remove the blessings that flow from baptism. In other words, Jovinian argued for what historian David Hunter called the final indefectibility of believers rather than their per- sonal impeccability (18). Those who are baptized into the Church are in a permanent state of grace. Regarding the third point, Jerome provided more information about Jovinian’s teaching than he had about the second. Jovinian argued that abstention from certain foods was unscriptural. Again, he found significance in the doctrine of creation. God created humanity and gave him dominion over all of the creatures of the earth, and then after the flood God gave him the right to eat not only plants, but also animals as well. In the New Testament, Paul teaches that all foods are clean if they are eaten with thanksgiving (Rom 14:20). In fact, Jovinian continued, Jesus himself drank wine and ate meat at feasts. He concluded regarding his opponents, “In abstaining from meats they please their own fancy” (19). Jovinian’s fourth proposition was that “there is one reward in the kingdom of heaven for all who have kept their baptismal vow.” As Jerome took up his refutation of this proposition, he explained that Jovinian was argu- ing that there are only two classes of people—believers and unbelievers. Jovinian referenced Jesus’ teaching regarding the sheep and the goats (Mat 25:31-46), Jesus’ statement to the Pharisees that their father was the devil ( John 8:44), the judgment of humanity that occurred in the flood, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Regarding Sodom and Gomorrah, Jovinian stated, “There is one salvation for those who are released, one destruction for those who stay behind” (20). Jovinian rejected the idea that believers should be divided into classes, some more spiritual than others, because the New Testament repeatedly emphasizes that all believers partake of the body and blood of Christ ( John 6:56), that the Holy Spirit indwells all believers (1 Cor 6:19), and that the Church itself is one. For these reasons, the common teaching that an ascetic lifestyle produces greater reward should be rejected. All believers possess the presence of Christ and are part of the same body. Therefore all experience the same reward. The common thread running through propositions one, three, and four, and in reality shedding light on the second as well, was Jovinian’s concern over baptism. Jerome dealt with each proposition independently, but failed to acknowledge or refute the ecclesiological argument that was central to Jovinian’s thesis (21). Marriage and celibacy are of equal weight in the sight of God because all baptized believers possess the same gift—the permanent presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, which has been given to the Church. All believers will experience the same reward of eternal life because all possess the same fruit of baptism—the permanent presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, which has been given to the Church. Also, because all believers have been baptized in Christ, none has any need to abstain from certain kinds of food (which God created as good). They have no value in attaining extra merit before God. In Jovinian’s view, the work God accomplished in baptism brought about a state of grace in which the quest for merit through abstaining from food and sex was unnecessary. Beyond that, abstaining from the good gifts God created and gave to humanity ran contrary to the Bible’s teaching on creation—which Jovinian argued still held relevance for the New Testament believer. Jovinian’s defense of the important place of marriage in the church and his denial of the supremacy of celibacy did not stand alone. It rested within a larger argument against the need for a hierarchy of merit within the soteriological system of the church. Bishops Siricius of Rome and Ambrose of Milan both responded to Jovinian’s teaching, but only Jerome provided a full response to his arguments. Like Jovinian’s other respondents, Jerome asserted the superiority of virginity over marriage as a path toward eternal merit. In the process of making his case, however, he presented a view of marriage that seemed to go further than placing it at a secondary status. In fact, even some of Jerome’s friends in Rome believed that he had articulated views that actually undermined the goodness of marriage. Because much of Jovinian’s argumentation was biblical in nature, much of Jerome’s response was exegetical, beginning with an analysis of 1 Corinthians 7. JEROME ON 1 CORINTHIANS 7 Jerome’s choice to use 1 Corinthians 7 in order to make his case for the superiority of celibacy was not unusual. During the Reformation, as Martin Luther made his case for the superiority of marriage over celibacy, he wrote an expository treatise on this chapter. He explained his rationale: “My reason for this choice is that this very chapter, more than all the other writings of the entire Bible, has been twisted back and forth to condemn the married state and at the same time to give a strong appearance of sanctity to the dangerous and peculiar state of celibacy” (22). Luther recognized that advocates of celibacy frequently used Paul’s argument in this passage to support their cause, though in his opinion they were twisting Paul’s words. Peter Brown, writ- ing on the renunciation of sex in ancient Christianity, also noted the importance of this chapter for those who exalted celibacy, but stated that by using arguments that were not clear, Paul “left a fatal legacy to future ages” (23). Paul’s words in this passage, even if wrongly interpreted, were used by many to construct a view of sexuality that led to the exaltation of celibacy. Jerome’s exegesis in this treatise would make an important contribution to the literature on the subject. Interacting with the very first verse of the chapter, Jerome made a case for celibacy that in the opinion of many put marriage in a poor light. He quoted Paul’s statement, “It is good for a man not to touch a woman,” and offered the following analysis: “If it is good not to touch a woman, it is bad to touch one: for there is no opposite to goodness but badness. But if it be bad and the evil is pardoned, the reason for the concession is to prevent worse evil.” The concession Jerome referred to was Paul’s statement in verse two that “because of immoralities, let each man have his own wife” (New American Standard Bible). In Jerome’s opinion, Paul followed up an important statement regarding the exercise of human sexuality with a pastoral concession: because of the reality of sexual temptation, some people will need to marry in order to prevent sexual sin outside of marriage. However, he argued, “Do away with fornication, and he will not say “let each man have his own wife.” In his judgment, something that is allowed only to prevent something worse from happening “has only a slight degree of goodness.” Jerome presented the picture that marriage is only valuable in order to prevent fornication (24). Even within marriage, in Jerome’s opinion, sex is counterproductive to one’s spiritual growth. In 7:2 Paul stated that each man should “have” his own wife, which Jerome interpreted as indicating sexual activity, not simply marriage. He reconstructed Paul’s argument thus: each man should have sex with his wife, whom it would be good not to touch at all, but rather treat as a sister. However, since they married before he became a believer, the man should give his wife “her due” as a concession. Even within marriage, Jerome believed, sexual activity is not best. It hinders prayer as well. This, he argued, was Paul’s point in verse five, in which the apostle stated that the married couple should abstain for a time and come back together by mutual consent. Paul made this argument, Jerome asserted, because “as often as I render my wife her due, I cannot pray.” Since Paul plainly instructed believers in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray always, this advice to abstain from sex in order to pray must indicate that sex hinders prayer. Otherwise why would the apostle suggest abstention? Though Paul clearly permitted marriage and sex within marriage, Jerome believed this was not what he thought best: “The Apostle’s wish is one thing, his pardon another.” In Jerome’s judgment, Paul thought celibacy best, and if one was already married, celibacy within marriage was best, though sex with one’s spouse was a pardonable offense. Despite this negative assessment of marriage, Jerome believed the institution to be God-given. Paul stated in 7:7 that he wished all men to be as he was, but that God gives each his own gift. Jerome granted that “even marriage is a gift from God, but between gift and gift there is great diversity.” Why would the apostle make a distinction between gifts if one is not superior? The gift of virginity is superior, though not everyone is given that gift. Even in saying that marriage is God-given, though, Jerome had difficulty speaking of it as good. He said, “I suspect the goodness of that thing which is forced into the position of being only the lesser of two evils. What I want is not a smaller evil, but a thing absolutely good” (25). This unavoidably negative assessment of marriage was enhanced by his discussion of remarriage. At the end of 1 Corinthians 7, Paul states that a wife is bound to her husband as long as she lives, but is free to marry if he dies. However, the apostle states, “She is happier if she remains as she is,” (7:40, NAS). Jerome saw the same logic at work here that he believed was present early in chapter 7. The apostle believed that it is only advisable to marry because of the danger of fornication. Jerome argued that this applies to widows as well as virgins: “it is better to know a single husband, though he be a second or third, than to have many paramours.” Jerome’s next statement reveals much: “That is, it is more tolerable for a woman to pros- titute herself to one man than to many” (26). He believed that sexual activity is sinful, whether within marriage or without. Commitment to one spouse within marriage, however, prevented worse evils. JEROME’S THEOLOGY OF SEXUALITY Jovinian had grounded his positive view of sexuality and marriage theologically by arguing that sexuality and marriage were originally created by God and given to humanity. Jerome denied that sexuality and marriage were good gifts given by God for humans in paradise. He asserted that Adam and Eve were virgins in Paradise and were married only after they were cast out of the garden. Sex, therefore, was not practiced in the Garden of Eden. What then of the statement that the two shall become one flesh (Gen 2:24)? Jerome referenced Paul’s statement on marriage in Ephesians 5:22-33 that marriage is a picture of Christ’s relationship with the Church. Jesus, though, in the flesh is a virgin. If the husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the Church, he must love his wife in chastity. Jerome furthered his argument by reflecting on the imago dei, arguing that in Christ humans are remade into the image of God. However, in Christ there is neither male, nor female (Gal 3:28). Therefore, “the link of marriage is not found in the image of the creator” (27). Neither marriage nor sex existed in the Garden of Eden, and sexuality has no relationship to the image of God. Jovinian’s other key theological argument was that the Church still bore the necessity to fulfill the creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply. Given the fact that Jerome denied that God gave sex or marriage to humanity in the garden, explaining the existence and relevance of this mandate was important for his argument. He used the analogy of harvesting trees to explain God’s command. God first planted the wood so he would later have trees to harvest. The command to be fruitful and multiply served to populate the earth so that humanity, once given the gift of life, could begin to seek for eternal life. In this context, Jerome stated, “Marriage replenishes the earth, virginity fills Paradise” (28). Now that Jesus has come and the time is short, we have a different command given us by “A Virgin Savior” (29). For Jerome, virginity has replaced the creation mandate. It is preparation for eternity. After all, humans can be married only during this life. They will be virgins, however, for eternity. He summarized, “For marriage ends at death; virginity thereafter begins to wear the crown” (30). Though marriage was allowed because of the danger of fornication, celibacy was of greater value in the Kingdom of Heaven. Despite the fact that Jerome did not fully appreciate the importance of Jovinian’s ecclesiological argument for his overall thesis, he did find the consequences of his adversary’s views troubling. Jovinian had denied the value of abstaining from sex and from food, argued against the hierarchy of merit, and claimed (according to Jerome), to be without sin after baptism. Jerome believed his adversary had constructed a system in which a believer could conduct himself in any manner he wished without consequences. Moreover, he had left no place for asceticism at all. Jerome complained, “If we are all to be equal in heaven, in vain do we humble ourselves here that we may be greater there.” He was convinced that the Scriptures were replete with examples promoting the hierarchy of merit. He did not seem to understand that Jovinian was not rejecting virginity in order to promote vice, but rather was articulating an entirely different understanding of the doctrine of salvation—one that had a different view of justification as a result of the efficacy of baptism, and in the process found a different place for marriage within the life of the church. Jerome had constructed a system in which sex had no place at all—except to be forgiven—and in which one who seeks righteousness must follow the path of strict self denial. The response to Jovinian was swift and definitive. A synod in Rome, led by Bishop Siricius, excommunicated him. Ambrose, leading a synod in Milan, the city where the emperor resided, did likewise, and the emperor eventually exiled him. Supporters continued to circulate his ideas for a while, but his writings did not survive antiquity and are only known to us through Jerome’s refutation. Jerome’s views, however, continued to draw a response from churchmen even up to the time of the Reformation. Against Jovinian drew a strong response in Rome as soon as it was put into circulation. Peter Brown commented that it “acted as an inspiration and an irritant.” There were some militants who agreed with Jerome in looking askance at marriage (31). A group of “holy brothers at Rome,” probably fellow ascetics, were the ones who had requested the treatise initially. However, an old contact of Jerome’s, a senator named Pammachius who had been involved in the Jovinian controversy within the church, was the one who became concerned over the negative reaction of the public toward the treatise. In an effort to spare further controversy and prevent Jerome unnecessary grief, he withdrew as many copies from circulation as possible and wrote to Jerome seeking clarification on some issues raised by the treatise. His efforts proved futile, however (32). By the time his letter reached Jerome, the ascetic of Bethlehem had already entertained visitors from Rome who read to him passages from his own trea- tise which they considered troubling. Jerome did provide a substantial response to Pammachius’s letter, which he intended as a defense of the treatise, but he did not retract a single statement. To the charge that he had denigrated marriage, Jerome insisted repeatedly that he asserted the goodness of marriage. Virginity was simply a better path toward merit (33). Those who sought a more subtly worded response were disappointed. One contemporary unknown to posterity disagreed with Jerome’s assessment of the place of marriage and sexuality. The Roman churchman known to us as “Ambrosiaster” expressed very different views on the nature of human sexuality, its relationship with the doctrine of creation, and the place of sex in the life of the clergy. Unlike Jerome, Ambrosiaster taught that human sexuality was part of God’s original blessing to humanity before Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. Moreover, neither the Fall nor its consequences could be used to denigrate sexual relations between husband and wife. In fact, the mandate to be fruitful and multiply is still an important part of God’s mission for humanity, he argued. Because of this, sex within marriage has an important place in the church. However, in keeping with the practice of the Old Testament priesthood to abstain from sexual relations during their period of ministry, Christian priests should abstain from sexual relations because they approach the altar regularly. Even in arguing for a celibate clergy, however, Ambrosiaster differed from Jerome, who had soteriological reasons for abstention (34). Since he published his works anonymously, though, maintained a low profile, and never offered a full and systematic treatment of the institution of marriage, Ambrosiaster’s work, while significant, left little lasting impact. The contribution of Augustine, however, is another story. Augustine wrote his treatises On the Excellence of Marriage and Holy Virginity around 401, about eight years after Jerome’s treatise. As David Hunter pointed out, the Jovinian controversy allowed Augustine the opportunity to articulate his theology of marriage and sexuality that had begun to develop in earlier writings (35). His intention, stated plainly in Retractations, was to counteract the continued support Jovinian enjoyed even after his exile. Augustine was particularly concerned that Jovinian’s supporters boasted that Jovinian could not be answered by praising marriage, but only by censuring it (36). In response Augustine published his own defenses of marriage and virginity, treatises that articulated the goodness of marriage while maintaining the superiority of celibacy in earning merit before God. Augustine opened his treatise by distinguishing himself from Jerome, as Ambrosiaster had, regarding human sexuality. In Augustine’s opinion, God created humanity as “a social entity” producing all humans, including both sexes, out of one man. His intention was to create the bond of kinship, and he created a strong union in husband and wife, which produces children as its fruit. Though he conceded at this time that he did not know how human procreation occurred before the Fall, he was confident procreation was part of God’s intention. Even after the Fall, the procreation mandate continued to be good, being fulfilled by the Old Testament Patriarchs without sin. In fact, he argued, they never let their natural enjoyment of it proceed to the point of “irrational and sinful passion.” Further, they possessed the additional motive that the messiah would come from their seed. Human sexuality, therefore, was created good and had its place in God’s plan (37). He also articulated three reasons why marriage is good, the first of which is producing children. As he had explained regarding the original created state of humanity, God created humans to bond and to produce fruit from their union. Therefore, procreation is good, and when husband and wife engage in sexual relations for the purpose of procreation, that act is good as well. Secondly, Augustine argued, marriage is good because it produces faithfulness. Husband and wife are faithful to one another and to God by keeping themselves from sexual relations with other people and by making themselves available to one another in order to avoid immorality. These efforts help to promote chastity. Thirdly, Augustine spoke of marriage as a sacrament similar in nature to the sacrament of ordination. Both are irrevocable, both are instituted for a purpose, and both bring blessing (38). Despite believing in the goodness of human sexuality and of the institution of marriage, Augustine differed with Jovinian and agreed in part with Jerome by asserting that virginity was still superior. Like Jovinian, Augustine believed that the patriarchs of the Old Testament ought to be commended for their faithfulness in marriage. They were producing the seed from which the messiah would spring. The messiah, however, has come, and in this present age “it is certainly better and holier not to set out to have children physically, and so to keep oneself free from any activity of that kind, and to be subject spiritually to only one man, Christ” (39). Virginity is still superior, though virgins are not necessarily more holy simply because they have dedicated themselves to virginity. They must live in obedience to God in other respects as well. Augustine certainly disagreed with Jovinian over the place of virginity with respect to merit, but he did not agree with Jerome completely. He declared emphatically, “Therefore marriage and fornication are not two evils, one worse than the other, but marriage and abstinence are two good things, one better than the other” (40). This comment was clearly directed at Jerome, who despite his affirmation that marriage was God-given still spoke of it as less than good. In the generations that followed, Augustine’s writings became massively influential. The theologians of the medieval era valued adherence to the authority of the orthodox teachers of the Church because they were viewed as having been faithful to the teachings of the apostles. They were certainly capable of independent critical reflection, but typically shunned theological novelty. Medieval libraries were filled with collections and compilations of the works of patristic authors, most notably Augustine (41). The North African church father was often the starting point for theological discussion, even if his name was never mentioned. In this context, Augustine’s treatment of the sacraments became the standard basis for reflection during the middle ages. Thus, his treatment on marriage was often a key point of reference. Jerome’s Against Jovinian did not disappear, however. Despite the uneven reception of this work in Rome during Jerome’s lifetime, he was a prolific and widely respected author who had produced the Vulgate, commentaries on Scripture, biographies of famous ascetics (Lives of Illustrious Men), and numerous controversial writings. In fact, as patristic scholar Rousseu has pointed out, “his letters and Lives offer the most sig- nificant corpus of ascetic literature in the West” during this period (42). Against Jovinian had originally found an audience that received its message warmly, and this was no less true later in history. This is evident from a comment by Martin Luther, who because of his own views on marriage was regarded as a new Jovinian. Luther complained regarding his adversaries, Indeed, just as one disputation gives rise to another, these ungodly people will shout that I am Jovinian and they will bring Jerome’s argument against Jovinian, in which he defended celibacy, to bear against me. They will think that I have never read Jerome. They think that it is enough just to have read him; they never think it neces- sary to form some opinion about what they have read (43). Luther’s adversaries responded to his critique of celibacy by citing the words of Jerome. They were aware of them and accepted them, but in Luther’s opinion did so without any apparent critical reflection. Others of the Reformation era did reflect critically upon Against Jovinian. Erasmus, the Catholic humanist, embraced the superiority of marriage even before Luther did and echoed some of Jovinian’s arguments found in Jerome’s refutation. He criticized Jerome, who in his opinion abused marriage. His efforts to exalt marriage brought him censure from French Catholic theologians (44). Luther’s associate, Philip Melanchton, roundly criticized Jerome, whose abusive language about marriage he found “by no means worthy of a Christian” (45). John Calvin, while likewise rejecting Jerome’s ideas, was more gracious, concluding that Jerome suffered from the defect of allowing himself to be “hurried away into great extravagancies” during the heat of conflict (46). Jerome’s views on marriage and celibacy, then, were well known and found both enthusiastic admirers as well as ardent detractors—both Protestant and Catholic. Jovinian, on the other hand, was well known as a heretic, and his arguments recorded by Jerome were public knowledge. The Council of Trent, condemning both the Protestant Reformers and the views of Jovinian, declared, “If anyone says that the married state excels the state of virginity or celibacy, and that it is better and happier to be united in matrimony than to remain in virginity or celibacy, let him be anathema” (47). The Catholic Church stood by its condemnation of Jovinian, despite the protests by reformers on both sides. However, despite some obvious affinities with Jovinian, Luther refused to identify himself with the ancient Roman’s views. He stated, “I myself do not know what Jovinian really meant. Perhaps he did not handle the argument properly. What I do know, however, is that Jerome has not handled it properly” (48). This, in the end, is Jovinian’s legacy. His teaching elicited a violent reaction from Jerome that many have considered dismissive of the very institution of marriage. His basic thesis is clear and intriguing and some of his arguments might be compelling, but in the end one can know only part of his theology of marriage and sexuality. Martin Luther was wise not to identify himself with a man whose arguments have come to us incomplete. Jovinian was a man who stood against the consensus of his generation on celibacy and the hierarchy of merit and who paid the price for it. That mantle was picked up again during the Reformation by reformers on both sides, but they could not claim much of Jovinian’s work for themselves. Their views on righteousness before God, justification, baptism, marriage, and sexuality emerged largely from their own interaction with Scripture, not from Jovinian, though he evidently touched on each of these issues in a way that led to his condemnation. (1) For background on secular views regarding marriage and sexuality as well as the development of Christian views during the centuries prior to the Jovinian Controversy, see Peter Brown, Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Ancient Christianity (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988); Richard Finn, Asceticism in the Graeco-Roman World, Key Themes in Ancient History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009); David G. Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity: The Jovinianist Controversy, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 87-129. (2) Jerome, “Against Jovinianus,” 1.16, in St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works, A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series, trans. by W. H. Freemantle, edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, vol. 6 (Grand Rapids: Eerd- mans, 1554), 359-360. (3) Jerome, “Letter XLVIII,” 3, in St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works, A Select Library of Nicene and Post- Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series, trans. by W. H. Freemantle, edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1554), 6:67. (4) Augustine, “Holy Virginity,” 14.14, 19.19, in Marriage and Virginity, The Works of St. Augustine for the 21st Century, trans. by Ray Kearney, ed. John E. Rotelle (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1999), 75, 78. (5) Siricius, “The Letter of Pope Siricius to the Church of Milan,” in The Letters of S. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, trans. not indicated ( James Parker and Co.: London, 1881), 281. (6) Ambrose, “Letter 44,” in Saint Ambrose: Letters 1-91, The Fathers of the Church, A New Translation, trans. Mary Melchior Beyenka (New York: Fathers of the Church, Inc., 1954), 26:226. (7) Jerome, “Against Jovinianus, 1.1, in St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works, 346. (8) Siricius, “The Letter of Pope Siricius to the Church of Milan,” 282. (9) Jerome’s own advice on how to live the ascetic life is found in a letter to a young virgin named Eustochium. Here Jerome advised a young aristocratic woman who has chosen the life of an ascetic to avoid eating fine foods, avoid the company of married aristocratic women, prefer only the company of female ascetics, and even avoid the speech patterns that he viewed as pretentious which were popular among wealthy Roman women. See Jerome, “Letter XXII.” Jovinian’s conduct obviously did not follow this pattern of ascetic living, which led to the epithet Jerome gave him, “the Epicurus of Christianity,” who is “wanton- ing in his gardens with his favourites of both sexes,” (Against Jovinianus 2.36). J. N. D. Kelly is surely cor- rect to interpret Jovinian’s actions more neutrally than Jerome has presented them. See J. N. D. Kelly, Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies (London: Duckworth, 1975), 180. (10) Siricius, “The Letter of Pope Siricius to the Church of Milan.” (11) Ambrose, “Letter 44,” in Saint Ambrose: Letters, 230. Manicheans held to a docetic Christology, denying that Jesus took on flesh. In Ambrose’s letter to Siricius, Ambrose focused his attention upon defending the physical virginity of Mary, even after the process of giving birth to Jesus, a doctrine known as virginitas in partu. Jovinian denied this teaching, and in refuta- tion Ambrose accused him of Manichaeism. David G. Hunter, who has written the definitive work on the Jovinian controversy, argued that Ambrose’s accusation was “a rather obvious and deliberate distortion of Jovinian’s teaching.” There is no evidence that Jovinian denied the humanity of Jesus. On the other hand, Jovinian’s concerns about the distortion of the value of virginity provided clear and sufficient motivation for him to question the validity of the virginitas in partu teaching. See David G. Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity, 22-24. (12) Quoted in David G. Hunter, 243. (13) Jerome, “Against Jovinianus,” 1.3. Jerome makes no mention of Jovinian’s views regarding the integrity of Mary’s physical virginity during the process of giving birth. Kelly suggests that this might be because, unlike Ambrose, Jerome did not have a significant problem with Jovinian’s views. See Kelly, Jerome, 185-6. (14) Against Jovinianus 1.5 is the main locus for Jovinian’s biblical arguments regarding marriage and celibacy. (15) Jovinian, quoted in Jerome, Against Jovinianus 1.5, in St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works, 349. For analysis of Jovinian’s accusation that his opponents were exhibiting the Manichean heresy, see Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy, 130-170. (16) Ibid, 1.41, 379. Jerome does not indicate what secular evidence Jovinian brought forth. (17) Jerome, Against Jovinian, 2.1, 387. Jerome’s original wording is almost certainly an accurate record of Jovinian’s words. David Hunter argues that Jerome either did not understand Jovinian’s point about baptism, or by altering the wording he allowed himself to take on an issue he could easily refute, even if it was not exactly what Jovinian was teaching. See Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity, 36. Jerome’s paraphrase of “overthrown” surely indicates an unwillingness to deal with the essential issues raised by Jovinian in this proposition. (18) Hunter, idem, 36-37. (19) Jovinian, quoted in Jerome, Against Jovinianus, 2.5, in St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works, 392. (20) Jovinian, quoted in Jerome, Against Jovinianus, 2.18, in St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works, 402. (21) At the beginning of Against Jovinian, Jerome assessed his adversary’s style of rhetoric in an effort to discredit the quality of his work. Jerome was unimpressed with the rhetorical quality of the work, but by navigating what he viewed to be the confusing rhetoric, he concluded that “[Jovinian’s] object in proclaiming the excellence of marriage was only to disparage virginity;” Jerome, Against Jovinianus, 1.3, in St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works, 347. This is, in fact, not at all the case. Jovinian’s object was to disparage the hierarchy of merit, not specifically virginity. Jerome either misunderstood or misrepresented Jovinian’s motivation, and thus misunderstood or misrepresented his central thesis. (22) Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. Hilton C. Oswald (St. Louis: Concordia, 1973), 28:3. (23) Peter Brown, Body and Society, 55. (24) Jerome, Against Jovinianus, 1.7, in St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works, 350. (25) Ibid, 1.9, (NPNF 2.6, 352). (26) Ibid, 1.14, (NPNF 2.6, 358). (27) Ibid, 1.16, (NPNF 2.6, 359-360). (28) Ibid, 1.16, (NPNF 2.6, 360). (29) Ibid, 1.24, (NPNF 2.6, 364). (30) Ibid, 1.22, (NPNF 2.6, 363). (31) Peter Brown, Body and Society, 377. (32) On Pammachius’ relationship with Jerome, see David Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy, 24-26. (33) Jerome’s cover letter to Pammachius is “Letter 49.” The actual defense, also addressed to Pammachius, is “Letter 48.” (34)For a discussion of Ambrosiaster’s differences with Jerome, see Brown, Body and Society, 377-378; also Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy, 159-170. (35) David G. Hunter, “Introduction,” in Marriage and Virginity, The Works of Saint Augustine for the 21st Century, 19. (36) Ibid, 15. (37) Augustine, The Excellence of Marriage, 1.1, 2.2, 16.18. (38) See Augustine’s summary of the three goods of marriage in The Excellence of Marriage, 24.32. (39) Augustine, The Excellence of Marriage, 24.32, in Marriage and Virginity, 57. (40) Ibid, 8.8, 39. (41) For more on Augustine’s influence on medieval the- ology, see Jaroslav Pelikan, The Growth of Medieval Theology (600-1300), 9-17. (42) Philip Rousseau, Ascetics, Authority, and the Church in the Age of Jerome and Cassian, 2nd edition (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010), 99. (43) Martin Luther, “The Judgment of Martin Luther on Monastic Vows,” in The Christian and Society, Luther’s Works (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966), 44:305- 306; quoted in David G. Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity, 6-7. Luther in fact published his own exposition of 1 Corinthians 7 in which he frequently interacted with Jerome’s interpretation of the passage; Martin Luther, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 7,” trans. by Edward Sittler, in Luther’s Works, Vol. 28, ed. Hilton C. Oswald (St. Louis: Concordia, 1973). (44) David G. Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity, 6. (45) Melanchton, “De ecclesia et de auctoritate verbi dei: De Hieronymo, in Charles Leander Hill, Melanchton: Selected Writings (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1962), 161; quoted in David G. Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity, 7. (46) John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians, trans. by John Pringle (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009), 20:222. (47) nThe Council of Trent, Session XXIV, “Canons on the Sacrament of Matrimony,” in The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, trans. by H. J. Schroeder (Rockford, IL: Tan, 1978), 181. (48) Martin Luther, “The Judgment of Martin Luther on Monastic Vows,” in The Christian and Society, Luther’s Works, vol. 44, 305-306; quoted in David G. Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity, 6-7. About the Author: C. Michael Wren, Jr., (Ph.D., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is senior pastor of New Life Baptist Church in Greencastle, Indiana. He has taught church history at the North Georgia campus of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Christian studies at Truett-McConnell College. He is the author of articles in the field of church history for Tennessee Baptist History as well as a chapter in Trained in the Fear of God (edited by Randy Stinson and Timothy Paul Jones). Michael lives in Greencastle with his wife, Angela, and his children, William and Anna. He enjoys hiking, drinking Coca-Cola, and watching University of Georgia athletics. [Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in The Journal of Discipleship and Family Ministry 3.1 (2012). Click here for a PDF copy of this article.]

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Table of contents By author New books Top books By publisher: ARP Press ASCP CAP LWW WHO Pathology Books: general surgical pathology anatomy autopsy bioterrorism board review breast cardiovascular cytopathology dermatopathology electron microscopy endocrine eye forensic GI GU grossing gynecologic head and neck hematopathology histology history IHC immunology informatics kidney lab medicine law liver lung mediastinum/serosa medical dictionaries medical writing microbiology molecular muscle neuropathology oncology other parasitology pediatric placenta soft tissue & bone statistics stem cells transfusion Dermatology Books: cosmetic dermoscopy general infectious pediatric surgery tumors Books by author: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Abbas: Basic Immunology: Functions and Disorders of the Immune System By Abul Abbas 2012 (4th ed), 336 pages, $70 list Understand all the essential concepts in immunology with Basic Immunology: Functions and Disorders of the Immune System! This concise, focused text provides you with an up-to-date, accessible introduction to the workings of the human immune system. Abbas: Cellular and Molecular Immunology By Abul Abbas 2011 (7th ed), 560 pages, $73 list Cellular and Molecular Immunology takes a comprehensive yet straightforward approach to the latest developments in this active and fast-changing field. Drs. Abul K. Abbas, Andrew H. Lichtman, and Shiv Pillai present sweeping updates in this new edition to cover antigen receptors and signal transduction in immune cells, mucosal and skin immunity, cytokines, leukocyte-endothelial interaction, and more. In print and online with additional resources, this reference is the up-to-date and readable textbook you need to master the complex subject of immunology. Appelbaum: Thomas' Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation By Fredderick Appelbaum 2009 (4th ed), 1752 pages, 500 illus, $500 list This fourth edition has been fully revised to reflect latest developments. The need for this new edition cannot be overstated- more than 13,000 new cases per year of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation have been reported to the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry. Coico: Immunology: A Short Course By Richard Coico 2009 (6th ed), 416 pages, $55 list Immunology: A Short Course, Sixth Edition introduces all the critical topics of modern immunology in clear and succinct yet comprehensive fashion. The authors offer a uniquely balanced coverage of classical and contemporary approaches, basic and clinical aspects. Each chapter is divided into short, self-contained units that address key topics illustrated by uniformly drawn, full-color illustrations, many brand new to this edition. Delves: Roitt's Essential Immunology By Peter Delves 2011 (12th ed), 560 pages, $45 list Bringing you fully up-to-date with the latest knowledge and concepts about the workings of the immune system, the hallmark easy-reading style of Roitt's Essential Immunology clearly explains the key principles needed by medical and health sciences students, from the basis of immunity to clinical applications. Beautifully presented, with brand new illustrations, the pedagogy has been strengthened throughout, and includes just to recap sections at the beginning of each chapter, reminding the reader of key findings and principles, and summary sections at the end of each chapter that are ideal for quick study and revision. By Thao Doan 2012 (2nd ed), 384 pages, $59 list Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Immunology offers a highly visual presentation of essential immunology material, with all the popular features of the series: over 300 full-color annotated illustrations, an outline format, chapter summaries, review questions, and case studies that link basic science to real-life clinical situations. Fan: Living Donor Liver Transplantation By Sheung Tat Fan 2011 (2nd ed), 356 pages, $162 list The book describes in detail the technical aspects of Living Donor Liver Transplantation (LDLT), the routine practice of the world renowned Liver Transplant Team at Hong Kong's Queen Mary Hospital, and our views on various issues of the operation. The thorough review on the history and technical procedures of LDLT and discussion on various aspects of the operation and its future perspectives will serve as a unique reference for surgeons, researchers, nurses, medical students, patients and laypersons seeking information on LDLT. Geha: Case Studies in Immunology: A Clinical Companion By Raif Geha 2011 (6th ed), 376 pages, $50 list Case Studies in Immunology, Sixth Edition, presents major topics of immunology through a selection of clinical cases that reinforce and extend the basic science. The case histories illustrate essential points about the mechanisms of immunity and describe immunological problems seen in the clinic. This new edition vividly illustrates the importance of an understanding of immunology in diagnosis and therapy. Case Studies in Immunology highlights major common disorders of immunity, including hypersensitivity types I-IV, immune deficiencies, and autoimmune disorders. Each case history is preceded by basic scientific facts essential to understanding the immunology behind the specific disorders. An end-of-case summary, questions, and discussion points conclude each case. Gershwin: Contemporary Challenges in Autoimmunity By M. Eric Gershwin 2009 (1st ed), 400 pages, $165 list This volume features key presentations from the 6th International Congress of Autoimmunity. The International Congress of Autoimmunity has become established as one of the major meetings in the field of immunology, with presentations covering every aspect of basic research in the hopes of clarifying pathogenesis of autoimmune disease as well as providing information on the latest innovations in biological and other modes of treatment. The goal of this volume is to present cutting edge research that focuses in particular on newer diagnostic tools and newer therapies for human autoimmune disease. Hertl: Autoimmune Diseases of the Skin: Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, Management By Michael Hertl 2010 (1st ed), 560 pages, $80 list The book provides an overview and the latest information on the broad spectrum of cutaneous autoimmune disorders for clinicians, scientists and practitioners in dermatology, medicine, rheumatology, ENT, pediatrics and ophthalmology. The book is unique since it presents the state-of-the-art knowledge on pathophysiology, clinical diagnosis and management of these disorders provided by the world experts in the field. The primary intention is to broaden the understanding of the pathophysiology of cutaneous autoimmune disorders and to provide a practical guide to how to identify and handle these conditions. The book is illustrated with many tables, illustrative figures and clinical color photographs. The third edition has been thoroughly updated and extended by chapters on paraneoplastic cutaneous syndromes, atopic dermatitis and autoimmunity and Skin manifestations of rheumatic diseases. James: Andrews' Diseases of the Skin By William James 2011 (11th ed), 1024 pages, $199 list The 11th Edition of the classic Andrews' Diseases of the Skin, by Drs. William D. James, Timothy G. Berger and Dirk M. Elston, provides the ultimate foundation in dermatology with comprehensive guidance to effectively diagnose and treat a wide range of skin conditions. These highly respected authors balance evidence-based treatment guidelines with advice from their own clinical experience, offering a practical and realistic medical perspective. Updated throughout with the latest dermatologic findings and a new chapter on cosmetic surgical techniques, this title helps you keep current, improve your skills, and prepare for exams. It also includes online access to the complete text, images, and bonus illustrations making this an indispensable, convenient reference for trainees and practicing dermatologists. Kishore: Target Pattern Recognition in Innate Immunity By Uday Kishore 2009, 222 pages, $209 list In view of the growing interest in the cross-talk between innate and adaptive immunity, a thorough understanding of the initial recognition and triggering events, mediated via innate immune receptors, as addressed in this volume, is clearly very useful in helping to also fully understand the mechanisms of activation and control of the adaptive immune systemand to allow a full assessment of the relative roles played by innate immunity and adaptive immunity against a particular infection in higher organisms. Klein: Organ Transplantation: A Clinical Guide By Andrew Klein 2011, 386 pages, $143 list Organ Transplantation: A Clinical Guide covers all aspects of transplantation in both adult and pediatric patients. Cardiac, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas and small bowel transplantation are discussed in detail, as well as emerging areas such as face and pancreatic islet cell transplantation. For each organ, chapters cover basic science of transplantation, recipient selection, the transplant procedure, anesthetic and post-operative care, and long-term follow-up and management of complications. Important issues in donor selection and management are also discussed, including recruitment and allocation of potential donor organs and expanding the donor pool. Summary tables and illustrations enhance the text, and long-term outcome data are provided where available. Written by expert transplant surgeons, anesthetists and physicians, Organ Transplantation: A Clinical Guide is an invaluable multidisciplinary resource for any clinician involved in transplantation, providing in-depth knowledge of specialist areas of transplantation and covering the full range of management strategies. Kotb: Superantigens: Molecular Basis for Their Role in Human Diseases By Malak Kotb and John D Fraser 2007 (1st ed), 292 pages, $130 list Superantigens is the first comprehensive examination of these fascinating proteins ever published. A team of internationally respected researchers covers the basic molecular mechanisms of superantigen action, their structure and function, and their role in human diseases. Levinson: Review of Medical Microbiology and Immunology By Warren Levinson 2012 (1st ed), 710 pages, 50 illus, $49 list Essential for USMLE and medical microbiology course exam preparation, Review of Medical Microbiology, 12e provides a high-yield review of the basic and clinical aspects of bacteriology, virology, mycology, parasitology, and immunology. The book emphasizes the real-world clinical application of microbiology and immunology to infectious diseases and offers a unique mix of narrative text, color images, tables and figures, Q&A, and clinical cases. Liapis: Pathology of Solid Organ Transplantation By Helen Liapis 2010 (1st ed), 480 pages, 300 illus, $309 list The book focuses on the pathology of transplantation in the following organs: kidney, liver, lungs, heart, pancreas and small intestine. An introductory section addresses common entities that may complicate all transplant recipients such as infections, post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease and graft versus host disease, followed by 6 sections with detailed manifestations of rejection in each organ. This comprehensive, well-illustrated book serves the needs and meets the requirements of pathologists in training and those practicing in centers with limited volume of transplant biopsies in daily practice. By David Male 2012 (8th ed), 482 pages, 190 illus, $65 list Immunology, 8th Edition makes it easy for you to learn all the basic and clinical concepts you need to know for your courses and USMLEs. This medical textbook's highly visual, carefully structured approach makes immunology simple to understand and remember. By Robert Meyers 2007 (1st ed), 465 pages, 300 illus, $345 list With an editorial board containing 11 Nobel laureates, this invaluable collection of high-quality articles on immunology is taken from the tried-and-tested Meyer's Encyclopedia of Molecular Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine. Clearly divided into four main sections, this ready reference covers innate and adaptive immunity, signaling in the immune system, techniques, and immunological disorders. The articles are uniformly structured for ease of use, carefully designed to aid readers of all levels of expertise. To this end, each chapter includes a glossary of the most important keywords, a concise summary of the article and comprehensive literature references. Owen: Kuby Immunology By Judy Owen 2013 (7th ed), 574 pages, $111 list Presenting current concepts in an experimental context, Kuby Immunology has been thoroughly updated to include a new chapter on innate immunity, a capstone chapter on immune responses in time and space, and many new focus boxes drawing attention to exciting clinical, evolutionary and experimental connections that help bring the material to life. Paul: Fundamental Immunology By William Paul 2012 (7th ed), 1312 pages, $204 list Now full-color throughout the books fully revised and updated content reflects the latest advances in the field. Current insights enhance readers understanding of immune system function. The texts unique approach bridges the gap between basic immunology and the disease process. Extensive coverage of molecular biology explains the molecular dynamics underlying immune disorders and their treatment. Abundant illustrations and tables deliver essential information at a glance. Plus a convenient companion website features the fully searchable text with all references linked to PubMed. Rich: Clinical Immunology By Robert Rich 2012 (4th ed), 1323 pages, $299 list Offer your patients the best possible care with clear, reliable guidance from one of the most respected and trusted resources in immunology. Authoritative answers from internationally renowned leaders in the field equip you with peerless advice and global best practices to enhance your diagnosis and management of a full range of immunologic problems. Rose: The Year in Immunology By Noel Meyers 2012 (1st ed), 250 pages, $130 list The fourth installment of "The Year in Immunology" series features reviews of novel approaches in the investigation of immunoregulatory mechanisms. Topics surveyed include cutting-edge molecular studies and treatment advances for systemic lupus erythmatosus and multiple sclerosis, the genetic regulation of lymphocytes and T cells, and new models of immunosenescence. Ruiz: Transplantation Pathology By Phillip Ruiz 2009 (1st ed), 408 pages, 354 illus, $175 list Transplantation Pathology is a specialized textbook that comprehensively covers the pathological features of all organs transplanted in clinical practice. In addition to extensive detail of morphological changes, numerous images, and the latest classification schemes, this book incorporates basis pathophysiologic mechanisms involved in the detrimental processes affecting the host and graft. Finally, there are also specialized chapters addressing the immunopathology of graft rejection, lab medicine and transplantation, dermatological complications in transplantation, and PTLD. Thus, this book by renowned authors in the field provides the pathologist, clinician, clinical staff, and student a complete overview of the pathological processes and underlying mechanisms of all areas of transplantation. Seegmiller: Hematology and Immunology: Diagnostic Standards of Care By Adam Seegmiller, Mary Ann Thompson and Michael Laposata 2014 (1st ed), 116 pages, $55 list This pocket-sized resource focuses on core issues in achieving quality in all areas of hematopathology and immunology, with an emphasis on identifying established, evidence-based standards. It addresses potential problems and sources of error in management of hematology and immunology testing procedures, how to anticipate and avoid such problems, and how to manage them if they occur. Concise and practical, discussions are problem-based and directly address common situations and issues faced by clinical pathologists or members of a laboratory team. The book provides plentiful examples of errors which compromise patient safety. Discussion of each problem is augmented by an actual case discussion to illustrate how the problem can occur and how to deal with it effectively. Strober: Immunology: Clinical Case Studies and Disease Pathophysiology By Warren Strober 2009 (1st ed), 424 pages, $50 list This book offers a comprehensive, cutting-edge selection of real-life case studies for in-depth investigation into the impact of immunology on modern medical diagnosis and treatment. Twenty-six case studies effectively cover: immunodeficiency diseases, immediate hyper-sensitivity and mast cell disorders, autoimmune disorders, and malignancies of the lymphoid system. Turgeon: Immunology & Serology in Laboratory Medicine By Mary Turgeon 2013 (1st ed), 584 pages, $77 list The 5th edition of this classic text sets the standard for comprehensive coverage of immunology. Building from a solid foundation of knowledge and skills, trusted author Mary Louise Turgeon takes you from basic immunologic mechanisms and serologic concepts to the theory behind the procedures you'll perform in the lab. Immunology & Serology in Laboratory Medicine, Fifth Edition is the go-to resource for everything from mastering automated techniques to understanding immunoassay instrumentation and disorders of infectious and immunologic origin. Packed with learning objectives, review questions, step-by-step procedures, and case studies, this text is your key to succeeding in today's modern laboratory environment. Warwick: Tissue and Cell Donation: An Essential Guide By Ruth Warwick 2009 (1st ed), 296 pages, $146 list This unique book explores a range of issues related to the human impact of tissue and cell donation programmes around the world. It addresses the areas that are of key concern and have profound implications for the donors, recipients and healthcare professionals involved. Focusing on tissue, assisted reproduction and hematopoietic stem cells this book is essential reading for all those working in the field of human transplant donation and those who regulate this field. Williams: Immunology: Mucosal and Body Surface Defenses By Andrew Williams 2011 (1st ed), 398 pages, $85 list The vast majority of medically important pathogens infect their host across a body surface such as the skin, or across a mucosal tissue such as the respiratory tract or intestines, as these sites are the ones exposed to the external environment. By focusing on immunity at mucosal and body surfaces this book presents a fresh, new approach to the teaching of immunology. Yazici: Behçets Syndrome By Yusuf Yazici 2010 (1st ed), 200 pages, 30 illus, $169 list This book covers the most recent developments in the basic and clinical aspects of Behçets Syndrome. International authorities have collaborated to offer their diverse expert knowledge on the multiple systems involved. The definitive resource on Behçets Syndrome, this book is well suited for rheumatologists, dermatologists, ophthalmologists, and all health professionals caring for Behçets patients. Zouali: The Epigenetics of Autoimmune Diseases By Moncef Zouali 2009 (1st ed), 472 pages, $180 list This book provides valuable insight into the important new area of the role of epigenetic mechanisms in autoimmune disease. It covers the latest discoveries and developments in epigenetics and their significance in a variety of autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune anaemia, type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune gastritis, thyroiditis, and systemic lupus erythematosus. End of Immununology/Transplanation books This information is intended for physicians and related personnel, who understand that medical information is often imperfect, and must be interpreted in the context of a patient's clinical data using reasonable medical judgment. This website should not be used as a substitute for the advice of a licensed physician. All information on this website is protected by copyright of PathologyOutlines.com, Inc. Information from third parties may also be protected by copyright. Please contact us at copyrightPathOut@gmail.com with any questions (click here for other

Ken Burns has been making films for more than thirty years. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made. A December 2002 poll conducted by Real Screen Magazine listed The Civil War as second only to Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North as the "most influential documentary of all time," and named Ken Burns and Robert Flaherty as the "most influential documentary makers" of all time. In March, 2009, David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun Sun said, "… Burns is not only the greatest documentarian of the day, but also the most influential filmmaker period. That includes feature filmmakers like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. I say that because Burns not only turned millions of persons onto history with his films, he showed us a new way of looking at our collective past and ourselves." The late historian Stephen Ambrose said of his films, "More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source." Ken's films have won twelve Emmy Awards and two Oscar nominations, and in September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Ken was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Ken has been the recipient of more than twenty-five honorary degrees and has delivered many treasured commencement addresses. He is a sought after public speaker, appearing at colleges, civic organizations and business groups throughout the country. Projects currently in production include films on the Dust Bowl, the Central Park Jogger case, the Roosevelts, Jackie Robinson, the Vietnam War and country music. In October of 2011 PBS broadcast Prohibition, a 3-part, 5 -hour series directed by Ken and Lynn Novick. The film tells the story of the rise, rule and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the entire era it encompassed, a compelling saga that goes far beyond the oft-told tales of gangsters, rum runners, flappers and speakeasies, revealing a complicated and divided nation in the throes of momentous transformation. Prohibition raises vital questions that are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago – about means and ends, individual rights and responsibilities, the proper role of government, and, finally, who is – and who is not – a real American. An update to the 1994 epic Baseball, The Tenth Inning was co-directed by Ken and Lynn Novick. David McMahon, Lynn Novick and Ken wrote and produced the film, which aired on PBS in September 2010. This two-part, four-hour documentary highlights the many dramatic developments that transformed the game: the crippling 1994 strike, the increasing dominance of Latin and Asian players; the rise of a new Yankee Dynasty, the historic World Series victory by the Red Sox, and the revelations about performance-enhancing drugs, a reality that cast a pall on some of the greatest stars of the game. In the fall of 2009, PBS broadcast The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Directed and co-produced by Ken, it was co-produced by his long-time collaborator Dayton Duncan. The six-part series focuses on the ideas and individuals that helped propel the parks into existence. Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature's most spectacular locales – from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska – the heart of the story is nonetheless a story of people from every conceivable background – rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy. The film won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Nonfiction Series and Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming, as well as the 2010 CINE Golden Eagle Award. In September 2007, PBS broadcast The War, which Ken co-produced and co-directed with long-time colleague, Lynn Novick. This seven-part film tells the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of nearly 40 men and women from four quintessentially American towns. The series explores the most intimate human dimensions of the greatest cataclysm in history -- a worldwide catastrophe that touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America. The War was named an official selection at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and won three Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming, Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming, and Outstanding Voice-over Performance (for narrator Keith David). Robert Bianco of USA Today said, "There are works of TV art so extraordinary all you can do is be grateful. With The War, gratitude abounds." Keith Olbermann of NBC/MSNBC said, "This is the finest documentary series of the last decade… if not more," and Adam Buckman of the New York Post has said "I have spent the better part of my adult life watching TV for a living, and I have never experienced anything more powerful than this." In January of 2005, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, a two-part film on the life of the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion, aired on PBS. It was produced with Ken's long-time collaborator and editor Paul Barnes, and had its premiere at the 2004 Telluride Film Festival. This film won three Emmy Awards: Outstanding Nonfiction Special, Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction, and Outstanding Voice-over Performance (for narrator Keith David). Todd McCarthy of Variety called it "…irresistibly engrossing…masterly… a knockout…"; while The New York Times described it as "monumental…gripping." Ring Magazine, "the bible of boxing," said Unforgivable Blackness is "…the most wildly entertaining documentary ever." Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip, an account of the first cross-country trip by automobile, was co-produced with Ken's long-time colleague Dayton Duncan. This film aired on PBS in October of 2003, and was screened that same year at the Telluride Film Festival. The film earned the 2003 CINE Golden Eagle Award and, in 2004, the Christopher Award. David Bianculli of the New York Daily News said, "This is one drive on which no passenger will be asking impatiently, 'Are we there yet?' The journey, in this case, is the destination." Mark Sachs of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The detail work by Burns and Duncan offers such an authentic-feeling trip back in time that it's as if viewers have a backseat perch as Jackson puts his cherry-red Winton touring car in gear and heads east." Mark Twain, a two-part, four-hour portrait of America's funniest and most popular writer, was also co-produced with Dayton Duncan. Winner of the Leon Award for Best Documentary at the St. Louis Film Festival in 2001, the film aired on PBS in January 2002. Ken Ringle of The Washington Post wrote, "Mark Twain is not only fascinating, funny, inspiring and wise, it's one of the best primers on American literature and culture you could have." In January 2001, Jazz, the third in Ken's trilogy of epic documentaries, which began with The Civil War and continued with Baseball, was broadcast on PBS. Co-produced with Lynn Novick, this 19-hour, ten-part film explores in detail the culture, politics and dreams that gave birth to jazz music, and follows this most American of art forms from its origins in blues and ragtime through swing, bebop and fusion. Jack Newfield of the New York Post said, "Jazz is the best American documentary film I have ever seen. Period." Tom Brokaw wrote, "Jazz is a masterpiece of American television." John Carmen of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Jazz informs, astonishes, and entertains. It invites joy, tears, toe-tapping, pride, and shame and maybe an occasional goose bump." Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, winner of the prestigious Peabody Award and an Emmy Award, was co-produced with Paul Barnes and aired on PBS in November of 1999. This dual biography tells the story of the two women who almost single-handedly created and spearheaded the women's rights movement in America, changing for the better the lives of a majority of American citizens. As Bob Herbert of The New York Times stated: "The latest splendid effort from…Ken Burns is about two women who barely register in the consciousness of late-20th century America, but whose lives were critically important to the freedoms most of us take for granted." The 2000 Peabody Award citation for NFOA reads: "Remarkable…It is an inspiring story of hopes, dashed dreams and dogged determination…NFOA…brings heart, soul and considerable poignancy to the stories of these two leaders of the women's suffrage movement." Frank Lloyd Wright, co-directed and produced with Lynn Novick, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1998, and aired on PBS in November of that year. The film, which tells the riveting story of America's foremost architectural genius, is, according to Janet Maslin of The New York Times, a "towering two-and-one-half-hour(s)…sure to have a high profile because of the turbulent, colorful life of the architect and the austere magnificence of his work, which is thoughtfully assessed." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times says the film "…has the unbeatable combination of exceptional interview material and beautiful architectural photography put at the service of an astonishing life." In 1999, it won the Peabody Award. In November 1997, Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery was released to critical acclaim and garnered the second-highest ratings in Public Television history. This four-hour film, co-produced with Dayton Duncan, chronicles the corps' journey westward on the first official expedition into uncharted spaces in United States history. Tony Scott of Weekly Variety called the film "…a visually stunning account…Striking photography, superb editing, informative reportage and little-known anecdotes characterize the latest fine documentary work from Burns," and Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "…superb…a vast landscape that, even on the television screen, underscores the sense of awe reported by Lewis and Clark in their journals." Thomas Jefferson, a three-hour portrait of our third president, aired in February of 1997. This film explores the contradictions in the man who was revered as the author of the most sacred document in American history and condemned as a lifelong owner of slaves. Walter Goodman of The New York Times said: "…Thomas Jefferson is a considerable accomplishment, a thoughtful and affecting portrait of the intellectual who captured the essence of a new nation's hopes in phrases that continue to resound around the world." And George Will, in The Washington Post, said: "…Ken Burns presents a timely corrective, a visually sumptuous and intellectually judicious appraisal of Jefferson." In the fall of 1996, The West, an eight-part, 12 1/2 hour film series on the American west was released. The West is the story of one of the great crossroads in human history, a place where, tragically and heroically, the best of us met the worst of us and nothing was left unchanged. Ken Burns was executive producer and creative consultant for this highly praised series, directed by Stephen Ives, which won the 1997 Erik Barnouw Prize. Ken Burns was the director, producer, co-writer, chief cinematographer, music director and executive producer of the Public Television series Baseball. Four and a half years in the making and eighteen and a half hours in length, this film covers the history of baseball from the 1840s to the present. Through the extensive use of archival photographs and newsreel footage, baseball as a mirror of our larger society was brought to the screen over nine nights during its premiere in September 1994. It became the most watched series in PBS history, attracting more than 45 million viewers. David Bianculli of the New York Daily News said, "[Baseball]…resonates like a Mozart symphony." Richard Zoglin of Time magazine wrote, "Baseball is rich in drama, irresistible as nostalgia, and…an instructive window into our national psychology." Baseball received numerous awards, including an Emmy, the CINE Golden Eagle Award, the Clarion Award, and the Television Critics Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sports and Special Programming. Ken Burns was also the director, producer, co-writer, chief cinematographer, music director and executive producer of the landmark television series The Civil War. This film was the highest rated series in the history of American Public Television and attracted an audience of 40 million during its premiere in September 1990. The New York Times called it a masterpiece and said that Ken Burns "takes his place as the most accomplished documentary filmmaker of his generation." Tom Shales of The Washington Post said, "This is not just good television, nor even just great television. This is heroic television." The columnist George Will said, "If better use has ever been made of television, I have not seen it and do not expect to see better until Ken Burns turns his prodigious talents to his next project." The series has been honored with more than forty major film and television awards, including two Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, Producer of the Year Award from the Producer's Guild, People's Choice Award, Peabody Award, duPont-Columbia Award, D.W. Griffith Award, and the $50,000 Lincoln Prize, among dozens of others. In 1981, Ken Burns produced and directed his first film for PBS, the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge. During the 1980s he made several other award-winning films, including The Shakers; Statue of Liberty, also nominated for an Oscar; Huey Long, the story of the turbulent southern dictator, which enjoyed a rare theatrical release; The Congress; Thomas Hart Benton, a portrait of the regionalist artist; and Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio. Ken Burns has also produced and directed three films - William Segal, Vézelay, and In The Marketplace - which explore the questions of seeing, searching and being through the work and teachings of philosopher and painter William Segal. Ken was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1953. He graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1975 and went on to be one of the co-founders of Florentine Films.

Agnosticism (Greek: α- a-, without + γνώσις gnōsis, knowledge; after Gnosticism) is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims — particularly metaphysical claims regarding theology, afterlife or the existence of God , gods, deities, ghosts or even ultimate reality — is unknown or, depending on the form of agnosticism, inherently impossible to prove or disprove. Demographic research services normally list agnostics in the same category as atheists and non-religious people, using 'agnostic' in the sense of 'noncommittal'. However, this can be misleading given the existence of agnostic theists, who identify themselves as both agnostics in the original sense and followers of a particular religion. Philosophers and thinkers who have written about agnosticism include Thomas Henry Huxley, Robert G. Ingersoll, and Bertrand Russell. Religious scholars who wrote about agnosticism are Peter Kreeft, Blaise Pascal and Joseph Ratzinger, later elected as Pope Benedict XVI. "Agnostic" was introduced by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869 to describe his philosophy which rejects Gnosticism , by which he meant not simply the early 1st millennium religious group, but all claims to spiritual or mystical knowledge. Early Christian church leaders used the Greek word gnosis (knowledge) to describe "spiritual knowledge." Agnosticism is not to be confused with religious views opposing the doctrine of gnosis and Gnosticism—these are religious concepts that are not generally related to agnosticism. Huxley used the term in a broad sense. In recent years, use of the word to mean "not knowable" is apparent in scientific literature in psychology and neuroscience, and with a meaning close to "independent", in technical and marketing literature, e.g. "platform agnostic" or "hardware agnostic". Enlightenment philosopher David Hume contended that meaningful statements about the universe are always qualified by some degree of doubt. The fallibility of human beings means that they cannot obtain absolute certainty except in trivial cases where a statement is true by definition (as in, "all bachelors are unmarried" or "all triangles have three angles"). All rational statements that assert a factual claim about the universe that begin "I believe that ...." are simply shorthand for, "Based on my knowledge, understanding, and interpretation of the prevailing evidence, I tentatively believe that...." For instance, when one says, "I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald shot John F. Kennedy ," one is not asserting an absolute truth but a tentative belief based on interpretation of the assembled evidence. Even though one may set an alarm clock prior to the following day, believing that the sun will rise the next day, that belief is tentative, tempered by a small but finite degree of doubt (the sun might be destroyed; the earth might be shattered in collision with a rogue asteroid or that person might die before the alarm goes off.) Many mainstream believers in the West embrace an agnostic stance. As noted below, for instance, Roman Catholic dogma about the nature of God contains many strictures of agnosticism. An agnostic who believes in God despairs of ever fully comprehending what it is in which he believes. But some believing agnostics assert that very absurdity strengthens their belief rather than weakens it. The Catholic Church sees merit in examining what it calls Partial Agnosticism, specifically those systems that "do not aim at constructing a complete philosophy of the Unknowable, but at excluding special kinds of truth, notably religious, from the domain of knowledge. However, the Church is historically opposed to a full denial of the ability of human reason to know God. The Council of the Vatican, relying on biblical scripture, declares that "God, the beginning and end of all, can, by the natural light of human reason, be known with certainty from the works of creation" (Const. De Fide, II, De Rev.) Types of agnosticism Agnosticism can be subdivided into several subcategories. Recently suggested variations include: - Strong agnosticism (also called "hard agnosticism," "closed agnosticism," "strict agnosticism," or "absolute agnosticism") refers the view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of God or gods and the nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience. A strong agnostic would say, "I don't know whether God exists or not, and neither do you." - Weak agnosticism (also called soft agnosticism, open agnosticism, empirical agnosticism, temporal agnosticism)—the view that the existence or nonexistence of any deity is currently unknown but is not necessarily unknowable, therefore one will withhold judgment until/if more evidence is available. A weak agnostic would say, "I don't know whether God exists or not, but maybe you do." - Apathetic agnosticism (also called Pragmatic agnosticism)—the view that there is no proof of either the existence or nonexistence of any deity, but since any deity that may exist appears unconcerned for the universe or the welfare of its inhabitants, the question is largely academic anyway. - Agnostic theism (also called religious agnosticism)—the view of those who do not claim to know existence of any deity, but still believe in such an existence. (See Knowledge vs. Beliefs) - Agnostic atheism—the view of those who do not know of the existence or nonexistence of a deity, and do not believe in any. - Ignosticism—the view that a coherent definition of God must be put forward before the question of the existence of God can be meaningfully discussed. If the chosen definition isn't coherent, the ignostic holds the noncognitivist view that the existence of God is meaningless or empirically untestable. A.J. Ayer, Theodore Drange, and other philosophers see both atheism and agnosticism as incompatible with ignosticism on the grounds that atheism and agnosticism accept "God exists" as a meaningful proposition which can be argued for or against. Famous agnostic thinkers Among the most famous agnostics (in the original sense) have been Thomas Henry Huxley, Robert G. Ingersoll and Bertrand Russell. Thomas Henry Huxley Agnostic views are as old as philosophical skepticism, but the terms agnostic and agnosticism were created by Huxley to sum up his thoughts on contemporary developments of metaphysics about the "unconditioned" (Hamilton) and the "unknowable" (Herbert Spencer). It is important, therefore, to discover Huxley's own views on the matter. Though Huxley began to use the term "agnostic" in 1869, his opinions had taken shape some time before that date. In a letter of September 23, 1860, to Charles Kingsley, Huxley discussed his views extensively: - I neither affirm nor deny the immortality of man. I see no reason for believing it, but, on the other hand, I have no means of disproving it. I have no a priori objections to the doctrine. No man who has to deal daily and hourly with nature can trouble himself about a priori difficulties. Give me such evidence as would justify me in believing in anything else, and I will believe that. Why should I not? It is not half so wonderful as the conservation of force or the indestructibility of matter... - It is no use to talk to me of analogies and probabilities. I know what I mean when I say I believe in the law of the inverse squares, and I will not rest my life and my hopes upon weaker convictions... - That my personality is the surest thing I know may be true. But the attempt to conceive what it is leads me into mere verbal subtleties. I have champed up all that chaff about the ego and the non-ego, noumena and phenomena, and all the rest of it, too often not to know that in attempting even to think of these questions, the human intellect flounders at once out of its depth. And again, to the same correspondent, May 6, 1863: - I have never had the least sympathy with the a priori reasons against orthodoxy, and I have by nature and disposition the greatest possible antipathy to all the atheistic and infidel school. Nevertheless I know that I am, in spite of myself, exactly what the Christian would call, and, so far as I can see, is justified in calling, atheist and infidel. I cannot see one shadow or tittle of evidence that the great unknown underlying the phenomenon of the universe stands to us in the relation of a Father [who] loves us and cares for us as Christianity asserts. So with regard to the other great Christian dogmas, immortality of soul and future state of rewards and punishments, what possible objection can I—who am compelled perforce to believe in the immortality of what we call Matter and Force, and in a very unmistakable present state of rewards and punishments for our deeds—have to these doctrines? Give me a scintilla of evidence, and I am ready to jump at them. Of the origin of the name agnostic to describe this attitude, Huxley gave the following account: - When I reached intellectual maturity and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; Christian or a freethinker; I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less ready was the answer; until, at last, I came to the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of these denominations, except the last. The one thing in which most of these good people were agreed was the one thing in which I differed from them. They were quite sure they had attained a certain "gnosis,"–had, more or less successfully, solved the problem of existence; while I was quite sure I had not, and had a pretty strong conviction that the problem was insoluble. - So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of "agnostic." It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the "gnostic" of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant. To my great satisfaction the term took. Huxley's agnosticism is believed to be a natural consequence of the intellectual and philosophical conditions of the 1860s, when clerical intolerance was trying to suppress scientific discoveries which appeared to clash with a literal reading of the Book of Genesis and other established Jewish and Christian doctrines. Agnosticism should not, however, be confused with natural theology, deism, pantheism, or other science positive forms of theism. By way of clarification, Huxley states, "In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration. And negatively: In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable" (Huxley, Agnosticism, 1889). While A. W. Momerie has noted that this is nothing but a definition of honesty, Huxley's usual definition goes beyond mere honesty to insist that these metaphysical issues are fundamentally unknowable. Robert G. Ingersoll Robert G. Ingersoll, an Illinois lawyer and politician who evolved into a well-known and sought-after orator in 19th century America, has been referred to as the "Great Agnostic." In an 1896 lecture titled Why I Am An Agnostic, Ingersoll related why he was an agnostic: - Is there a supernatural power—an arbitrary mind—an enthroned God—a supreme will that sways the tides and currents of the world—to which all causes bow? I do not deny. I do not know—but I do not believe. I believe that the natural is supreme—that from the infinite chain no link can be lost or broken—that there is no supernatural power that can answer prayer—no power that worship can persuade or change—no power that cares for man. - I believe that with infinite arms Nature embraces the all—that there is no interference—no chance—that behind every event are the necessary and countless causes, and that beyond every event will be and must be the necessary and countless effects. - Is there a God? I do not know. Is man immortal? I do not know. One thing I do know, and that is, that neither hope, nor fear, belief, nor denial, can change the fact. It is as it is, and it will be as it must be. In the conclusion of the speech he simply sums up the agnostic position as: - We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not know. Bertrand Russell's pamphlet, Why I Am Not a Christian, based on a speech delivered in 1927 and later included in a book of the same title, is considered a classic statement of agnosticism. The essay briefly lays out Russell’s objections to some of the arguments for the existence of God before discussing his moral objections to Christian teachings. He then calls upon his readers to "stand on their own two feet and look fair and square at the world," with a "fearless attitude and a free intelligence." In 1939, Russell gave a lecture on The existence and nature of God, in which he characterized himself as an agnostic. He said: - The existence and nature of God is a subject of which I can discuss only half. If one arrives at a negative conclusion concerning the first part of the question, the second part of the question does not arise; and my position, as you may have gathered, is a negative one on this matter. However, later in the same lecture, discussing modern non-anthropomorphic concepts of God, Russell states: - That sort of God is, I think, not one that can actually be disproved, as I think the omnipotent and benevolent creator can. In Russell's 1947 pamphlet, Am I An Atheist Or An Agnostic? (subtitled A Plea For Tolerance In The Face Of New Dogmas), he ruminates on the problem of what to call himself: - As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. - On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods. In his 1953 essay, What Is An Agnostic? Russell states: - An agnostic thinks it impossible to know the truth in matters such as God and the future life with which Christianity and other religions are concerned. Or, if not impossible, at least impossible at the present time. However, later in the essay, Russell says: - I think that if I heard a voice from the sky predicting all that was going to happen to me during the next twenty-four hours, including events that would have seemed highly improbable, and if all these events then produced to happen, I might perhaps be convinced at least of the existence of some superhuman intelligence. Religious scholars, whether Jewish, Muslim or Christian, affirm the possibility of knowledge, even of metaphysical realities such as God and the soul, because human intelligence ("intus", within and "legere", to read) has the power to reach the essence and existence of things since it has a non-material, spiritual element. They affirm that “not being able to see or hold some specific thing does not necessarily negate its existence,” as in the case of gravity, entropy, mental telepathy, or reason and thought. According to these scholars, agnosticism is impossible in actual practice, since one either lives as if God did not exist (etsi Deus non daretur), or lives as if God did exist (etsi Deus daretur). These scholars believe that each day in a person’s life is an unavoidable step towards death, and thus not to decide for or against God, the all-encompassing foundation, purpose, meaning of life, is to decide in favor of atheism. Even if there were truly no evidence for God, Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal offered to agnostics what is known as Pascal’s Wager: the infinite expected value of acknowledging God is always greater than the expected value of not acknowledging his existence, and thus it is a safer “bet” to choose God. These religious scholars argue that God has placed in his creation much evidence of his existence, and continues to personally speak to humans. Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli write about a strong, cumulative case with their 20 rational arguments for God’s existence. And, these scholars state, when agnostics demand from God that he proves his existence through laboratory testing, they are asking God, a superior being, to become man’s servant. According to Joseph Ratzinger later elected as Pope Benedict XVI, agnosticism, more specifically strong agnosticism, is a self-limitation of reason that contradicts itself when it acclaims the power of science to know the truth. When reason imposes limits on itself on matters of religion and ethics, this leads to dangerous pathologies of religion and pathologies of science, such as destruction of humans and ecological disasters. "Agnosticism," said Ratzinger, "is always the fruit of a refusal of that knowledge which is in fact offered to man... The knowledge of God has always existed." Agnosticism, stated Ratzinger, is a choice of comfort, pride, dominion, and utility over truth, and is opposed by the following attitudes: the keenest self-criticism, humble listening to the whole of existence, the persistent patience and self-correction of the scientific method, and a readiness to be purified by the truth. - Man's Place In Nature, Thomas Huxley, ISBN 0-375-75847-X - Why I Am Not a Christian, Bertrand Russell, ISBN 0-671-20323-1 - Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume, ISBN 0-14-044536-6 - Language, Truth, and Logic, A.J. Ayer, ISBN 0-486-20010-8 - Atheism, the Case Against God, George H. Smith, ISBN 0-87975-124-X - CIA estimate of religious affiliation by country uses "other", "none", or "unspecified" as descriptive terms

Airport money-raising ban ruled constitutional Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer Published 4:00 am, Friday, March 26, 2010 Banning groups such as the Hare Krishnas and any other private citizen from asking for money at an airport is a constitutional way to keep travelers from being bothered, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The court upheld a Los Angeles ordinance that makes it illegal to ask for money on the sidewalks and in the terminals of Los Angeles International Airport. The case was closely followed by airport officials in San Francisco, who allow people with permits to solicit only at two "free speech zones" in the terminals. "We're gratified that the Supreme Court gave airports freedom to protect undue harassment of travelers and also help ensure airport security," said Deputy City Attorney Danny Chou, who represented San Francisco in the case. He said he expects officials at San Francisco International Airport to study the ruling and decide whether to propose a ban on soliciting money. The ruling rejected a series of federal court decisions that had allowed the International Society for Krishna Consciousness - the Hare Krishna organization - to ask people for money at the Los Angeles airport since 1997, when the local ordinance was enacted. The federal rulings were based in part on California law, on which the state's high court is the final authority. The group's lawyer, David Liberman, said fundraising in many areas of the airport - sidewalks, arrival areas, food courts - could easily be done without disrupting pedestrian traffic or hampering security. He said the ruling would be devastating for the Hare Krishnas. "This was their major facility for reaching people and distributing religious literature," Liberman said. Although the ordinance allows solicitors to hand out material and ask for future donations, Liberman said that wouldn't work for his clients, whose book-size handouts cost $4 or $5 to print. The court acknowledged that asking for money is a form of free speech that the Constitution protects. But the justices said it is subject to reasonable limitations, citing a 2000 state Supreme Court ruling upholding a Los Angeles ban on solicitation near banks and ATMs. The same rationale applies to a ban on asking for money at a busy airport, Justice Carlos Moreno said in Thursday's ruling. Asking for money on the spot "is far more intrusive than other forms of communication, such as distributing literature," Moreno said. As the court observed in 2000, he said, fundraisers may target people who are easily coerced and put them under undue pressure, leaving them open to fraudulent pitches. Such problems "would be exacerbated in the often crowded and hectic environment of a large international airport," where any delay can disrupt a traveler's schedule, Moreno said. He said the ban leaves the Hare Krishna organization with "ample means of conveying its message." The ruling was unanimous, but Justice Joyce Kennard, in a separate opinion, said she was required to follow the rationale of the court's 2000 decision and otherwise might have dissented. Kennard said airport solicitations should be treated like those at railway stations or shopping malls, where the court has generally required proof that an activity was disruptive. The ruling in International Society for Krishna Consciousness vs. Los Angeles, S164272, can be viewed at links.sfgate.com/ZJKV.

For students with special requirements and interests there is sometimes the possibility to have an individual course. An individual course can be implemented at any level, A - E and encompass 5, 10 or 15 credits. They often result in a literature review that is presented both in written and oral form. An individual course can also contain a more practical approach or include some research activities. How to apply? Contact a supervisor that is expert in the area of your interest. If the supervisor likes your idea you will set up a plan for the course together. The supervisor will make a registration for an individual course and leave it to the secretary Margareta Norinder, that will registrate you on the course.

Lurkers, uncloak! I’m working on a story that features a relationship with a young, earnest teacher and a boy who tends to do inappropriate things in the classroom. He gets in trouble a lot. They butt heads. The new teacher, clinging to his authority, is afraid to let loose, afraid to smile. No one is having a good time. In the end, they come together. But that’s a process, as you know, not a Golden Moment. So it hit me that they could bond over a funny book. The teacher loves literature; the boy, Justin, loves to laugh. Maybe the right book could bring them together . . . just a little. Or at least help break the ice. But: Which book? Any suggestions? I’m thinking about a title that would definitely be read and enjoyed in a fifth-grade classroom. A little help, please.

C. Gouridasan Nair Ayyappa Panicker had few peers in scholarship THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: K. Ayyappa Panicker, poet and teacher who died after a brief illness here on Wednesday, was in many ways an enigma. He had few peers in scholarship. He was as well versed in modern and post-modern literary theories as in ancient Indian aesthetics and literary traditions. He was one of the harbingers of modernism into Malayalam poetry. He was a teacher with a huge fan following and had played a major role in transforming Malayalam theatre, which had got stuck in the proscenium mode. During the 1980s, he was all over Kerala, reciting poems and interacting with people. But, all through, he was a recluse, one who travelled alone through the domain of poetry and life. Dr. Panicker was one of the few scholars in Kerala who was not intellectually stagnant. His was a life of enquiry and it might safely be said that he was instrumental in familiarising the new generation to the changing contours of modern literary theory, besides working closely with an entire generation of writers to herald a new poetic sensibility in Malayalam. As a teacher, he never believed in rhetorical tools. His advice to a literature class, stressing the `spear' in his very own style, was: "A Shakespeare a day will keep this doctor away." That was a class he taught a paper titled `General Shakespeare'. The main tools that he employed in his poetry were irony and black humour. He was not satirical in the conventional sense. He used irony as a kind of scalpel to clinically unravel the hypocrisy of the Malayali middle class. He was never afraid of experimenting with the form of poetry. He lifted irony to a level that was unfamiliar to Malayalam poetry and his own renditions of some of these poems were quite popular during the 1970s and 1980s. The Left could never approve of Dr. Panicker's poetry or the vision of life that they sought to convey, but his intellectual antennae were so sensitive that it could sense even subtle shifts in the literary terrain worldwide. He also played a major role in familiarising the average Malayali reader with poetry from different parts of the globe and in taking Indian English writing to the rest of the world. His dialogues with Frederic Jameson, Richard Schechner, A.K. Ramanujam and others like them are windows on the world of literature. His attempt to bring ancient Indian literary theories to the study of modern literary works in Malayalam calls for special mention. His close kinship with such eminent theatre and film practitioners as G. Sankara Pillai, C.N. Sreekantan Nair, Kavalam Narayana Panicker, G. Aravindan and Narendra Prasad was crucial in the evolution of a new idiom in Malayalam theatre. He has won several honours and prizes, but his life was essentially a journey inward.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Interpretations: Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. Casagrande, Peter J. Unity in Hardy’s Novels: Repetitive Symmetries. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1982. Daleski, H. M. Thomas Hardy and the Paradoxes of Love. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997. Edwards, Duane D. “The Mayor of Casterbridge as Aeschylean Tragedy,” Studies in the Novel. 4 (1972): 608–618. Guerard, Albert J. Thomas Hardy: The Novels and Stories. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1949. Howe, Irving. Thomas Hardy. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1966. Kramer, Dale. “Character and the Cycle of Change in The Mayor of Casterbridge,” in Tennessee Studies in Literature, vol. 16 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1971). 111–120. Lerner, Laurence. Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge: Tragedy or Social History. London: Sussex University Press, 1975. Mickelson, Anne Z. Thomas Hardy’s Women and Men: The Defeat of Nature. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow, 1976. Paterson, John. “The Mayor of Casterbridge as Tragedy,” Victorian Studies 3 (1959): 151–172. Taft, Michael. “Hardy’s Manipulation of Folklore and Literary Imagination: The Case of the Wife Sale in The Mayor of Casterbridge.” Studies in the Novel 13 (1981): 399–407. All of the characters (besides the troubled Henchard) are almost completely shallow and almost petty. Isn't it odd how Frafaer had no difficulty getting back together with Elizabeth-Jane after he hurt her so terribly by going for Lucetta? And how Lucetta practically refuses to own up to her own actions by claiming it was a misfortune she fell into? Although it is almost annoying how Henchard never learns from his mistakes, he truly does seem like the only "deep" character in this book. 3 out of 4 people found this helpful I didn't like most of the characters, but that does not imply that I disliked the book. The book was fantastic and the story was gripping. I was initially fond of Farfrae, but then I grew to dislike him. I despised Lucetta since the first time she was described, and my hatred kept increasing as the story progressed. Elizabeth-Jane was the only character I liked; whereas, my feelings towards Michael Henchard were those of confusion. I disliked him at times. Other times, I felt pangs of sympathy towards him, and anger towards how others treate 9 out of 9 people found this helpful

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APRIL AT PENN Brian Eno's ambient Music For Airports compositions (1978) come alive for the first time in a concert performance by contemporary New York artists Bang on a Can, accompanied by a multi-faceted orchestra. Their tour reaches the Zellerbach Theatre in the Annenberg Center at 8 p.m. on April 17. Discounted tickets are available for Penn employees ($15), students ($12), and senior citizens ($15). Call the Annenberg Center Box Office at 898-6791 for tickets. 7 Israeli Women and their Literature in the Last Century: Some Historical Perspectives; Hanita Brand, Asian and Middle Eastern studies; 4:30 p.m.; Room 421, Williams Hall (Middle East Center). 8 The Historical Origins of Afrocentrism; Mia Bay, history and co-director of the Black Atlantic Project at the Center for Historical Analysis, Rutgers; 4:30 p.m.; History Lounge, 329A, 3401 Walnut St. (History; Afro-American Studies). 14 Male and Female Slavery in Islam and Its Practice in the Ottoman Empire; Ahmed Akgunduz, Princeton; 4:30 p.m.; Room 421, Williams Hall (Middle East Center; Turkish Students Association). 7 Free tickets for Anita Hill's April 15 talk on Speaking Truth to Power will be available at the Afro-American Studies table on Locust Walk, noon-3 p.m. Through April 8. Ticket rain date: April 9. Almanac, Vol. 44, No. 28, April 7, 1998

Americans by the millions “know” Randy Jackson. But not many realize that his gig as one of three judges on TV’s “American Idol” is just the tip of the iceberg in his long musical career. The veteran bassist has played alongside, recorded with, and/or produced musicians ranging from Jean Luc-Ponty to Bob Dylan to Jerry Garcia to Mariah Carey to Bruce Springsteen to Charlie Daniels (at the Grand Ole Opry, no less). He also played on Journey’s 1986 album Raised on Radio, and toured with the band. In fact, most Americans’ first Randy Jackson sighting was in a performance video for Journey’s hit single from that album, “Girl Can’t Help It,” where he played a green Jackson bass decorated with gambling-table graphics. A few years later, Jackson (the man) collaborated with Peavey to design and build the RJ-IV, one of several artist endorsement models marketed by Peavey in the late 1980s and early ’90s. It debuted in 1990, a year after the TL-5 (designed with the input of Tim Landers), and the Rudy Sarzo Signature Bass and a year before the Palaedium (inspired by Jeff Berlin’s “parts” bass). The RJ-IV has its share of interesting elements. For instance, Peavey spec sheets of the day referred to the model as the “RJ4,” while the headstock and owner’s manual actually say “RJ-IV.” And while company literature noted its neck-through configuration, touted its “select maple body” and “eastern maple bilaminated neck construction with graphite reinforcement,” its finish made it impossible to see and/or appreciate these qualities! The headstock profile was similar to other up-market Peaveys of the time, with a carved portion below the trendy black tuners. The RJ-IV was equipped with a Hipshot D-tuner on its E string and its 1.6″-wide nut is made of Peavey’s trademark Graphlon material. The scale is standard 34″ and the neck profile was described in literature as having a “…thin oval back profile.” Its fingerboard is macassar ebony, and has a 10″ radius and 21 frets. Its funky “icicle” mother-of-pearl fretboard inlays are unique among Peavey instruments. Company literature also hyped the “…reduced body size with four-way radial contour.” The body is 18″ long and 13″ wide. As for its electronics and controls, the RJ-IV came off as practical and simple-to-operate… on the surface. Its pickups are active, powered by a 9-volt battery that installs on the back of the body, in a small compartment separate from the rear control cavity. The control knobs are labeled “V” (volume), “B” (bass), “M” (midrange) and “T” (treble), and each of the three tone knobs has a center detent. Pickup selection is accomplished by a three-position mini-toggle. So far, so good… The Bass control is centered at 50 Hz and has a +8 dB boost and a -8 dB cut. The Treble control is centered at 2 kHz and has a +/-12 dB boost/cut. The Midrange knob is on the upper row, behind the Volume knob. The midrange tonal sweep of the RJ-IV can be pre-set for several frequency ranges with variable-notch centers. And for real fine-tuning of the tone, the rear cavity houses an eight-position dual in-line package (DIP) switch that the owner’s manual says adjusts thusly: “1 on – 6 dB pad on preamp input; 2 on – shift high from 2 kHz to 1 kHz; 3 and 6 on – shift mid from 1 kHz to 500 Hz; 3,4,6, and 7 on – shift mid to 250 Hz; 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 on – shift mid to 125 Hz.” Given its relative complexity, one wonders how many RJ-IV owners actually went to the trouble of changing the DIP switches. The Red Pearl Burst finish on the RJ-IV shown here might evoke comparison to Rickenbacker’s Fire-Glo finish, which is also pink-to-red, and its fret markers have a Ric vibe, as well, resembling the wedge shapes found on up-market Rics. The RJ-IV, however was available in three other Pearl Burst finishes (Black, Blue, and Purple) as well as solid Pearl Black, Pearl White, Pearl Blue, and Sunfire Red. There may even have been one in natural-finish koa. In 1992, Jackson filmed an instructional video called Mastering the Groove, where he appeared on the cover brandishing an RJ-IV in Red Pearl Burst. The RJ-IV lasted four years in Peavey’s lineup. While it’s debatable to what extent Jackson’s high profile today might bolster collector interest in this model, it, like most Peavey basses, is well-built and remains a practical value in the market. This article originally appeared in VG‘s October 2008 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Swedish author Barbro Lindgren has won the 2014 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the largest award for children’s literature with a prize of five million Swedish crowns. The award was announced from the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm on Tuesday, and broadcast live at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. There were 238 candidates from 68 countries up for this year’s award. Of Lindgren and her work, the awards jury wrote, “Barbro Lindgren is a literary pioneer. Using adventurous language and rich psychological nuance, she has re-invented not only the picture book for the very young but also the absurd prose story, the existential children’s poem, and realistic fiction for young adults. With perfect pitch, she presents to us both playful shenanigans and moments of bright joy, and the inscrutable nature of life and the nearness of death.” Born in Sweden in 1937, Lindgren is the author of more than 100 books, which include picture books, poems, plays, and young adult novels, as well as fiction for adults; her writing has been translated into more than 30 languages. Her first book, Mattias Sommar, was published in 1965; subsequent titles include the Benny picture book series, illustrated by Olof Landström; and the Wild Baby books, illustrated by Eva Ericksson. In 2004, Lindgren was a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. She will receive her award at a ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall on June 2.

MA in Cultural Studies alumni work in a variety arts, cultural, and educational settings. Read what some of our graduates have to say about their experience in the program and the ways in which it influences their current endeavors. Debbie Brown, '11 PhD Student, Leadership Studies, Gonzaga University In 2007 Debbie Brown was a domestic violence survivor and was living out of her car. But even then, she was determined to realize her dream of completing her undergraduate education and going to graduate school. At the time, her daughter was attending Cascadia Community College, which is co-located with the UW Bothell campus. She urged Debbie to go with her and they spent the next year taking classes together. The following year Debbie transferred to UW Bothell and found herself in a thriving interdisciplinary setting. In 2009 she graduated with a BA in Culture, Literature, and the Arts and was the Chancellor’s Medalist. Encouraged by Professor JoLynn Edwards, Debbie applied to the Cultural Studies program, with the ultimate goal of earning a PhD. Debbie chose the Cultural Studies program for its exposure to multiple disciplines, including critical theory, feminist theory, critical race theory, and human and cultural geography, as well as for allowing her to work in her area of scholarly interest, African Studies. She is now working on her PhD in Leadership Studies with an Emphasis in African Studies at Gonzaga University. In this program she continues to examine social issues in the light of cultural studies theory. Recently, Debbie won a Fulbright Study/Research Grant for the 2014-15 school year and will work in Zambia to document and archive the cultural history of the Chewa people. Debbie hopes to use cultural studies theory to examine the problems of poverty and hunger in Zambia and throughout Africa, as well as to problematize and critique current structures of foreign aid. Her career aspiration is to teach, research, and write in a university setting. Mona Halcomb, '11 Education Director, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Mona Halcomb was planning for a career in politics. To this end, she sought an advanced degree in policy or law and was moving in that direction when life took an unexpected turn. A member of her family became ill with cancer, and circumstances prevented her from taking the LSAT. This pause led Mona to reevaluate her educational aims, and as she surveyed the political arena, she concluded it was full of lawyers and policymakers - and still headed in a downward spiral. Knowing the basic premise of democracy is to represent the people, Mona decided that she needed a better understanding of the diverse perspectives in her community. Mona chose the MA in Cultural Studies program for its attention to power, privilege, and the historical aspects of culture, all critical factors to understanding people and politics. Cultural Studies allowed Mona to enhance her communication and collaboration abilities, skills she uses every day in her role as Education Director with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. In this capacity, Mona leads multi-generational programs which support the educational needs of the Umatilla people. The driving force in her work is being an advocate and impacting the achievement gap among native communities. Jeremy Richards, '10 Project Manager, Microsoft An accomplished radio producer, writer, and actor rooted in the Seattle’s arts community, Jeremy Richards desired a graduate education that would stretch the bounds of his creativity while broadening his professional options. Seeking a cross-disciplined approach integrating various fields of cultural study, Jeremy chose the MA in Cultural Studies as a venue for his intellectual pursuits. While in the program, he focused on the writings and music of Friedrich Nietzsche, the cultural landscape of belief, and the praxis of creative collaboration, leading to his capstone, "Nietzsche! The Musical." After 15 years in radio, Jeremy has shifted his career to the sector of information technology. Now at Microsoft, he began as a teambuilding consultant using the theory and techniques of improvisation. His role has expanded into project management, and Jeremy views his non-traditional background and Cultural Studies training as an asset. It provides him with a framework for assessing the patterns, rituals, values, and pedagogies which are pervasive within his organization’s culture, allowing him to work in new and inventive directions. Joshua Heim, '10 Arts Administrator, City of Redmond Throughout his career Joshua Heim grappled with the concept of “praxis,” or how to turn theoretically rich ideas into something useful to the community. Continually encountering this tension in his work, Joshua chose the Cultural Studies program as a venue for developing a deep theoretical orientation, one that would guide his actions and enable him to more powerfully affect social change. While in the Cultural Studies program, Joshua served Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in dual capacities as Exhibits Developer, coordinating community-based exhibits representing the history, art and culture of Asian Pacific Americans, and Manager of YouthCAN, a national award winning arts-based youth leadership program. Wing Luke provided Joshua with a space for integrating his academic learning and employing various models of civic engagement. In his current role as Arts Administrator for City of Redmond, Joshua manages arts and cultural programming for the city and leads the charge for translating these spheres into sites that are relevant and accessible to the community. Using the skills and understandings Joshua gained through the Cultural Studies program, he hopes to create a new paradigm for public support of the arts and culture. Ann Hemmons Ferreira, '10 Brazilian Portuguese Game Localist Raised in Brazil, Ann Hemmons Ferreira saw the play of power and privilege in all facets of life. Greatly affected by the inequities around her, Ann desired an advanced education that would deepen her understanding of these dynamics while preparing her to be an educator. With the ultimate goal of teaching at a university in Brazil, Ann chose the MA in Cultural Studies program to expand her knowledge of cultural theory and research practices. During her course of study, Ann developed a fascination with video game culture, a space where different - often disenfranchised - people could socialize, deconstruct ideas, and create new worlds. This interest drew Ann to the arena of game localization, and she now contracts with various video game companies as a Brazilian Portuguese localist. This role entails modifying new software and hardware to make it accessible, usable, and culturally suitable to the Brazilian audience. In tandem with her linguistic and cultural knowledge of Brazil, Ann’s ability to identify, dissect and translate various forms of culture has given her a competitive edge in this growing field. Randi Courtmanch Evans, '10 Lecturer, University of Washington Bothell Coming from a traditional performing arts background, Randi Courtmanch wanted to expand her practice through deeper engagement with the social and cultural dimensions of her work. Randi had been involved with different communities and populations, and she was looking for a base from which she could explore and ground her artistic and research interests more fully. Randi chose the MA in Cultural Studies program for its interdisciplinary approach and emphasis on collaboration across diverse sectors. During her studies, she interned for Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas (CD Forum), a local nonprofit organization which presents and produces African American cultural programs that encourage thought and debate. This experience provided a setting for Randi to practice her theoretical learning while further honing her skills and knowledge in arts administration. Randi continues to teach and has expanded her repertoire to include freshmen-level courses at UW Bothell in the areas of art, performance, and student development.

Fire In The Valley The TCM Diagnosis & Treatment Of Vaginal Diseases By Bob Flaws. 6" x 8.75", 171 pages, paperback. This book is a collection of translations from both the classical and modern Chinese medical literature discussing the diagnosis and treatment of a number of diseases of the female genitalia such as leukorrhea, vaginitis, cervicitis, cervicitis cancer, vulvitis, bartholin cysts... External, internal, and acupuncture-moxibustion treatments are given for all.

Rao is mainly known in Europe as the author of Kanthapura (1938), his account of an Indian village's response to the Gandhian non-violent civil disobedience movement of the time. It has become a classic text in Indian schools, hailed as the first literary manifesto to point to an Indian way of appropriating the English language. Critically, he is often linked with Mulk Raj Anand (obituary, September 29 2004) and RK Narayan (obituary, May 14 2001) - the three are seen as the pathbreakers of Indian writing in English. Yet his oeuvre differs enormously from both of theirs. Rao viewed his writing as sadhana, a quest for truth; his stories never narrate events, but rather their protagonists' inner evolution and self-analysis. Their surrounding reality is always filtered through the author's Vedantic lenses: Advaita Vedanta, or non-dualism, one of the six main schools of Hindu philosophy, holds that the world is the expression of an all-encompassing unity - Brahman - the ultimate and impersonal principle of the universe, from which all being originates, and to which it returns. It was first systematised by the sixth-century scholar Adi Shankara and, unlike the dualism of Dvaita Vedanta, views the individual self and the universal self, Brahman, as one. What captivates the western reader is the unusual blending of this monism with the ways of thinking of such diverse writers as André Malraux, Paul Valery, Dostoevsky, Baudelaire, Romain Rolland, Ignazio Silone, Rainer Maria Rilke, Kakfa, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Aiming at an ultimately positive encounter between east and west, Rao's metaphysical novel, The Serpent and the Rope (1960), displays an intellectuality that goes beyond the textual, through its metaphysical associations and a spiritual dimension that tells us much about the Indian and European worlds. His protagonist, Ramaswamy, entertains his friends with philosophical discussions ranging over an impressive set of themes - including Buddhism, theology, monasticism and world politics - while at the same time he charmingly invites the reader to envisage reality from his Hindu viewpoint, offering the key of distinguishing the projected reality of the serpent from the existing reality of the rope, an image derived from Shankara. In The Cat and Shakespeare (1965) Rao manages to bridge the very idea of opposition with his Vedanta philosophy, which denies ontological opposites like space/time, cause/effect, reality/illusion by maintaining that they are identical, since change is unreal. Ramakrishna Pai, an alter ego of the novelist, discovers that it is avidya or logical thinking that impedes the recognition of the unity of the individual self with Brahman. All his questions are answered by his guru, who guides him to the understanding of the all-embracing consciousness. Such an understanding was not altogether clear in Comrade Kirillov (1965 in French; 1976 in English), an earlier attempt that testifies to Rao's engagement with Marxism and his disillusionment with the ideas of Gandhi and Nehru following India's disentanglement from Britain. Rao affirmed that "there is intellectual confusion" in this novel, based on a man he had met in England. Rao's last, controversial masterpiece, The Chessmaster and His Moves (1988), which won the Neustadt international literature prize, is the product of a more abstract reasoning - though some critics allege that its complexity is the product of the unclear and insincere mind of its protagonist. Part one of a trilogy (the remaining volumes of which will be published shortly), the novel is Rao's tribute to India. It explores the country's major contributions to the world: the cipher zero, or sunya, and the game of chess. With the help of the Chessmaster's non-dualism, the protagonist Sivarama, a mathematician, tries to elucidate their significance in metaphysical terms, by avoiding the analytical method of western logical reasoning. Rao said he inherited his metaphysical temperament from his Vedantin grandfather. Born in Hassan, Mysore (now Karnataka), the Kannada Brahmin proudly belonged to "a family that can boast of having been Vedantin at least since the 13th century", although his father, HV Krishnaswamy, was a fervent anglicised Indian who tried to distance his children from Hinduism. His mother, Gauramma, constantly venerated in his works as a devoted Hindu wife, died when Raja was only four, leaving her little prince (hence the name "Raja") to the custody of his father, who sent him to Madrasa-e-Aliya, a school for Muslim noblemen in Hyderabad. In 1926 he entered Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh, where he recalled having "learned English from English people" - and indeed he studied English with Oxford poet Eric Dickinson and French with Jack Hill. After matriculating at Nizam's College, Hyderabad, in 1927, Rao graduated in English and history from Madras University in 1929. With the aid of a Hyderabad government scholarship, he enrolled at Montpellier, to expand his knowledge of French language and literature; he was there at the instigation of Sir Patrick Geddes, the distinguished Scottish scientist and thinker on town planning, and founder of an international learning centre at the university, the Collège des Ecossais. Always fascinated by France, which he considered "the heart of western civilisation", in 1931 Rao married Camille Mouly, a French schoolteacher who translated some of his short stories. The Cow of the Barricades, his first collection, is dedicated to her. Although published in 1947, it includes some of Rao's earlier stories. He then started a doctorate at the Sorbonne, researching the Indian influence on Irish literature, but eventually dropped the project to dedicate himself to writing. By 1935 he was already known in France, England and the US for his short stories and contribu- tions to journals of the time, such as Mercure de France, Les Cahiers du Sud, the Chelsea Review, Asia and Adelphi. He also helped to arrange for Natwar Singh to edit a book on EM Forster. Following the outbreak of the second world war and the disintegration of his marriage, Rao returned to India in search of answers to his emotional "wavering". Abandoning writing, he visited Gandhi's ashram at Sevagram, in Maharashtra, in 1942, and got involved in the independence struggle; Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi were among his friends, he recalled in the anthology The Meaning of India (1996). It seemed to Rao that all his intellectual doubts and questions were finally dissolved when, in 1943, he met his guru, Sri Atmananda, in Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram), in Kerala, where he lived for a while. Hence the guru becomes the interpretative key to the understanding of Rao's life and work. After his return to France in 1948, he tried to get Malraux to meet Sri Atmananda, and 10 years later, in India, he acted as official guide for the French information minister, who remembered him in his Antimémoires as "the best Indian connoisseur of France". Rao first visited America in 1950, five years before settling down there and marrying Catherine Jones, an actor. In 1966 he started teaching philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, retiring as emeritus professor in 1980. His second marriage ended in divorce, and he married Susan Vaught in 1986. He received India's highest literary award, the Sahitya Akademi fellowship, in 1997. Although he settled in Austin, Rao made it a point to go back and forth to India, in real life as well as in fiction: "Whether it is through Dante or Shakespeare, through St Thomas Aquinas or Nietszche, you come back to the Upanishads and the Vedanta, realising that wheresoever you go, you always return to the Himalayas, and whatever the rivers that flow, the waters are of the Gangotri." The final time I met him was last November. The frail nonagenarian was still a luminous figure, his radiant blue eyes and voluminous head suggesting extraordinary intellectuality, though by then several heart attacks had left him silent for long stretches. His students remember him as a very spiritual being, but also as a humorous man. Some of them recall meeting him during one of his usual meditative walks along the hike-and-bike trail in Austin. He is survived by his wife, and by two sons. · Raja Rao, writer, born November 8 1908; died July 8 2006

Reports from people involved in academic research concerning Words from the Wise: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study of Nominated Exemplars of Wisdom by Drew Krafcik. Recently completed dissertation study, involving the use of an extensive array of quantitative and qualitative assessment tools to determine the personal qualities of exemplars of wisdom. The study found, among other things, that exemplars of wisdom “are humble, spiritual, mindful, insightful, tell the truth, and are open to experiences. They have meaningful, long-term relationships with mentors and loved ones. Exemplars are deeply influential in the lives of others and have very high life satisfaction.” in the Twenty-First Century: A Theory of Psycho-Social Evolution. In this article Tom Lombardo presents a theory of wisdom based on historical traditions, recent psychological research, and philosophical thinking while exploring a variety of important trends and futurist themes. The Journal for Neurocognitive Research. Both wisdom and folly are rooted in brain function, and this journal focuses on the brain/mind relationship. The Journal's Open Access Policy means that all of its articles are available in full-text form for viewing of Prior Research on Wisdom is a brief but informative excerpt from an article by University of Virginia professor David Wisdom Development Scale: Further Validity Investigations is the latest report from Jeffrey A. Greene and Scott C Brown on their effort to formulate a rigorously tested, effective measure of wisdom. (PDF) Business Management is a research focus of David Rooney, Senior Lecturer in the UQ Business School at the University Research Network "is an international networking utility that enables scholars and scientists from all academic disciplines to exchange ideas and engage in richer conversations through online The Wisdom Page be Useful in Your Research? Exploring the potential of the Internet and Wisdom Page for recruiting and communicating with research subjects. Scientific Approach to Wisdom, a doctoral dissertation by This is the complete dissertation in Microsoft Word format — a comprehensive review of the scholarly research on wisdom from 1980 to 2005, and a useful overview of the history of wisdom. From Conception to Graduation A Systematic Integral Approach, a doctoral dissertation by Anne Adams concerning education for wisdom integral education education that purposefully develops and integrates the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual intelligences. Research on Wisdom is a section of Richard Trowbridge's Wisdom-Centered Life website in which he presents a concise summary of the scholarly research on wisdom since 1980. of Chicago's "Defining Wisdom" Project is "a $2 million research program on the nature and benefits of Wisdom." Up to 20 research grants will be awarded to scholars from around the world. Online Articles and Academic Papers Related to Wisdom. An eclectic assortment of articles and papers just a click away. of Wisdom Literature in the West is a perfect resource for anyone interested in exploring the history of the concept of wisdom. It's part of Richard Trowbridge's Wisdom-Centered Bibliography of wisdom resources prepared by Richard Trowbridge. Contains references to more than 800 works, some available on the Internet. links and resources includes the bibliography associated with the doctoral dissertation of Elle Learning Across the Campus: How College Facilitates the Development of Wisdom A paper by Scott C. Brown that explores this important issue. (In Acrobat .pdf format.) Wisdom Development Scale: Translating the Conceptual to the Concrete Here, Scott C. Brown and Jeffrey A. Greene detail their efforts to develop a valid and reliable Wisdom Development Scale a scale to measure the wisdom construct described in Scott Brown's paper above. (In Acrobat .pdf format.) to materials of wisdom researchers on one of the names below will take you to information about that researcher, and links to relevant documents. In the future, more names will be added. B. Baltes Caroline C. Brown Robert J. Sternberg Masami

Bethesda Literary Festival Kicks Off Today Lit lovers should head to Bethesda this weekend for the suburban center’s annual Literary Festival, which kicks off tonight at 7 p.m. and runs through Sunday. Organized by the Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc., the festival includes readings and signings from local and national authors along with other events, including—inexplicably—improv from the Washington Improv Theater. Events of note include a reading at 12 p.m. tomorrow at the Fraser Gallery with first-time novelists Deanna Fei (A Thread of Sky) and Bethesda resident Sarah Pekkanen (The Opposite of Me); a 1:30 p.m. reading tomorrow at the Bethesda Library by Jon Scieszka, the first national ambassador for Young People’s Literature and author of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and The Stinky Cheese Man; and a 12:30 p.m. reading Sunday at the Doubletree Hotel in Bethesda by renowned journalist Helen Thomas, who has covered 10 presidential administrations, and Craig Crawford, a columnist for Congressional Quarterly, co-authors of Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do. THE BETHESDA LITERARY FESTIVAL RUNS TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY AT LOCATIONS AROUND BETHESDA. (301) 215-6660.

All Sorts of Weird Stuff offers news and information about George R.R. Martin, in particular about his A Song of Ice and Fire series. "When I was young, I read all sorts of stuff. One week it would be Lovecraft, the next Vance. It was all imaginative literature, or as my dad called it 'Weird Stuff.' It was all 'Weird Stuff.'" George R.R. Martin New to the series? Read our spoiler-free review of A Game of Thrones. Over at the A Song of Ice and Fire forum, Dan Weiss and David Benioff surface to remark on the recent announcement concerning Peter Dinklage and Tom McCarthy joining the production. They note that McCarthy was their very first choice for director, and that Dinklage was always their first choice for Tyrion. They ask members of the forum to continue discussing casting suggestions, with a new caveat: given the production’s location in Northern Ireland, almost all roles are likely to be filled with actors from the U.K. The Westeros network consists of several different sites, including a forum and a wiki, for all your A Song of Ice and Fire needs.

Admit it. When you think of classical ballet, you picture women - lithe, graceful ballerinas floating across the stage, balanced en pointe, slender arms extended, the very image of feminine charm. Well, for the Louisville Ballet's kick-off performance of their Diamond Jubilee Season, you can stop dreaming about the ladies. This one is for the guys. The Three Musketeers is choreographer Andre Prokovsky's decidedly rollicking ballet of swashbuckling, swordplay and daring do in the French court of Louis XIII. You know the characters - Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan. You know their credo - one for all and all for one. But did you know they were such incredible dancers? Here's a short clip from a recent production of Prokovsky's ballet, and you can tell at once that this is ballet of a distinctly masculine order. Prokovsky, who is known for adapting masterpieces of world literature to the dance stage (Dr. Zhivago, The Great Gatsby), decided to highlight the guys after he completed his adaptation of Anna Karenina. He saw Dumas' classic adventure story as "a comedy that would give the men a chance to show their stuff." With every major role danced by men, The Three Musketeers is sure to thrill everyone in the audience, regardless of their gender. The Louisville Ballet The Three Musketeers Friday, September 16, 8 p.m. Saturday, September 17, 2 p.m. & 8 p.m. Buy tickets here. Production sponsored by Recover Care.

The third round of the FA Cup used to be the pivotal moment of the season, the moment when the long run-in towards the various denouements in league and cups began. Now it is little more than a brief pause amid more urgent matters at the top and bottom of the Premier League. The lower orders still get the chance to cock a snook at their betters but tend to be too concerned with promotion and relegation to regard a cup run as anything more than a break from routine. These middle rounds of the world's oldest football tournament have often been about giantkilling, those priceless occasions when teams of clerks, carpenters and so on beat highly ranked professionals. Now even this tradition is under threat. The potential killers are still there but the giants have got into the habit of putting their feet up for the day and sending out reserves to do the job while their assassins tend to be full‑time pros. When Yeovil Town, modestly placed in the Southern League, knocked out high-spending Sunderland 2-1 on their famous slope at the Huish in the fourth round in 1949 they knew they had beaten quality, not least because the opposing attack included Len Shackleton, the gifted maverick of postwar English football. In 1971 Colchester United, then lying 75th in the Football League, met Don Revie's Leeds United at Layer Road in the fifth round and defeated a team containing all the familiar names – Norman Hunter, Jack Charlton, Johnny Giles etc – except the injured Billy Bremner 3-2. Manchester United visited Bournemouth in the third round in 1984 as FA Cup holders with a side that included Bryan Robson, Ray Wilkins, Frank Stapleton and Norman Whiteside but still lost 2-0 to Harry Redknapp's team. It mattered. Ron Atkinson kept his players in the dressing room for more than half an hour after the final whistle. The Arsenal side that lost 2-1 at Wrexham in the third round in 1992 was at full available strength, with David Seaman in goal, Tony Adams and David O'Leary in defence, and Alan Smith and Paul Merson in attack. Being knocked out by a team that had previously finished bottom of the Fourth Division hit George Graham and his players hard. In that last season before the birth of the Premier League the FA Cup was still the grail everyone wanted to win. Even now many of the teams who take part would dearly love to see the old trophy in the boardroom. The followers of Stoke City, Portsmouth and Cardiff City cherish memories of recent visits to Wembley even if they have not always relished the results. West Ham United fans still wince at how close their team came to beating Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium in the 2006 final and Manchester City were grateful enough to win the Cup last season as a prelude, they hoped, to greater things. Yet there will be days in this season's competition when the humbler sides find themselves up against a big club but playing against a lesser team. If they win the headlines will still bang on about giants being felled but nobody will be fooled. The bigger names will have been saved for the bigger games. Arsène Wenger tends not to get worked up about cup ties although he could be taking a chance if he dilutes Arsenal against Leeds United, in whom there may, even now, be echoes of old glories. The biggest Cup shocks have usually involved higher-placed teams going down to non-league sides although here again the circumstances are not quite what they were. Last season Crawley, then in the Blue Square Premier, knocked out Derby County and Torquay United before losing narrowly 1-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford, coming close to forcing a replay when Richard Brodie's header hit the bar in stoppage time. Yet the Sussex team were not exactly beggars coming to town, having spent around £500,000 on their squad. In 1949 the total weekly wage bill at Yeovil was £65. Sutton United, managed by a former teacher of English literature, Barrie Williams, were the last non-league side to beat a team from the top division in the FA Cup, knocking out Coventry City 2-1 at Gander Green Lane in the third round in 1989. Williams was fond of quoting Shakespeare. Should Tamworth win at Everton this time David Moyes may feel, like a fellow Scot, Macbeth, that: "I am afraid to think what I have done; look on't again I dare not." Or he may just say they are concentrating on the league.

Born of pagan parents in the Upper Thebaid of Egypt, St. Pachomius (292-346) was a soldier before his baptism in 314. He became a hermit in 317. Called the Father of Cenobitic Monasticism, he wrote a rule that balances the communal life with the solitary life. The monks live in individual cells but work together for the common good of the community. Prayer is both corporate and private. He established his first monastery around 323 in Tabennisi. St. Pachomius died during a plague, and at the time of his death, he was the spiritual leader of about 3,000 monks. St. Jerome translated the rule of St. Pachomius into Latin in 404, and only this translation survives. The rule of St. Pachomius influenced St. Benedict in preparing his own rule for monks. Karen Rae Keck - About: Quick Reference: - About: General: History of Monastic Spirituality, Chapter 5: Pachomius. Includes extracts from the Coptic language lives of St. Pachomius. (Scroll to "Texts" section near end.) Roman Catholic author; opinions expressed not necessarily in agreement - Henry Chadwick: Pachomios and the Idea of Sanctity, (1983). In Fr. Sergei Hackel, ed., The Byzantine Saint, San Bernardino, Calif.: Borgo, 1983. James M. Drayton: Pachomius as Discovered in the Worlds of Fourth Century Christian Egypt, Pachomian Literature and Pachomian Monasticism -- A Figure of Hagiography or History? Thesis, University of Sydney. --- Univ. Syd. Fr. Steven Peter Tsichlis: The Spiritual Father in the Pachomian Tradition: Pachomius as starets. --- St. Paul's Irvine St. Dionysius Exiguus: Life of St. Pachomius, Abbot of Tabennisi: Dionysius translated an anonymous Greek life into Latin. Baker translation. --- Vitae Patrum Gennadius: Illustrious Men, 7 Lausiac History, 32: An Encomium on Pakhom the Great. Fragments of the Coptic text with English translation in Alla I. Elanskaya: The Literary Coptic Manuscripts in the A. S. Pushkin State Fine Arts Museum in Moscow, [Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994], p. 85. - His conversion of St. Silvanus the Actor: - His interactions with St. Macarius the Younger of Alexandria: - Disciples who became abbots after him: - Some other disciples: St. Abraham the Poor; - His own teacher: - Translators, Biographers, etc. - St. Jerome wrote about Pachomius in Latin, making him known in the West, and preserved the text of his - Palladius of the History visited Tabennisi and wrote about life there. Return to St Pachomius Library.

It was 1999 and I was a visiting scholar at a synagogue in Florida teaching a workshop on Ezekiel. Midstream, I found myself saying words I had not anticipated saying to these suburban mainstream Jews: “Ezekiel 16, verse 17 is referring to a strap-on dildo and Ezekiel is referencing the emasculation of God by the collective body of Israel who is assuming the phallic, penetrative role in the divine-human relationship.” Gulp. I sat there anticipating shock and awkward silence. Instead, I saw the faces of these primarily middle-aged women light up with fascination. And then I was off and running, exploring a “text of terror” with energy and positive excitement. The text is filled with rage, violence and misogyny, yet we were not angry, we were not turning the page over. About fifteen years earlier, I experienced my own first encounter with Ezekiel 16. My response was outrage at a text in which God was portrayed as a loyal husband in relationship with an adulterous wife. Of course, the woman is always to blame! I read the classic patterns of domestic violence in this text: jealous husband, husband beats up wife, husband feels contrition and brings a peace offering and then it begins all over again. How many women’s lives have been destroyed by jealous husbands? At first, I was consumed with a desire to expose the horrors of this prophet’s so-called sacred text. But, over the past twenty-five years, Ezekiel has become my (textual) partner and companion. This dark figure from the Babylonian Exile is, I admit, an unlikely and unusual choice of companion for someone who has traversed the pathways of Jewish feminism; yet somehow this biblical figure chose me as much as I found him. My relationship with Ezekiel has led me to understand my journey from anger to compassion, from suspicion to cautious embrace. My experiences as a Jewish woman- whether in the realm of Jewish living and practice; professional Jewish leadership; or Jewish learning and scholarship- are mirrored in the ways in which I have engaged with this prophet. An Old Story Ezekiel 16 tells the story of an outcast infant (the people of Israel) who is left wallowing in her own blood in an open field. God passes by and recites: “live in spite of your blood” and then continues on to his next order of business. Miraculously, the young girl survives. When she reaches puberty, God takes note of her again. He “enters” into a covenant with her, washes off her blood, and clothes her. He lavishes upon her great riches and alters her status from outcast to royalty. Scene Two: Wife Israel is then accused by husband God of infidelity: she spreads her legs to any guy who passes by, she takes the gifts that her husband gave her and shares them with her lovers, and she forgets that it is her husband who brought her out of the ghetto. She even refuses gifts from her lovers, instead offering them gifts for her sexual satisfaction. Scene Three: Husband God, filled with rage, assembles all of her lovers and strips her naked before them. He abandons her while the mob of men molest, rape and mutilate wife Israel. Only once she is wallowing in her own blood, as she had been as the outcast infant, does husband God take her back. I first encountered Ezekiel’s story in the 1980s. I was reading the early works of Judith Plaskow (articles that would lead to Standing Again at Sinai in 1990), Ellen Umansky, Susannah Heschel, Ross Kraemer, Judith Hauptman and Christian and pagan thinkers such as Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, Rosemary Radford Reuther, Starhawk and Carol Christ. During the day, I argued with fellow graduate studentsat Harvard Divinity School about the ways that we might reinterpret and transform traditional approaches to Jewish life. In the evenings, I participated in Take Back the Night marches and provided sanctuary in my home for women who were escaping from their abusive husbands. I was angry and felt disenfranchised. What I wanted was to participate in a new Judaism–a Judaism that would have the flexibility and courage to re-imagine God, to rewrite liturgy, to reinterpret Torah, and to recover and re-create rituals that would speak to Jewish women’s experiences. Jewish feminists began to create that new Judaism in the late 1980s and early 19990s. Along with them, I participated in the creation of new feminist haggadot, I davened (prayed) with the feminized formula: “b’rucha at ya,” I fought with the misogynistic texts of the Torah and the rabbis. At Havurat Shalom in Somerville, MA we closely studied each component and prayer of Shabbat liturgy, carefully determining which texts lent themselves most readily to grammatical changes for female God language, which texts might be shifted in subtle ways to modify the hierarchical nature of God language. During Yom Kippur, I refused to beat my chest during the Vidui, thinking that women were beaten enough in this world and we did not need to add to the violence. Through these long years, Ezekiel was my enemy–he represented the worst of patriarchal Judaism. So long as our sacred texts depicted God as the husband with all the power and the right to act violently, so long as the people Israel were imagined as the adulterous wife deserving of punishment, there would be little room for a transformation of Judaism. I had to daven in the feminine to say to Ezekiel–I am kicking you out of the room–you no longer have a place in the new Judaism that we are creating. I would not visit Ezekiel for several years. The inner call to participate in Jewish life through learning led me to pursue a doctorate in biblical studies. I did not have a single female professor or mentor during these many years of coursework and comprehensive examinations. All my classmates were men. In short, I was immersed in a male world, studying with men about texts produced and interpreted by men. Each semester there would be a social gathering at the home of one of the students. Most of the men were married, and it so happened that none of the wives were pursing professional careers. Each time I went to one of those events I had to decide: do I go into the living room where the men are sitting and talking about issues that are of interest to me, or do I join the women with whom I had little in common? As I inevitably joined the men, the looks of some of the women (primarily from conservative evangelical backgrounds) did not go unnoticed by me. Eventually, I stopped attending social functions. It was during this immersion in a very male world that I returned to Ezekiel. This time, I noticed unusual and unique phrases in the text, phrases that did not appear in the invectives of the other biblical prophets. Ezekiel, I realized, was not using the standard idioms for the marriage metaphor. I looked deeper, my own anger at his text moving to curiousity as I wondered what was at the root of Ezekiel’s language and his anger. Using my new expertise, I was able to discover the meanings of the linguistic oddities in Ezekiel’s text, and to find parallels in Mesopotamian literature. As I dug deeper, I realized that Ezekiel did not just depict wife Jerusalem as being unfaithful. The abomination of wife Jerusalem is that she was attempting to pass for a male (i.e. aggressive, independent), that she was crossing gender boundaries and upsetting the world order. Her behaviors were less characteristic of an adulterous wife and more appropriate to a woman who was asserting her selfhood and independence–behavior associated with masculinity in Ezekiel’s world. In Ezekiel 16, the wife Jerusalem wears the dildo, wields the phallus. Her transgendering is the ultimate transgression. It is any surprise that my circumstances of “passing as a man” through graduate school allowed me to see what male interpreters had not? Ezekiel 2000: Misogyny Redux Fast forward to the year 2004 in which I became the first female academic dean and vice president for academic affairs at an accredited rabbinical seminary, a position that would have been unthinkable when I first met Ezekiel in the mid 1980s. I had earned a Ph.D in biblical studies, had a respectable number of publications, had attained tenure as Associate Professor of Bible, and was the single mother of a preschooler. As the dean of a rabbinical school I hold the responsibility for guiding our faculty and students to think creatively and boldly about the next generation of Jewish life. Jewish women are filling the pews, serving on synagogue boards and committees, serving as rabbis and leading Judaic studies scholars. Women play roles in Jewish life beyond even the dreams that many of us had in the 1970s and 1980s. But are we yet equals? Well – two years ago, I attended a conference that brought together Jewish leaders and activists. I participated in a panel that included the representatives of several rabbinical seminaries. After the panel concluded, a photographer who worked for the conference gathered all the panelists together for a photo. Two of us were engaged in conversations with individuals who had heard the panel discussion. My colleague was beckoned away to join the photo shoot. I turned around and noticed that I had not been invited. I asked one of the conference staff, what was going on? “Oh, we wanted to get a photo of the rabbis.” That read as code for, “we want a photo of the Jewish men to show the Jewish establishment and future funders that this conference’s participants were authentic mainstream Jews, not marginal ones.” I was quickly reminded that I am not a part of the old boy’s network, that even at a time when there is concern regarding male flight from Judaism, the old boys’ network still exists. Women may be most involved in living Jewishly, in keeping the pews filled, in active learning, but men still hold the highest positions in Jewish institutions and men still hold the money. During the same month, I participated in a panel review of a new book on biblical theology at an academic conference. As is usually the case, I was the only woman on the panel. A few weeks later, we were all asked to work up our comments for an issue of a theology journal. We submitted our essays, reviewed the final proofs and then finally received a few copies of the journal. I was aghast to see that the new author of my essay was not Tamar Kamionkowski, but rather Walter Kamionkowski. Then came the apologies, the explanation about a new computer program that must have been responsible for the error, and the news that the journal could not reissue its print copies. Twice in one month, I played with the big boys and I was rendered invisible in both cases. In fact, I was even given a new male identity! The knowledge that I had produced as a Jewish woman was reassigned to an imaginary male. Put differently, even with all the strides forward for Jewish women, I continue to function in mainstream Judaism and academia by being assigned a phallus or by being rendered invisible. I return to my companion Ezekiel and ask: “What is so troubling you?” He answers me: “We failed as men to protect Jerusalem and our families. We have been shamed by the Babylonian conquerors. We are in a strange new land where women play roles in public life. Why would God take away our manhood? If we have become emasculated, does it mean that women have usurped the phallus?” Ezekiel chapter 16 begins and ends in a fantasy of an all-powerful God and a completely submissive wife. However, the material embedded within this frame reveals a different dynamic. The center of the story expresses a much more volatile, chaotic relationship– one in which God does not have full control and in which wife Israel is not completely submissive. This radical admission is made even more radical by the metaphor in which it is expressed. The use of the marriage metaphor beckons us to read this text on more than one level. As we explore the power relationships between male and female, we are, in fact, exploring the power relationships between God and Israel. Israel is both female and male – female in relation to God, and male within the realm of human society. Israel is at once powerful and utterly powerless. The male community, symbolically portrayed as a female, betrays its own maleness in Ezekiel 16. The marriage metaphor is not simply a vehicle, or a vessel for conveying a theological message. Ezekiel’s use of the marriage metaphor embodies an outbreak of chaos. This is a story about cultural upheavals, social disintegration and theological crises, all expressed through the breakdown of one of the most fundamental cultural and social institutions: marriage, and at its root, gender roles. In our own world in which we boast the breakdown of limited gender roles, identities, and behaviors within progressive Judaism, I suspect that we are still a lot more limited by binary thinking than we want to admit. To the extent that theology mirrors social realities and vice versa, Jewish theology is still very much bound by either male images for God or the explicit rejection of male imagery. As long as we continue to embrace or reject male imagery for God, we continue to be bound by binary thinking that gives power to only one partner of the covenant (God). If we are not willing to be bolder with feminist theology, we may continue to trap women (and men) within a binary world in which the phallus still remains only with men even as women have access to more knowledge and participation in Jewish life. Ezekiel’s exploration of the gendered dynamics of the chaos of his generation may provide us an opening to be bolder with the development of Jewish feminist theology. Even though Ezekiel did not like it, he was able to imagine Israel taking a dominant role in its relationship with God. In some ways, this prophet from antiquity was able to play with the fluidity of gender roles in ways that are more radical than many progressive Jews today. As I read Ezekiel now, I find this ancient voice challenging us all with difficult questions (that he did not imagine): What would it mean for Jewish women today to hold true power within the Jewish establishment without being assigned the phallus? Are we willing to consider that it might be healthy to imagine that God may sometimes be submissive? And if we might celebrate submissive aspects of God as worthy of emulation, must this aspect of God necessarily be associated with the feminine? Breaking through the God equals phallus equals male equals power paradigm may help us to break through the continued binary of Jewish living today–a binary in which we are experiencing straight male flight from Judaism except for those men with extraordinary power (emulating God) and in which women who are gaining knowledge and power are either marginalized (kept out of the game), assigned the phallus (made into men) or condemned as threatening Judaism (like the biblical adulterous wife). As we transform Jewish life, we must transform the ways we think about God. And as our hearts and minds open to new visions of God and our relationship with the Divine, we will find ourselves transforming Judaism in ways that we cannot yet imagine. More articles in ZEEK is presented by The Jewish Daily Forward | Maintained by SimonAbramson.com

New standards for the visual functions of drivers Report of the Eyesight Working Group Brussels, May 2005 The Eyesight Working Group The Eyesight Working Group Editor of this report and Chairman of the Group: Dr LJ van Rijn Members of the Working Group: G Baten, Belgisch Instituut voor de Verkeersveiligheid (BIVV), afdeling CARA, Belgium Dr TJTP van den Berg, physicist, Netherlands Ophthalmic Research Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Prof dr R Gomez de Liano, ophthalmologist, Madrid, Spain Prof A. Hedin, ophthalmologist, Akademiska sjukhuset, Uppsala, Sweden Dr Lianoros, ophthalmologist, Spain Dr H.G.Major, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Great Britain Prof (emerita, University of Kupio) M M?ntyj?rvi, Ophthalmologist, Finland P Mouterde, France Dr LJ van Rijn, Ophthalmologist FEBOphth, Vrije Universtiteit medical centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Dr M Tant, Neuropsychologist, Belgisch Instituut voor de Verkeersveiligheid (BIVV), afdeling CARA, Belgium Prof dr H Wilhelm, Ophthalmologist, Eberhard Karls Universit?t Tübingen, Universit?tsAugenklinik, Tübingen. Germany Member on behalf of the European Commission (DG TREN): J Valmain Address for correspondence This document reflects the consensus of experts who gathered to discuss the difficult issues contained herein. Consensus is generally defined as the majority opinion or general agreement of the group. In that vein, it should be noted that consensus does not mean that all of the participants unanimously agreed on all of the findings and recommendations. This report is based on publicly available data and information. The report reflects the views of a panel of thoughtful people who understand the issues before them and who carefully discussed the available data on the issues. New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers Table of Contents The Eyesight Working Group.............................................................................................- 2 Address for correspondence................................................................................................- 2 Legal notice ........................................................................................................................- 2 Table of Contents................................................................................................................- 3 Summary.............................................................................................................................- 4 Background.........................................................................................................................- 4 Towards a rational approach to the relation between visual functions and driving safety - 5 Visual functions ......................................................................................................................- 6 Visual acuity. ......................................................................................................................- 6 Visual field..........................................................................................................................- 8 Measurement of visual field with known or suspected abnormalities .........................- 9 Measurement of visual field for screening purposes ...............................................- 11 Contrast sensitivity. ..........................................................................................................- 11 Glare sensitivity. ...............................................................................................................- 13 Useful field of view (UFOV)............................................................................................- 14 Diplopia ............................................................................................................................- 14 Bioptic devices and other visual enhancement devices ....................................................- 15 Periodic screening of drivers ............................................................................................- 16 Exceptional cases: restricted licences ...............................................................................- 17 Conclusions...........................................................................................................................- 19 Principles of testing...............................................................................................................- 19 Current guidelines and proposed changes.............................................................................- 20 Group 1 .............................................................................................................................- 20 1) The horizontal visual field should be at least 120 degrees ...............................- 20 2) No progressive eye disease should be present, when a progressive eye disease is present, regular check-ups are requested. ...............................................................- 22 3) In case of total functional loss of vision in one eye, the visual acuity must be at least 0.6. …………………………………………………………………………...- 22 4) There are no requirements for twilight vision, other than in cases of doubt. .....- 22 5) There are no requirements for the absence of diplopia ....................................- 23 Group 2 .............................................................................................................................- 23 1) The visual acuity should be at least 0.8 in the best eye, 0.5 in the fellow eye. ...- 23 2) Glasses should be +- 8 dioptres or less ..........................................................- 23 3) Normal visual fields should be present in both eyes. ......................................- 24 4) No requirements for twilight vision (contrast sensitivity and/or glare sensitivity) are included. .............................................................................................................- 24 5) Requirements for the absence of diplopia are scarcely formulated. ..................- 25 General..............................................................................................................................- 25 1) There are no requirements for periodic testing nor procedures in case of the development of eye disease between testing periods. .............................................- 25 2) There is a difference between screening (aimed at detection of disease) and testing (aiming at measuring known abnormalities) ..........................................................- 25 3) There is no adaptation period following newly developed eye disorders. .........- 26 4) There is only limited opportunity for a restricted licence (exceptional cases)...- 26 5) There is pressure from interest groups to allow driving with Bioptic devices....- 27 References .............................................................................................................................- 27 - The Eyesight Working Group This report comprises the advice of the Eyesight Working Group to the European Driving Licence Committee for a possible revision of the standards on vision for driving. On many issues, scientific evidence is scarce, so that continued research remains very important in order to strengthen the basis for the standards. The major recommendations are the following. 1. Visual acuity requirements should be formulated binocularly. For the worst eye of Group 2 drivers, only a minimal standard of visual acuity is required. 2. The paragraph on visual fields should be reformulated to include requirements on the vertical extension, absence of central defects and use of the test method. 3. Requirements for twilight vision should be considered, future introduction of these and other requirements should be made possible and anticipated. 4. Requirements for the absence of diplopia should be formulated, to include Group 1 drivers. 5. An adaptation period should be required after a newly developed eye disease. 6. Restricted licences should be considered for Group 1 drivers. The conditions for such restricted licences should be carefully judged. 7. Regarding periodic screening: current evidence for the efficacy and efficiency of screening is rather scarce. We recommend additional research to be performed in this field. If, due to desired harmonization of European standards, screening should be implemented, we recommend screening (at least for Group 1) should not commence before the age of 60. People with eye diseases / impaired visual functions should be required to verify themselves whether they meet the standards. Driving is a complex task, involving both perceptual functions and motor skills. Vision is the most important source of perceptual information for the driver (Rockwell, 1972). Because of the potentially significant consequences of impaired driving (damage and injury to oneself and others) it is reasonable to specify standards for the visual capacity of drivers. Strict standards would best serve traffic safety. However, in our society, being able to drive is of utmost importance for many reasons, socially as well as economically. Therefore, standards on vision should be not so strict that subjects are excluded from driving without good cause. Carefully balancing the requirements on vision so that both traffic safety in general and the mobility of individual drivers are optimally safeguarded, remains a continuing challenge to both scientists and government officials. In 1992, the European Commission established standards for testing the visual function of drivers in the Council Directive 91/439/EEC (1991). In 2003 there was a proposal for a small revision of these standards. Today, a need for wider revision of the standards is recognised in order to resolve some apparent inconsistencies and to make sure that the standards, where possible, are based on scientific evidence. The Eyesight Working Group was established in March of 2004 by the EC Driving Licence Committee to give advice as to how to adjust the standards. This report is the product of the Working Group. When exposure is taken into account, i.e. when the number of accidents is measured per number of kilometres driven, then there is an increase in the number of accidents with New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers age (Massie et al., 1997; Ryan, Legge and Rosmann, 1998; Dellinger, Langlois and Li, 2002; Williams and Carsten, 1989), although this has been disputed by others (Stutts and Martell, 1992). Vision may play an important role in this increase in accidents at higher ages. Drivers with ocular disease drive less safely than those without ocular disease (e.g. Wood and Mallon, 2001; Wood 2002). This is also true for specific ocular diseases such as cataract (Owsley et al., 1999; 2002) and glaucoma (Owsley et al., 1998b), although again, this relationship has been disputed by others (Gresset and Meyer, 1994; Fonda, 1989). Cataract surgery has a profound positive effect on self-estimated problems during driving (M?nestam and Wachtmeister, 1997). As age increases, the prevalence of eye disease increases (Gibson et al., 1985; vanNewkirk et al., 2001; Ivers et al., 2000). This is true for the major eye diseases such as cataract (e.g. Hirverl? et al., 1995), glaucoma (Wensor et al., 1998; Klein et al., 1992; Coffey et al., 1993; Dielemans et al., 1994) and age-related macular degeneration (Vinding et al., 1990; Pauleikhoff et al., 1992). Even in the absence of ocular disease, visual function deteriorates with age (Haegerstrom-Portnoy, 1999; Puell et al., 2004; Ivers et al., 2000). Necessarily, therefore, the discussion about vision and driving focuses mainly on older drivers. This issue will gain increasing importance in future decades because of the increasing number of elderly in the population and because of increasing mobility at higher ages. Some ocular issues are however of particular importance for younger drivers. These are mainly amblyopia (reduced vision in one eye often as a result of squint) and developmental or degenerative eye disorders such as albinism or retinitis pigmentosa. Towards a rational approach of the relation between visual functions and driving safety We can distinguish several visual functions including visual acuity, visual field and contrast sensitivity. These functions are basically independent of each other although many disorders and diseases of the eye cause impairments in more than one function. For example: cataract leads to decreased visual acuity but also to decreased contrast sensitivity. Decreased visual acuity is usually but not always associated with decreased contrast sensitivity. For a complete assessment of vision obviously all visual functions should be considered. The current guidelines (Council Directive 91/439/EEC (1991), focus exclusively on visual acuity and visual field. Other functions, such as contrast sensitivity, glare sensitivity and Useful Field of View are not, currently, formal constituents of the standards although “twilight vision” is briefly mentioned: “when there is reason to doubt, (…) attention shall be paid to (…) twilight vision.” Alternatively, we may distinguish functional vision (Colenbrander, 2003). This includes performance of daily life skills, including driving ability. Loss of visual function is related to the presence of eye disorders and can be described by impairment categories (e.g. visual acuity below 0.5). Loss of functional vision, e.g. loss of driving ability or performance can be described in terms of disability (e.g. loss of night driving ability). Functional vision, such as driving ability, is related to visual functions but only indirectly so (see Colenbrander, 2003). This will be further discussed in the paragraphs on restricted licences. The Eyesight Working Group The aim of new standards for visual functions of drivers is to increase traffic safety by denying or restricting the driving licence of those drivers with visual impairments. Before this can be achieved, several questions should be answered. 1) Can we identify the various visual functions that play a role in driving safety? 2) Can we establish a cut-off value for each of these visual functions, below which driving is unsafe and above which driving can be allowed? 3) Do we have measurement instruments to identify those visual functions in a valid and reliable manner? These are the questions that deal strictly with the implementation of new standards. Additional questions concern the enforcement of the standards. For example, will drivers undergo regular testing (screening) of visual function and, if so, from what age and at what intervals? This requires insight into the prevalence of impairments, the costs involved in screening and the sensitivity and specificity of tests. This is the capacity to perceive small details. It is generally considered the most important modality of visual function and is tested using a character set, usually a letter chart, with characters of decreasing size, at a distance of 3 to 6 meters. Characters have high contrast (black letters on a white background) and the chart illumination is optimal. In studies on accident statistics, visual acuity was only weakly, though significantly correlated with traffic accidents and violations. The increased accident risk can be expressed as Relative Risk (or, in case of control studies, as Odds Ratio). This is the ratio between the accident risk in the impaired group and the accident risk in the control group. Van Rijn and V?lker-Dieben (1999) reviewed the studies on the relation between impaired visual acuity and increased accident risk. The results are summarized in Table 1, which is copied from that review. Relative Risk values are typically below 2, with some exceptions. The most cited study is the one of Burg (1971). The data were re-analysed by Hills and Burg (1977). They found no relationship between visual acuity and accidents in young and middle aged drivers. In elderly drivers they reported a weak relationship between acuity and traffic accidents. Other studies have been published about the relationship between visual acuity and traffic safety. Hofstetter (1976) investigated 13,786 drivers and compared accidents for drivers in the lower quartile with those above the mean. In this study, a poor visual acuity led to being twice as likely to be involved in 3 accidents in the previous 12 months and 50% more likely to be involved in 2 accidents. For one accident there was no difference. Keefe et al. (2002) investigated 2594 subjects. They measured visual function and questioned people about their driving behaviour. They found that subjects with a visual acuity below 6/12 were no more likely to have a (self-reported) accident than those with a better acuity. Foley et al. (1995) found no relation between visual acuity and self-reported accidents in 1791 drivers of 68 years and older in a rural Iowa setting. Decina and Staplin (1993) correlated the visual acuity to accidents, taking self-reported mileage into account, and found no relation between isolated visual acuity and accident incidence (see also at contrast sensitivity). A small study (Lamble et al., 2002), involving driving assessment of subjects with X-linked New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers retinoschizis (an hereditary disease in which visual acuity but not contrast sensitivity is reduced) failed to demonstrate an association between visual acuity and impaired driving performance. From the studies, cited above, it emerges that the relation between visual acuity and traffic accidents is rather weak. Because of the importance of visual acuity in daily life (see e.g. van Rijn et al., 2002), one would assume that the relation between visual acuity and traffic accidents is strong, then why can this not be demonstrated in scientific studies? Several factors may play a role. Firstly, in these studies, the extreme values on the spectrum of visual acuities are rare: elderly subjects with very good visual acuities are rare, just as are elderly drivers with very low acuities. Therefore, in most studies, moderate acuities are compared to mildly impaired acuities, leading to only weak relations between impaired acuities and traffic accidents. Notably, the absence of low acuities in the population may (at least partly) be the result of existing regulations. Secondly, especially for visual acuity, the relation may be weakened by adaptive behaviour of the drivers. Of the elderly who have stopped driving or adjusted their driving behaviour, many did so because of visual problems (Keefe et al., 2002; Gilhotra et al., 2001; West et al., 2003) although this has been disputed by others (Holland and Rabbitt, 1992). Thirdly, the relation may be blurred by confounding variables. For example, early cataract leads to only moderate decrease of visual acuity, but also to decreased contrast sensitivity and increased glare sensitivity. Thus, the effects of cataract on contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity may mask the relation between visual acuity and driving safety. Higgins et al. (1998) found a linear relation between visual acuity decrease (produced by optical blur) and driving performance. However, when cataract was simulated by special filters (leading to only to a mild decrease of visual acuity, but affecting glare sensitivity much more), then the effects on driving performance were much more pronounced (Wood and Higgins, 1999), suggesting that glare sensitivity is more important for driving performance than visual acuity. Visual acuity can be measured in a valid and reliable manner. The measurements are robust (revealing identical results in various measurement circumstances) and reproducible (Hawkins, 1995; Elliott and Sheridan, 1988) and they have good face validity. This means that for most people the assessment of visual acuity for driving is considered appropriate and acceptable. From the studies discussed in this paragraph, it appears that visual acuity is the most important measure of visual function in general and that it can be measured very well. The relation of its outcome to traffic safety is, however, rather weak. Several causes for this have been discussed above. It seems advisable in the standards to increase the role of other parameters of visual function at the cost of visual acuity. One could consider contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity. However, as will be discussed below, measurement of these parameters is less straightforward. Until more insight has been gained into the applicability of these other parameters of visual function, the importance of visual acuity measurements for traffic safety should not be underestimated. The Eyesight Working Group Table 1. Criterion validity of Snellen acuity measurements (table from van Rijn and V?lker-Dieben, 1999). Authors Type subjects relative risk Or odds ratio 95% conf Interval P type Burg,1971 (Hills&Burg,1977) Von Hebenstreit, 1984 Davison, 1985 Marottoli et al., 1998 Owsley et al., 1998a Szlyk et al., 1995a Rogers, 1987 Von Hebenstreit, 1993 Liesmaa, 1973 Alsbirk, 1992 McCloskey et al., 1994 Szlyk et al., 1995b Lachenmayr et al., 1998 Owsley et al., 1998b inj Owsley et al., 1998b non-inj Sims et al., 1998 Cohort Cohort Cohort Cohort Cohort case-control case-control case-control case-control case-control case-control case-control case-control case-control case-control case-control 14283 663 1000 125 294 107 ? 1200 1021 700 683 20 1004 303 303 174 NR 1.17 7.68 1.31 1.45 NR 1.37 1.24 3 5.06 0.78 0.12 NR 1.6 1.6 NR 1.06 to 1.29 2.47 to 23.89 0.83 to 2.09 0.58 to 3.64 ? 0.66 to 2.32 ? 1.29 to 23.11 0.39 to 1.60 00 to 1.72 0.6 to 3.8 0.7 to 3.6 0.03 0.02 0.32 0.43 RR RR RR RR RR RR RR OR OR OR OR OR 0.62 0.014 0.64 0.16 95% conf int = 95% confidence interval; P = P value; OR = odds ratio; RR = relative risk; NR = not reported The visual field is the perceptual space available to the fixating eye. The binocular visual field is the sum of the perceptual spaces available to both fixating eyes. An intact visual field provides the capacity to detect objects (or lights or movements) away from the fixation point. Impairments of visual field increase with age. The leading cause of visual field impairments in the elderly is glaucoma (e.g. Ramrattan, 2001). Visual field defects have been associated with a mild increase in accident risks. The typical relative risk values that were reported in the studies were about 2 (see van Rijn and V?lker-Dieben, 1999 for an overview). A major problem in interpreting these studies is that there is no consensus regarding the definition of impairment. For example, in the classical and often cited study of Johnson and Keltner (1983), an impairment of visual field was defined as two or more adjacent targets that were missed. This may be a significant defect in clinical terms (pointing at disease) but, depending on the location of the defects, may have only a mild impact on driving performance. It has been shown that visual field sensitivities decrease with age (Haas et al., 1986; Jaffe et al., 1986) and as a result, Johnson and Keltner may have compared physiologically decreased normal visual fields with mildly impaired ones. Driving simulator studies and studies involving on-road testing of subjects with impaired visual fields, have found a strong relation between the extent of the visual field defect and driving performance: Coeckelbergh et al. (2002) demonstrated that subjects with central and mid-peripheral visual field defects drove slower and needed a longer time to react. Subjects with peripheral visual field defects had increased swaying. Tant et al. (2002), in a study with hemianopic subjects, found that generally the driving New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers performance of these subjects was low, although it was argued that a specific negative selection bias was present in the study. Only some subjects were found fit to drive after a specific training programme (Tant et al., 2001). Szlyk et al. (1992) found more crashes both in driving simulator tasks and state records during the preceding 5 years in 21 drivers with retinitis pigmentosa than in 31 healthy control subjects. Visual field size was the best predictor of real-world and simulator crashes. The same holds true for studies into the walking (or wheelchair) mobility of subjects with impaired visual fields (e.g. Kuyk et al., 1998; Lovie-Kitchin et al., 1990). L?vsund, Hedin and T?rnros (1991) reported that individual variation in the group with visual field impairments was very large, making the group as a whole unsuitable for driving. Szlyk et al. (2002) studied driving behaviour in a driving simulator in subjects with mild to moderate glaucomatous damage. They found that driving performance was indeed related to the presence of glaucoma but interestingly in these subjects, contrast sensitivity rather than visual field defect was the relevant visual function. In a recent report, Szlyk found that visual field defects within 100 degrees correlated with driving performance and with accidents (Szlyk et al., 2005a). Hedin and L?vsund (1986) reported that in a group of 27 subjects with impaired visual fields (mostly homonymous defects) only 4 were capable of compensating for their defects. Homonymous hemianopia is a condition in which, due to a neurological cause (mostly stroke, traumatic brain injury or tumour) the visual field on one side in both eyes is blind. The consensus is that generally this condition is incompatible with fitness to drive although occasionally, subjects with hemianopia may drive safely (Tant, 2002; Tant et al., 2001; 2002). A major factor may be that visual field defects may be accompanied by other neurological and neuropsychological (e.g. attentional) deficits which can also strongly affect driving performance (Tant, 2002; Tant et al., 2001; 2002). It should be noted that probably many subjects with hemianopic visual field defects continue to drive, most often because their stroke has remained unnoticed to them (Gilhotra et al., 2002) but only few of the homonymous defects in this study were complete hemianopias. Based on the literature cited above, it is evident that an adequate visual field is of utmost importance for the ability to drive safely. However, the actual cut-off value that should be set in the standards is as yet unclear. Further research is needed. Experiments have been performed in which the visual field is expanded on the hemianopic side, using different kinds of prismatic devices. The success of these experiments is limited (see, e.g. Slzyk et al., 2005b) although currently other evaluation studies are being performed using alternative prismatic devices. The Eyesight Working Group does not favour the use of such devices in order to meet the visual field standards (see discussion on Bioptic devices). Measurement of visual field with known or suspected abnormalities For subjects with known or suspected abnormalities, visual fields are generally measured using a perimeter. This is a device that can present light stimuli at various locations in the visual field. The subject being tested is requested to indicate whether the stimulus has been seen. Most perimeters are rather costly but for this purpose, there is no alternative. In selected subjects, practice and education are needed before adequate and reproducible visual field results are obtained (e.g. Parrish, Schiffmann and Anderson, 1984; Lewis et The Eyesight Working Group al., 1986; Katz and Sommer, 1990). In addition, care should be taken that any refractive error is adequately corrected prior to testing. Failure to correct the refractive error can lead to a large number of false positive measurement results (subjects with impaired results whereas they are, in reality, not impaired). (Weinreb et al., 1986; Rabineau et al., 1989; Anderson et al., 2001; van Rijn et al., 2005). Generally, visual fields are tested monocularly; binocular fields may be extrapolated from the monocular results (e.g. Crabb et al., 1998; Nelson-Quigg et al., 2000). However, for task-oriented measurement of the visual field, it would be sufficient to measure binocular fields only. Perimetry techniques can be divided into static techniques and kinetic techniques (e.g. Goldmann perimetry). Static techniques are mostly automated. In these techniques, light stimuli are presented in pre-set areas of the visual field. In Goldmann kinetic perimetry, a light stimulus is moved (manually by an examiner) usually from the periphery towards the centre of the visual field. Kinetic perimetry does not always disclose defects of significance (e.g. in retinitis pigmentosa) and at times suffers from examiner bias. Depending on the experience of examiner, central and paracentral defects may be missed. Therefore, in general, static perimetry is strongly recommended. However, in selected subjects, kinetic perimetry may still be necessary. In particular, some subjects with neurologic visual field impairment suffer from stato-kinetic dissociation (Riddoch phenomenon). This implies that moving objects (such as in traffic situations) are perceived better than static ones. Compared to age-related testing, suprathreshold screening programmes are less sensitive and may overlook, for example, the moth-eaten fields after heavy photocoagulation (as best evident with high pass resolution perimetry - ring perimetry). Current perimetry techniques are directed at the evaluation of disease. This shows itself in the areas and size of the visual field that is being tested, the distribution of points and the evaluation of the results (comparison with age-matched controls). This makes these techniques less suitable for the evaluation of task-oriented function as is important for driving. The Esterman technique is an exception: this is a task-oriented algorithm, implemented on a static automated perimeter. This technique has not been specifically developed for the evaluation of drivers but for visual function in general. It is unsuited for driving not only because of the position of the test points but also because of its use of a fairly intense and large stimulus (III/4e). Hence, although automated perimetry using the Esterman protocol is easier to perform than standard perimetry, it is more lenient (Crabb et al., 2004; van Rijn, 2003) and we advise against it. For this reason it is recommended to develop a ‘traffic perimetry algorithm’, analogous to the recommendations of the German Ophthalmological Society (1999). This should preferably comprise a sufficient number of test points within the area of interest. A sufficient number of those (e.g. 25) should be located in the central area of the visual field since this area is of particular importance for perception during driving and perception in general. The luminance of test points should be related to that of the hill of vision, i.e. with increasing intensity towards the periphery. With such a test at hand, it would be possible to lay down the number of missed test points, centrally as well as in the periphery, acceptable for a driving licence. Rough guidelines about the number of points that may be missed could help for a first assessment of visual fields. However, we note that expert judgement of visual fields remains very important since, expectedly, - 10 - New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers good judgement of visual field cannot be completely performed by an automated routine. Any specification which is too detailed brings with it ambiguities, especially since the characteristics of the scotomas depend on the method used to define them. We therefore suggest that, in cases of doubt, visual fields will be judged on an individual basis by a panel of specialists (possibly in a national expert centre, see section on restricted licences) although we realise that, from a practical point of view, it may be impossible that all isolated defects will be judged on an individual basis. We therefore suggest that some rough guidelines should be developed to discriminate between those defects that are allowed, those defects that are not allowed and those that should be referred to a specialist centre for further judgement. Measurement of visual field for screening purposes For screening subjects with a low likelihood of visual field defects, perimetry may be less efficient since it requires rather costly equipment. There are simple devices that test the ability to detect LEDs along the horizontal meridian but their capacity to detect field defects is not known. Often, the Donders confrontation method is advocated for screening purposes. In this confrontation method, the visual field is tested by an examiner using hand movements. The sensitivity and specificity of this method are very low (e.g. Johnson and Baloh, 1991; Shahinfar et al., 1995) except perhaps for hemianopic visual field defects (Shahinfar et al., 1995). For the purpose of screening the visual fields of healthy licence candidates, there is a need for a simple, reliable and quick test that could be administered by any person. This is the ability to distinguish grey letters on a white background. This simulates the conditions during driving at night when objects to be detected are more similar in contrast to their surroundings than during daylight conditions. A subject with impaired contrast sensitivity may, for example, have difficulty in detecting a dark-coated pedestrian at night (e.g. Wood et al., 2002). In the absence of ocular disease, contrast sensitivity is related to visual acuity (Brown and Lovie-Kitchin, 1989), but in specific ocular diseases, such as cataract (Anderson and Holliday, 1995) and age-related macular degeneration (Kleiner et al., 1988), contrast sensitivity may be more affected than visual acuity. Contrast sensitivity has been found to have a stronger relation with traffic accidents and violations than visual acuity, although the number of available studies is low. Marottoli et al. (1998) found a Relative Risk of 2 for accident involvement for Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity values below 1.35. Owsley et al. (2001) found that drivers with a crash history were 8 times more likely to have a Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity of below 1.25 than drivers who were crash free. Dunne et al. (1998) found that drivers with impaired low contrast acuity had twice as many crashes as those without. Pfoff and Werner (1994) found that cataract surgery leads to increased contrast sensitivity and decreased glare sensitivity and that subjects increased their night-time driving frequency after cataract surgery, even though visual acuity was above 0.5 before (and after) surgery. Wood and Troutbeck (1995) found that simulated cataract in normal subjects leads to impaired driving performance. This simulated cataract was associated with decreased UFOV (see - 11 - The Eyesight Working Group later) and contrast sensitivity scores. Anderson and Holliday (1995) found a strong correlation between simulated cataract and decreased contrast sensitivity for moving targets during night-time, even though visual acuity was unimpaired. Szlyk et al. (1995) found that macular degeneration was associated with decreased driving performance in a simulator, but not to increased risk in real world due to adaptive behaviour. Notably, in the macular degeneration group, both visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were reduced. M?ntyj?rvi and Tuppurainen (1999) investigated drivers with early cataract and found that, even when visual acuity is still 0.5, contrast sensitivity, glare and photostress may be severely disturbed. Szlyk et al. (2002) found that decreased driving performance in a driving simulator of subjects with mild to moderate glaucomatous defects was associated with their decreased contrast sensitivity (and not with their visual field defects). Even so, contrast sensitivity was only mildly decreased in these subjects. Wood (2002) found that decreased vision caused by simulated cataract by filters was better associated with contrast sensitivity than with visual acuity. Decina and Staplin (1993) correlated the visual acuity to accidents taking self-reported mileage into account and found no relation between isolated visual acuity and accident incidence but did find a relation between accidents and a combination of visual acuity, visual field and contrast sensitivity in drivers aged 66 and over. From the studies cited above, it appears that contrast sensitivity may provide important information about the visual capacity of drivers in addition to the measurement of visual acuity alone (Brown and Lovie-Kitchin, 1989). The problem is that we do not know yet what cut-off value should be imposed upon contrast sensitivity measurements. We do know that impaired contrast sensitivity affects driving performance but we do not know what level of contrast sensitivity is acceptable and what level is not acceptable. Further study is needed. When considering implementation of contrast sensitivity standards, the prevalence of impairments should be considered carefully. In a recent study into the prevalence of vision impairments in European drivers (van Rijn et al., 2005), it was found that contrast sensitivity values (Pelli-Robson below 1.25) are very rare in young drivers, but are present in 1.7% of drivers between 65 and 74 years of age and in 6.3% of drivers of 75 year and older. Values between 1.25 and 1.5 are present in an additional 19.1% of drivers of 75 years and older. Thus, although the actual definition of impaired contrast sensitivity for drivers still needs to be established, it seems that the prevalence of impairments is much higher than the prevalence of impairments of visual acuity and visual field. There are several methods for measuring contrast sensitivity. In the literature, the best method for testing contrast sensitivity is considered to be the Pelli-Robson chart (Pelli, Robson and Wilkins, 1988; Elliott, Sanderson and Conkey, 1990; Rubin, 1988), but there are several other generally accepted methods. The problem with these methods is that there are no normative data available across these test methods and across measurement centres. This implies that the outcome of one particular test cannot be related to the outcome of other tests and that each measurement centre should develop its own normative database for the results (D.B. Elliott, personal communication). Furthermore, there is no clear cut-off value established for (one of) these tests. Notably, in the European prevalence study (van Rijn et al., 2005) there were marked differences in the - 12 - New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers prevalence of contrast sensitivity impairments, which should probably be attributed to differences in measurement conditions. This was despite the fact that particular attention was paid to harmonise the experimental setup across participating clinics. Finally, these tests have been developed for the evaluation of disease in a clinical setting. In such a setting, there is no vested interest for the applicant in having a good test outcome. Therefore, little attention has been paid to the “cheat resistance” of the test methods. For example, the Pelli-Robson chart has only three alternatives for each level of testing. This could easily be memorised. In summary, contrast sensitivity can provide valuable information about the visual capacity of drivers. Before proceeding to implementation, measurement methods and cutoff values should be further developed. This is the sensitivity to glaring light sources such as a setting sun or the headlights of approaching cars. Subjects with increased glare sensitivity may be more easily blinded in such conditions. Studies on accident statistics of subjects with increased glare sensitivity revealed high relative risk values (von Hebenstreit, 1995; 1984; Lachenmayr et al., 1998 reported relative risk values of, respectively 11.04, 1.59 and 2.42). A major problem is that the number of studies is only small and that the technique for measuring glare sensitivity in those studies is not well developed (van Rijn et al., 2005). Moreover, in those studies, the number of impaired subjects was up to 45% (von Hebenstreit, 1995), disqualifying this technique as a tool for discriminating between impaired and nonimpaired drivers. Another study (Owsley et al., 2001) failed to demonstrate a role for glare sensitivity. In an on-road simulation study, Theeuwes et al. (2002) found that headlight glare (mounted on a car) caused decreased recognition of objects along the roads, especially by elderly drivers. Skaar et al. (2003) found that increased glare sensitivity correlated with decreased visual attention in elderly drivers. Simulated cataract, produced by filters (leading only to a mild decrease in visual acuity and selectively affecting glare) appears much more detrimental for driving performance than decreased visual acuity produced by optical blur (Higgins, Wood and Tait, 1998; Wood and Higgins, 1999). A major problem is that a suitable measurement technique has been lacking, due to the fact that glare sensitivity is largely condition-dependent (Elliott and Bullimore, 1993; van Rijn et al., 2005). Recently, the gold standard for measuring glare sensitivity (straylight measurement) was converted into an instrument that is suitable for use outside research laboratories (Franssen et al., 2005). It is likely that in the near future field experience with this technique will be available so that its applicability for assessing drivers can be more readily judged. This technique has been used in a study into the prevalence of visual impairments among European drivers (van Rijn et al., 2005). It was found that the prevalence of impairments (defined as straylight values above 1.4) is very low at young ages and rises to almost 30% above 75 years of age. However, the adequate cut-off value for this measurement technique still has to be established. - 13 - The Eyesight Working Group From the studies, cited above, it emerges that glare and straylight may be important parameters of visual function for driving safety. However, before implementation of glare measurements could be considered, the measurement technique should be more thoroughly evaluated and adequate cut-off values should be established. Useful field of view (UFOV). This parameter may seem somewhat misplaced in this report since it is not a test of ‘traditional’ visual function. However, UFOV has been shown to be relevant for predicting fitness to drive and because of its relation to visual functions it will be discussed. The UFOV tests the ability to perform simultaneous detection tasks (divided attention) in a visual surrounding crowded with visual distractors. By doing so, it combines a purely visual task with a neuropsychological task of attention. It is tested by a custom-made programme on a personal computer, or by a custom-made test device. In studies on accident statistics, high relative risk values have been reported (Owsley et al., 1998a; 1998b and Sims et al., 1998 reported values of 2.8; 4.2-17.2 and 6.1, respectively). Several studies (e.g. Owsley, et al., 1991; Ball et al., 1993) demonstrated that early dementia and attentional factors in general are very important factors contributing to the unfitness to drive of elderly subjects . The visual attentional component is probably the basis for the observed relation between UFOV tests and driving performance. However, simulated cataract has also been associated with decreased UFOV scores (Wood and Troutbeck, 1995), although the stimulus was such that it should have been seen with low visual acuities. However, since UFOV is not a test of basic visual (ocular) function, the interpretation of the test results is not always straightforward. As Withaar (2000, cited in Tant, 2002) reports, the importance of taskspecific experience may blur the direct relation between neuropsychological function (as tested in UFOV) and driving. The authors, promoting the UFOV, have reported that practice enhances UFOV performance but it is unclear whether this has an effect on driving performance and whether the effect is sustained. Roenker et al. (2003) reported that training the speed of processing improved both driving performance (in a simulator) and UFOV score. On the basis of these data, we conclude that the UFOV may be useful as an additional (vision related) test to assess individual drivers. However, due to the difficulty in interpreting the results, it seems at present unsuited to include the test in the European vision Directive. Currently, diplopia is only mentioned in the paragraph for Group 2 drivers. It should be noted that diplopia can be severely disabling and can severely affect driving performance. Long-standing diplopia, especially when present before the age of 10, is influenced by higher cortical function and many people with strabismus report having diplopia , when asked specifically. However, they are able to ignore the second image, in most cases to the extent that they hardly perceive this second image anymore. In contrast, newly developed diplopia in an adult may be incapacitating because these people cannot suppress one image and may not be able to distinguish between the two images. When the diplopia persists for months, in many cases, but not always, some kind of adaptation and suppression of one image occurs so that driving, at least for Group 1 drivers, could be allowed. It is therefore important for newly developed diplopia, to request an adaptation - 14 - New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers period as well as a complete ophthalmological examination. For Group 2 drivers, driving with diplopia should probably never be allowed. Intermittent patching of one eye during driving (in order to avoid diplopia) is not recommended because it hinders adaptation. Patching of one eye is, however, a useful option when the patch is worn continuously (ie not only during driving). In this case, rules for monocular drivers apply. We note that there is very little literature about diplopia and driving. We know of only one paper that describes a limited number of subjects with acquired diplopia (White et al., 2001). In this small study, there was no difference in driving behaviour (driving simulator) between subjects with long standing acquired diplopia (longer than 6 months) and normal controls. Bioptic devices and other visual enhancement devices Visual aids may be divided into devices for correcting refractive errors (to focus the image onto the retina) and devices that modify the image in other ways. These latter devices may enlarge the image, to enhance resolution, or they may shrink the image, in order to expand the visual field (e.g. Szlyk et al., 1998). Alternatively, they may change the location of the image (prismatic devices) in order to prevent diplopia or expand the functional visual field (e.g. Szlyk et al., 2005b). Bioptic devices are spectacle-mounted telescopic devices that provide a solution for low visual acuities. Their use for drivers has been advocated by a number of researchers (e.g. Katz, 1991; Politzer, 1995), but fundamental research into their benefits and disadvantages has been scarce (see, e.g. Szlyk et al., 2000). Although bioptics are allowed in many states of the USA, their application remains controversial (e.g. Barron, 1991). The central field of view is enlarged by a telescope in order to enhance resolution. As a result, the user may be able to identify characters that belong to a visual acuity 0.5 standard whereas the acuity, when measured conventionally, is lower. This enlargement of the telescopic image area is at the cost of the introduction of a large ring scotoma when looking through the telescope. The ring scotoma blocks an area ‘Magnification x the field of the telescope’. For a common ‘3 x 12 telescope, this results in a 36 degrees diameter scotoma. Anything outside this area (hence from 36 degrees to the actual peripheral limits of the visual field) remains visible. Therefore, the driver is instructed to look through the telescope selectively only when he/she “needs” a better acuity, particularly for reading road signs. From research into the use of bioptic devices, it appears that there is a large variation in the estimate of the percentage of time that people use them, although the tasks were very similar (Bowers et al., 2005). Some people estimate that they spent a large amount of driving time looking through the telescope but most people hardly used the telescope. According to the instructions, people should look through the telescope no more than 5 to 10% of driving time. However, after passing the driving test wearing the device, most people subsequently rarely look through the telescope at all. The Eyesight Working Group acknowledges that bioptic devices may be helpful to the individual driver (e.g. Szlyk et al., 2000). However, by allowing bioptics under all conditions, it is felt that visual acuity standards would be significantly lowered at the cost of a severe reduction in visual field. The effect on traffic safety of this reduction may be marked. Notably, depending on the magnification factor of the device, the 0.5 visual acuity standard could be effectively reached even with very low visual acuities but at the - 15 - The Eyesight Working Group cost of the ring scotoma, as mentioned before. In many states in the United States, reasonable limits are placed on visual acuity without bioptics in order to avoid this issue. Analogous to this, we recommend that bioptic devices may be considered only when: 1. the driver demonstrates safe and adequate driving behaviour without the use of bioptics and 2. it is demonstrated (preferably by a practical driving test) in this individual driver that the use of the bioptic does not interfere with traffic safety. Hence, the bioptic device should not be used to meet the standard, but may be used during driving provided that the subject is well adapted to using the device. Notably, in the United States, a large variation in rules apply in the various states (see, e.g. at www.lowvision.org for a comprehensive overview. Most states allow bioptics for driving but only 23 states also allow use of the device to meet the visual acuity standard. Fourteen states explicitly forbid this and another 14 states do not mention bioptics. In many states, visual acuity standards are lower than in European countries although, it must be realised, traffic conditions are markedly different). The Eyesight Working Group realizes that, without lowering the current acuity standard, the usefulness of bioptic devices is limited. Bioptic devices may be especially useful with low visual acuities, possibly as low as 0.16. However, the general opinion across the Working Group members is that in the European traffic setting, it is not desirable to lower the acuity standard to such a level. Periodic screening of drivers Having discussed the relationship between driving performance and the various visual functions, and having discussed the problems of the cut-off values, the next question is whether drivers should be periodically screened for impairments of vision and, if so, from what age and at what intervals. In the European Council Directive 91/439/EEC, there are no guidelines regarding periodic testing of drivers. In most member states, however, some form of medical evaluation takes place upon driving-licence renewal either by selfdeclaration by the driver or by a physician, who can be a general physician or a designated specialist. (see White and O’Neal, 2000 for an overview). The advantage of screening is obviously the promotion of driving safety by a reduction of the number of fatalities and injuries attributable to functional impairment of the driver. The disadvantage of screening lies in the costs that are involved and the effort that is required of the driver. In the literature, the effectiveness of periodic screening has been doubted. Most knowledge originates from studies comparing traffic safety in drivers with and without in-person renewal of driving licences (Kelsey and Janke, 1983; Zaidel and Hocherman, 1986; Janke, 1990; Grabowski et al., 2004). None of these studies reported any beneficial effect of screening of visual functions. Zaidel and Hocherman (1986) demonstrated that, although 30% of drivers were instructed to start wearing spectacles for driving, only 7% did so as a result of the screening procedure. Janke (1990) reported that driving licence renewal by mail (as opposed to in-person renewal) did not affect traffic safety in subjects with clean driving records (although there was a difference in subjects with previous driving accidents and convictions). Grabowski et al. (2004) reported that in-person driving licence renewal was associated with lower fatality rates in elderly drivers, although vision tests were not beneficial. In a recent study into the prevalence of impairments of visual function in European drivers (van Rijn et al., 2005), the highest prevalence of impairments was found in sub-populations in which screening was mandatory (Spain at any age and The Netherlands beyond the age of 70). Although one - 16 - New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers could argue that without screening, the prevalence would have been still higher, these results cast doubt on the effectiveness of screening of visual functions. Only Shipp and Penchansky (1995) extrapolate to a possible beneficial effect of screening. Screening should only be imposed if its efficacy and efficiency are well established. The efficacy and efficiency of screening are determined by the prevalence of impairments, the sensitivity and specificity of the tests that are being used and the costs of the screening procedure in relation to its benefits (enhancement of traffic safety). This should preferably be evaluated in a prospective randomized study (see Wormald, 2003 for a comprehensive review). The prevalence of impairments was recently investigated in the European study mentioned above (van Rijn et al., 2005). It was found that the prevalence of impaired visual acuity and visual field is very low at young ages. The prevalence of impaired visual acuity rises to 5% in the highest age groups (consisting of drivers of 75 years of age and older) but the majority of these subjects meet the standards after proper adjustment of their spectacle correction. The prevalence of impairments of visual fields rises to 2.7% in the highest age groups. The prevalence of impairments of contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity is higher but the cut-off value of those parameters is not yet clearly established. As yet, these visual functions are not included in the European Directive. Screening may be particularly useful to improve spectacle correction amongst drivers since it has been repeatedly found that up to 10% of drivers may have a considerable improvement of visual acuity when their spectacle correction is adjusted. However, it is as yet unknown whether screening of drivers will indeed promote wearing of adequate spectacles, and additionally, if wearing those spectacles will positively influence traffic safety. In conclusion, screening may be most beneficial for the detection of impaired contrast sensitivity, increased glare sensitivity and possibly reduced Useful Field of View. For these parameters of visual function, no standards are as yet defined. Further research is recommended. Screening for detection of impaired visual acuity and visual field is of limited value since the prevalence of impairments amongst drivers (at least at young ages) is limited. If, due to a desire to harmonise European standards, screening of drivers is to be introduced then we recommend it should only commence at older ages and preferably not before the age of 60. Exceptional cases: restricted licences Under the current Directive, it is possible to offer a restricted licence to drivers. Codes 05.01 to 05.04 restrict driving respectively to day-time, a certain radius, without passengers or with a speed limit. Additionally, the validity of the licence may be time limited. There is no guidance as to how these codes or limitations should be applied. We note that the relationship between vision impairments and driving performance is rather weak. The weakness of this relationship is caused by the fact that driving performance is determined multifactorially. Apart from vision, many factors play a role. Vision impairments may sometimes, but not always, be compensated for by (strategic or tactical) behaviour of the driver (Keall and Frith, 2004). Hence, the relation between impairments and activities (e.g. driving) is indirect. (ICF terminology, see e.g. Tant, 2002 for a - 17 - The Eyesight Working Group discussion of these terms, see also Colenbrander, 2003). That is, the same impairment (e.g. low visual acuity) does not always lead to the same limitation (e.g. practical unfitness to drive) because a (mild) impairment can sometimes be compensated for. A lowered visual acuity is often accompanied by an impaired contrast sensitivity and/or glare sensitivity. This is particularly true for elderly subjects with cataract, glaucoma or macular degeneration. As has been pointed out above, measurement procedures for contrast sensitivity and glare are not well developed. Therefore, we do not advocate a lowering of the visual acuity standard since this may have the unwanted side effect that subjects with rather severe impairments of contrast sensitivity and/or glare sensitivity will be granted a licence. The consequence of this strategy is that there is a limited number of subjects (e.g. with stable congenital / hereditary disease such as x linked retinoschizis) with suboptimal acuity, but normal contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity, who are denied a licence, although they could be safe drivers because their ‘isolated’ mild impairment and preservation of other visual functions facilitates effective compensation. A similar reasoning holds for visual field defects caused by (posterior) brain damage. In many cases, only the visual field is impaired without other visual functions being affected. For this group, where a mild impairment does not lead to a substantial limitation, we advocate formalising the procedures for restricted licences. Driving performance should be investigated by a practical driving test. Once the subject has demonstrated adequate compensation, a restricted licence may be offered. We note that limitations of vision, such as decreased visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, may particularly affect driving performance during twilight hours. Therefore, restricted licences in subjects with these sight limitations could be issued for day-time hours only. In addition, the driving radius could be limited to limit exposure and to facilitate driving in a familiar setting where unanticipated traffic situations are minimized. The validity in time of the driving licence could be limited in cases of possible progressive impairments. A system like this would, to a large extent, enhance the mobility and social independence of the mildly visually impaired population. Moreover, by requesting a practical driving test and by imposing restrictions and limitations, traffic safety may be optimally safeguarded. However, we emphasise that a restricted licence should be issued in exceptional cases only and following positive expert advice. Moreover, the applicant has to demonstrate adequate driving ability. Notably, the applicant should be tested under the conditions for which a licence is applied. The driving test should be passed in the area of intended driving. This will avoid passing the test in a rural area whereas driving occurs in an urban setting and vice versa. If twilight driving is applied for, this should also be tested. Hence, only in exceptional cases and following positive expert advice and evaluation, can restricted licences be issued to candidate drivers not attaining the visual standard (to be discussed further). Advice and evaluation should be undertaken only by vision and driving experts, preferably in specialised multidisciplinary centres. As suggested, a restricted licence should be possible only when the visual impairment is moderate and hence if the visual function is just a little below the standard and other visual functions are nearly unimpaired. The consensus amongst the Working Group - 18 - New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers members is that, when a driver applies for a restricted licence based on suboptimal visual acuity, the actual visual acuity should not be below 0.3 whereas other visual functions, such as contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity, should be unimpaired (values to be defined). Moreover, the visual field standard must be met in full. Alternatively, when the application is based on a limited visual field, then the actual visual field defect should be outside the central 20 degree area and the standard regarding visual acuity must be met. This field value of 20 degrees is based on the observation that this area is of particular importance for visual perception during driving (Schiefer et al., 2000). Hence, a restricted licence should not be possible when both visual acuity and visual field are below the standard. (Some Working Group members also support the possibility of a restricted licence for those with homonymous visual field defects, caused by brain damage.) The vision and driving experts decide upon the validity of the driving licence and the potential restrictions. It should be emphasised that, if the applicant challenges the decision, the burden of proof should rest with the applicant. The applicant for a restricted licence should prove that he/she is capable of driving under the conditions for which a licence application is made. We recommend that national specialist centres (or at least a limited number of specialist centres in each country) be responsible for the issuing of restricted licences. These ‘fitness to drive centres’ should house, amongst others, vision and driving experts. This would facilitate procedures and would generate a large pool of experience in this field. Furthermore, this would allow for future comparison of data for research purposes. From the studies cited above, it appears that a variety of parameters of visual function is important for safe driving. This holds true particularly for visual field. Contrast sensitivity and, perhaps, glare sensitivity are also very important. Visual acuity, especially if only mildly impaired, seems less important, but we note the majority of conditions that lead to decreased visual acuity also lead to decreased contrast sensitivity and increased glare sensitivity. As we noted, measurement of contrast sensitivity and, particularly glare sensitivity is less straightforward than measurement of visual acuity, since we lack knowledge about adequate cut-off values and about the prevalence of impairments in the driving population. As long as adequate testing for contrast sensitivity and/or glare sensitivity is not included in the standards then it is advisable not to underestimate the role of visual acuity measurements. Regarding the actual cut-off values, we have remarked that research data are lacking for various reasons. The recommendations that follow in the next paragraph are therefore based on reasoning, common sense and practical experience. It is advisable that research is performed specifically into the issue of cut-off values. Awaiting the results of such investigations, we feel that some recommendations can however be made. Principles of testing 1) Parameters should be defined in terms of visual function, not in terms of test outcomes. - 19 - The Eyesight Working Group 2) Parameters should be defined in terms of visual function, not in terms of ocular disease. 3) The term “normal” should not be used. 4) Parameters should be defined binocularly. When defined monocularly, this should be justified. 5) Test parameters should be clearly defined in order to avoid ambiguity. 6) The majority of the tests should be laboratory tests, in order to avoid frequent onroad testing procedures. Current guidelines and proposed changes In the paragraphs below, the headings represent the current European Directive. Each heading is followed by a discussion of problems and recommendations 1) The binocular visual acuity should be 0.5 or better. a) Problem i) The rationale for this cut-off value has not been properly justified. b) Recommendation i) Depending on the contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity of the driver and on the road and traffic conditions, the standard of 0.5 for visual acuity may be too strict (daytime driving in a subject with non-impaired contrast and glare sensitivity) or too lenient (night-time driving in a subject with early cataract) (Elliott et al., 1996) We emphasise that the effects of lowered contrast sensitivity and increased glare sensitivity can be such that visual performance may be drastically reduced, depending on sight conditions. Therefore, even whilst 0.5 is probably a rather high standard, it should not be lowered until adequate testing procedures for contrast sensitivity and, possibly, glare sensitivity, are available. 2) The horizontal visual field should be at least 120 degrees a) Problems i) This cut-off value has not been properly justified ii) There are no requirements for the left/right/up/down extension of the visual field iii) There are no guidelines for the testing method iv) There are no requirements regarding the absence of/allowance of sporadic defects v) There are no rules regarding the number of attempts a candidate is allowed to make. b) Recommendations i) Many studies demonstrate the importance of an adequate visual field for driving, however, adequate cut-off values have not been published. Awaiting studies in this field, there is no current basis for change of this standard. Additional research is recommended. ii) The solitary requirement for the horizontal extension of the visual field does not exclude the possibility of important extensive visual field defects above - 20 - New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers and below this meridian, defects of significant importance in traffic. Although, as pointed out, scientific data to support figures concerning the recommended extension are lacking, it is reasonable to propose that the visual field should extend to 20 degrees above and below the horizontal meridian. Likewise, the field must not be too limited on either side of the fixation point. We therefore suggest a minimum of 50 degrees to the right and to the left. iii) For an adequate examination of a candidate’s visual field, it is necessary to perform perimetry. This test is costly, since it requires rather expensive equipment. It is also time consuming. Since the prevalence of visual field defects in the driving population is rather low, it may not be necessary to test all driving licence applicants by perimetry. It could be sufficient to test only those individuals in whom defects could be anticipated. Those individuals, should preferably be tested by a ‘traffic perimetry algorithm’. This should comprise a sufficient number of test points (e.g. 100) within the area of interest (i.e., 120 x 40o), from which a sufficient number of points (e.g. 25) is located within the central 20 degrees (radius). Their luminance should be related to that of the hill of vision, i.e., with increasing intensity towards the periphery. The luminance should be at a certain supra-threshold level; we suggest 8 dB above the threshold for older people (e.g. 80-years old). Visual fields could be measured binocularly (ie with both eyes together). When visual fields are measured monocularly, only defects that are overlapping, i.e. at the identical location in both eyes, should be considered .Visual field defects that are not overlapping (a visual field defect in one eye with no defect at the identical location in the fellow eye) are less relevant for driving. With such a test available, it would be possible to lay down the number of missed test points, centrally as well as peripherally, acceptable for a licence (see at iv)). iv) Within the suggested 120 x 40o area, isolated field defects (depressions, scotomas) may appear, e.g. due to glaucoma or chorioretinitis. If of a certain depth and size, they might be of significance in traffic. There are no data suggesting the maximum number, size and depth of such defects. Monocular drivers are (as far as we know) not hampered by the Physiological Blind Spot. Therefore a comparable scotoma in the binocular visual field could be allowed. It is reasonable that scotomas within the central 20o (an area with a diameter of 40o with the fixation point in the centre) are of greater importance than scotomas outside this area (Schiefer et al., 2000). Any more detailed specification brings with it ambiguities, especially since the characteristics of the scotomas depend on the method used to define them. We therefore suggest that isolated defects be judged on an individual basis by a panel of specialists (possibly in a national expert centre, see section on restricted licences). We realise that, from a practical point of view, it may be impossible for all isolated defects to be judged on an individual basis. We therefore suggest that some rough guidelines should be developed to discriminate between those defects that are allowed and those that should be referred to a specialist centre for further judgement. These guidelines could, for example, be as follows: with the method of testing, suggested at iii), within the central 20 degrees of - 21 - The Eyesight Working Group visual field (radius) no more than 2 relative defects should be present. When these defects are related to the Physiologic Blind Spot, these defects may be absolute. Within the 120 (horizontal) x 40 (vertical) degrees visual field area, no more than 7 relative visual field defects should be present. It should be noted that these criteria could only provide a rough guide to the judgement of visual modalities. We strongly advocate further research in this field to further justify these criteria. It should be realised that relative defects are sensitive to refractive errors. Therefore, prior to testing, refractive errors should be adequately corrected. Moreover, relative defects in peripheral visual field areas may be generated by spectacles and spectacle frames. It is common practice for diagnostic tests to test peripheral visual field areas without spectacle correction, in order to avoid inadvertent measurement of visual field defects, but this does not reflect the actual situation during driving. v) We know that visual field testing results may be variable; first time testing often has worse results than repeated tests (e.g. Parrish, Schiffmann and Anderson, 1984; Lewis et al., 1986). Therefore, one has to allow for repeated testing in case of doubt. The adequacy of the test results may be judged by an expert. 3) No progressive eye disease should be present, when a progressive eye disease is present, regular check-ups are requested. a) Problem i) None, this is an adequate standard b) Recommendation i) None 4) In case of total functional loss of vision in one eye, the visual acuity must be at least 0.6. a) Problem i) This is an ambiguous standard since, for example, mere light perception in the fellow eye is not useful for driving, but is not absolute blindness. ii) No functional difference is anticipated between monocular and binocular drivers, other than in functions that are not tested for, such as stereo-acuity. b) Recommendation i) No special requirements for the monocular driver: this paragraph could be omitted. 5) There are no requirements for twilight vision, other than in cases of doubt. a) Problem i) Tests for twilight vision may supply useful information about driving capacity. b) Recommendation i) There is no clarity regarding the cut-off value and methodology of measurement for contrast sensitivity and the cut-off values for glare sensitivity. However, it is likely that impairments of twilight vision are an important factor in road safety. Therefore, future introduction of requirements regarding twilight vision should be made possible and anticipated, after proper research has been performed. - 22 - New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers 6) There are no requirements for the absence of diplopia a) Problem i) Diplopia may lead to severe confusion of images during driving. Note that adaptation is possible in many cases and that severely disabling persisting diplopia is rare. b) Recommendation i) Formulate a requirement regarding diplopia e.g. no severely disabling diplopia should be present. Any recently developed diplopia should lead to an adaptation period of at least 6 months, during which driving is not allowed. After this period, driving is only allowed after favourable support of vision and driving experts, suggesting that the diplopia is not disabling. Intermittent patching of one eye during driving (in order to avoid diplopia) is not recommended as it limits adaptive processes. Patching of one eye is an acceptable option when the patch is being worn continuously (hence not only during driving). In this case, rules for monocular drivers apply. 1) The visual acuity should be at least 0.8 in the best eye, 0.5 in the fellow eye. a) Problem i) The visual acuity requirement for the fellow eye is insufficiently justified. One may argue that driving is a binocular activity and therefore no requirements for monocular visual acuity should be formulated. However, one may also argue that, in view of the greater responsibility of Group 2 drivers, a spare eye should be present. Even if one should require a spare eye, it is safe to assume that with a visual acuity of 0.1 in this spare eye, a driver should be able to stop the truck or bus at the side of the road. ii) The cut-off value of 0.8 in the better eye is arbitrary, although we consider it reasonable in Group 2 drivers to expect that the visual acuity is normal or near normal. b) Recommendation i) We recommend changing the visual acuity requirement in the fellow eye from 0.5 to 0.1. ii) We recommend no change to the standard of 0.8 in the better eye. 2) Glasses should be +- 8 dioptres or less a) Problem i) This requirement is not formulated in terms of visual function and therefore it may lead to ambiguities. The ring scotoma that results from +8 Dioptre glasses depends on the shape of the glasses, the distance of the glass to the eye and on the shape and thickness of the spectacle frame. Therefore, the visual field restrictions that result from these glasses largely vary between subjects. Notably, most +8 Dioptre spectacles will result in visual field defects well within the 120 degree area. However, at present insufficient knowledge is available to formulate a justifiable change of this requirement. In contrast, -8 Dioptre glasses will not result in a ring scotoma. b) Recommendation - 23 - The Eyesight Working Group i) The –8 requirement could be abolished. No requirements for the strength of minus lenses need to be formulated. We note that severe myopia leads to decreased visual acuity and contrast sensitivity (Risse et al., 1996), but these visual functions could be tested separately. ii) The +8 requirement requires further research. Possibly, in the future, this requirement may be formulated more precisely (e.g. +8 dioptre glasses are only allowed if, with the glasses, adequate visual fields can be demonstrated). 3) Normal visual fields should be present in both eyes. a) Problems i) The term “normal” is ambiguous since the extent of the visual field depends on the shape of the face. Hence a “normal” visual field in one subject may in fact be smaller than an “impaired” visual field in another subject. ii) One may argue that driving is a binocular activity, therefore no monocular visual field requirements should be formulated. Even in terms of a spare eye (potentially necessary for stopping the car in case of emergency) no monocular visual field requirements are necessary. iii) The cut-off value is arbitrary, although it is reasonable to expect from a truck or bus driver that the visual field is unimpaired. iv) There are no guidelines for the testing method. v) There are no rules for the number of attempts a subject is allowed to make. b) Recommendations i) Formulate the visual field requirements in terms of numbers, e.g. horizontal visual field should be 160 degrees, the extension should be at least 70 degrees left and right and 30 degrees up and down. No defects should be present within central 30 degrees (not even the Physiologic Blind Spot). The exact numbers should follow from future research. ii) The requirements are for binocular visual fields, see section on Group 1 drivers. iii) See at i) iv) See at section on Group 1 drivers. The method for Group 2 drivers may be similar, though the reference age may be different, e.g. 70 years of age. This would effectively request that a Group 2 driver has a sensitivity throughout the visual field that is not more than 8 dB worse than the normal sensitivity of a 70 year old subject. The actual requirements require further research. v) See section on Group 1 drivers. 4) No requirements for twilight vision (contrast sensitivity and/or glare sensitivity) are included. a) Problem i) Twilight vision may provide useful information about driving capacity b) Recommendation i) There is no clarity regarding the cut-off value and methodology of measurement for contrast sensitivity and the cut-off values for glare sensitivity. However, it is likely that impairments of twilight vision are an important factor for adequate driving performance. Therefore, future introduction of requirements for twilight vision should be made possible and anticipated, after proper research has been performed. In the opinion of the - 24 - New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers Working Group, it is reasonable to expect unimpaired contrast sensitivity in a Group 2 driver. Future research should reveal how this will translate into the outcome measures of visual function tests. 5) Requirements for the absence of diplopia are scarcely formulated. a) Problem i) Diplopia may lead to severe confusion of images during driving. Note that adaptation is possible in many cases and that severe, disabling persisting diplopia is rare. b) Recommendation i) Although driving could probably be allowed for drivers with long-standing, non-disabling diplopia, research on this issue is scarce. We recommend not changing the current standard. (i.e. we recommend that Group 2 drivers should not have diplopia). 1) There are no requirements for periodic testing nor on procedures in case of the development of eye disease between testing periods. a) Problem: i) Eye disease that occurs after the licence has been granted will not be detected and any gradual decrease in visual functions will remain unnoticed. ii) Even if a person knows that she/he has developed an eye disease, there is currently no obligation to inform the authorities and be tested. b) Recommendation i) Research is advised into the efficacy and efficiency of periodic screening. The questions to be answered concern the prevalence of impairments (currently being studied), the specificity of testing and cost of screening procedures in relation to the costs of accidents. This should preferably be evaluated in a prospective randomised study. If screening is implemented, based on current knowledge, then we recommend starting at a rather late age for Group 1 drivers and not before the age of 60. For Group 2 drivers, testing at a younger ages may be considered, as well as a test at the first application for the driving licence. ii) In cases of newly developed ocular disease or decrease in vision, drivers should be examined or re-examined. It should be the responsibility of drivers to make sure that the visual function requirements are met (e.g. by checking with their ophthalmologist). In cases of doubt, a full ophthalmological assessment should be performed. 2) There is a difference between screening (aimed at detection of disease) and testing (aiming at measuring known abnormalities) a) Problems i) Applying testing programmes to a normal population may be costly and lead to a large number of false positives ii) Applying screening programmes to subjects with known abnormalities may lead to false negatives b) Recommendation. - 25 - The Eyesight Working Group i) The requirements that are formulated above are applicable for testing subjects with known abnormalities. The conditions for screening need to be formulated. For example: (1) Measure visual acuity of both eyes with habitual spectacles (2) Measure visual field with a suprathreshold screening programme. (3) If any abnormalities are found, refer for a testing programme. 3) There is no adaptation period following newly developed eye disorders. a) Problem. i) For example: after trauma in which a subject loses one eye, the requirements regarding Group I licences are still met. However, in the immediate aftermath of the trauma, the subject may not be capable of driving safely due to adaptation problems, but driving capacity may be regained (Edwards and Schachat, 1991). The same applies to the occurrence of diplopia after brain disease. b) Recommendation i) Formulate a standard as follows: (Group I) after the loss of vision in one eye or after newly developed diplopia, there should be an adaptation period of at least 6 months during which the subject is not allowed to drive. (Group II) after substantial loss of vision in one eye (and the driver still meeting the requirements) there should be an adaptation period of at least 6 months during which the subject is not allowed to drive. In both cases, the driver is obliged to check with their ophthalmologist whether the requirements are still met. In case of doubt, a full ophthalmological assessment should be performed. 4) There is only a limited opportunity for a restricted licence (exceptional cases). a) Problem i) In some drivers, mild perceptual defects may be compensated for by adaptive driving behaviour. These drivers may not adversely affect traffic safety, whereas stopping them from driving would introduce a large social handicap. Such compensation may occur both for visual acuity and visual field defects. ii) In some subjects with stable sub-optimal visual acuity and normal contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity, this standard of 0.5 may be too strict. iii) The experience with restricted licences in member states is limited and decentralized. b) Recommendation i) and ii) Allow the possibility of issuing a restricted licence for Group I drivers when visual acuity is between 0.5 and 0.3 or, alternatively, when visual field defects are present outside the central 20 degrees area, in both cases subject also to favourable support from vision and driving experts. The applicant should demonstrate adequate driving performance in the conditions for which the licence application is made. This implies that also a practical driving test should be performed. In practce, this could imply that an elderly subject with impaired visual acuity (and no significant impairments of contrast sensitivity and glare) is granted a licence with restrictions to day-time hours and to a certain radius. A young subject with a stable congenital disease may be, for example, granted a licence with day time restrictions, but without any limits to exposure, depending on expert advice. A restricted licence should not be - 26 - New Standards for the Visual Functions of Drivers issued when the visual acuity is below 0.3 or when visual field defects are present within the central 20 degrees of visual field (radius). (As has been mentioned above, some members of the Working Group support the possibility of a restricted licence for subjects with homonymous hemianopia due to brain damage). A restricted licence should not be possible when both visual acuity and visual field are below the standard. ii) See at i). iii) The Working Group advocate the establishment of national specialist centres to deal with the issuing of restricted licences. These ‘fitness to drive centres’ should house, amongst others, vision and driving experts. 5) There is a pressure from interest groups to allow driving with Bioptic devices. a) Problem i) Driving with bioptics allows the driver to meet the standard of visual acuity (when looking through the telescope device) òr meet the standard of visual field (when looking past the telescope device). Hence, they do not meet both standards at all times. Apart from this, it is likely that in selected subjects, a bioptic device may be a useful tool to enhance visual performance during driving. b) Recommendation i) A bioptic device may be a useful tool during driving. 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A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Flecknoe, Richard |←Flavel, John||A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature by Flecknoe, Richard (d. 1678). -- Poet, said to have been an Irish priest. He wrote several plays, now forgotten, also miscellaneous poems, some of them sacred, and a book of travels. His name has been preserved in Dryden's satire, MacFlecknoe, aspage 141 "throughout the realms of nonsense absolute;" but according to some authorities his slighter pieces were not wanting in grace and fancy.

An essay on the nature of our current societal reality This will not deal with the question of what reality only is. The following article consists simply of observations I’ve made during my life so far. I think that reality is made up of layers. If you excuse the Shrek reference, very much like an onion, but I think, a more apt extended metaphor would be an ocean. The first layer is the most obvious, what you can see first when looking at the surface from above. It’s the foam on the waves, or to be a bit more pessimistic, the scum. A whole lot of people live here, innocent as well as ignorant and underprivileged. Do not mistake them for the scum, though. They just have to live in it. One example would be disadvantaged children in Lagos, slaving away in sweat shops and dying of AIDS at age twelve. Or … Meet Tammy: A 15 year old high school student from the American Midwest, her life consists mostly of soap operas, Americas Next Topmodel and after school specials which use scare tactics to lie to her about the dangers of drugs and premarital sex instead of educating her in a more enlightened way. Tammy does not watch the news and anthing happening elsewhere than in her hometown of 50.000 residents will elude her notice. She will notice something of a global or national importance, like say, a thermonuclear war or 9/11 or maybe even Obama’s health bill, because such events simply cannot go unnoticed in the ocean as they cause quite a stir, twirling the foam around and producing a panic in its inhabitants. The things she does notice though are tinted by a biased mass media and as such she is deeply affected by what people tell her is truth, justice and the American way. For example, she is convinced, that her president is trying to ruin the country and that most if not all Muslims are terrorists. Tammy’s school life is apparently dull from the outside, but she is most excited by it, as is natural for a teenager. Not by the lessons but by the constant popularity contest raging on the corridors, of course. Regarding those lessons: She learns that evolution is a lie and she believes it, because she doesn’t know better. On a sidenote: A friend of mine said that those, who are in denial of evolution are only jealous because they were left out. Tammy uses the internet for facebook and myspace and the occasional google search for a pornographic image to giggle at. When or if Tammy grows up, barring a horrible drunk driving accident later in her life, she has a couple of options (there are actually a whole lot more, but for simplicity’s and this article’s sake I’ll be polemic). First, she can go live in a white trash trailer park with her husband, whom she married after her prom, popping out a few children. He is the football-jock-with-knee-injury who didn’t quite make it. Both are mindless consumers. This is not growing up, if you’re asking yourself. Second, she can become a successful politician, like her idol Sarah P. from W., A. This is actually not improbable, as most politicians are either inhabitants of the scum-layer or working its inhabitants as their target demographic and possible voters. Third, and this may be an addon option to her political career, Tammy might actually grow into having an interest in her surrounding reality. She might go to college, learn that there are other options in life and maybe even question her education and some or all of her beliefs, diving under the scum and evolving into a denizen of the second layer. If she also becomes a politician, she may actually try to do something good with her bestowed power. To the second layer then: The clear lagoon water you can imagine from a Hawaiian picture, maybe in some places slightly murkier (these are the big sprawls and megacities) but still a lot cleaner than the scum. This is where I picture myself: Living in a national capital, I keep myself up to date with a lot of regional, national and even global news, while paying heed to using liberal as well as conservative media in order to gain my insights. I keep an open mind and do not discriminate minorities, be they ethnic, religious or sexually preferential. This wealth of information I have at my disposal via the internet makes me worry a lot. Worrying makes me unhappy, so I employ the preferred escapism of these days: I consume. I enjoy good literature, well made TV shows, movies and comics. But I also think a lot (as you can probably see from this wall of text) and I relish vainly letting others know of my thoughts. Hence this column (the first time in English, though). With all my self-perceived intellectual superiority I could look down on Tammy and her peers, and the inconvenient truth is: Most of the time I do. Actually, I don’t have a reason to act this way since I am not more successful or richer (and very probably less so than some of the scum-dwellers) and a good percentage of those people simply either haven’t grown up yet or are not in a position to leave their intellectual surroundings. Also, I am quite sure that most of them are happier with their lot in life than I am. It’s as they say, after all: Ignorance is bliss. So there is not much to look down on, is there? As I walk through the streets of this big national capital I live in, I can sometimes catch glimpses of what I perceive as the third layer of reality: Drug deals going down, the police cracking down on criminals, homeless people begging for money and the like. The people in this layer are part small time criminals, part opportunists. They have fallen through the cracks of society or went into society’s niches on their own free will and they live in the waters that are still warm, where people still swim, but it’s considerably darker there. Here (and below) ethics are dictated by necessity. No one above likes to look down here, because you usually don’t like what you see: The residents here are parasitic or predatorial, some accidental, some by choice, but all live in either fear or a fickle truce of the big fish of the fourth layer. Here, in the deep, dark and cold waters of the open sea live the hardened career criminals, preying on society. Crime syndicate bosses, or corporate spys, but also terrorists and even government black-ops teams. These are the sharks that ‘normal’ people (read: 1st or 2nd layer residents) usually don’t see or if they see them don’t recognize their true nature. Should it come to a hostile encounter with those elements, the normal people usually end up maimed or dead (either psychologically or literally). If you want to envision it, use Heat as one possible reference. These big fish threaten and live from our civilisation at the same time. Is this the rotten core of our society? That would be a depressing thought, and I don’t think this scenario likely, or else our society wouldn’t work at all. As a result, I spun that thought a little further and imagined a fifth level of reality. The deep sea and the abysses of submarine trenches still harbor a lot of ecosystems and creatures that we don’t know about very well and sometimes something will surface. I think it’s the same in my extended metaphor. Here, we have the ‘what ifs’, all the stories about things that go bump in the night, fairytales, mythical creatures imaginary things and gods (I know, some people will take His existence for granted, but I don’t), in short: Here be dragons. This layer had a profound influence in earlier history (think e.g. of the superstitions that ruled everyday life in the middle ages) but nowadays there’s only little relevance, apart from the religious and recreational worth. If this layer is humanity’s collective subconscious, born from stories to make your children more obedient (incidentally, refer to the after school specials that Tammy likes and is encouraged to watch), from religious worship and outrageous stories to explain natural phenomena in a time that lacked scientific method, it’s a very vast space. This beckons the question: If we normal people usually don’t even see the residents of the open sea, is it not possible that we can’t see what’s down there in the black either? That’s pure speculation, of course, but … what if? I can’t imagine an even deeper layer of reality, but when I swim in my blue waters and look up, as the sky I imagine future exploits of humanity, such lofty concepts like transhumanism, technological singularity or on a more pessimistic note the nuclear bottleneck, we still have to overcome, or even a global extinction event. What I hope for, though, is extraplanetary, maybe even extrasolar colonies before this happens.

|• Wylie transliteration||sKyid-grong| |• Pinyin||Jílóng Xiàn| Location of Gyirong County within Tibet |Time zone||China Standard (UTC+8)| sKyid-grong (Gyirong, Kyirong, Tibetan: སྐྱིད་གྲོང་, Wylie: sKyid-grong, Chinese: 吉隆县; Pinyin: Jílóng Xiàn) is a former district (རྫོང་, rDzong) in the south-west of Tibet and is from 1960 onwards a county of the newly established Xigazê of the newly established Tibet Autonomous Region. It is famous because of its mild climatically conditions and its abundant vegetation which is unusual for the Tibetan plateau. The capital lies at Zongga. Its name in Tibetan, Dzongka means "mud walls". Up to 1960 one of the main trade routes between Nepal and Tibet passed through this region. Easily accessible from Nepal, it was used several times as an entrance gate for military actions from the site of Nepal against Tibet. In 1945 Peter Aufschnaiter counted 26 temples and monasteries which covered the area of sKyid-grong and the neighboring La-sdebs. The most famous temple of sKyid-grong is the Byams-sprin lha-khang, erected by the famous Tibetan king Srong-btsan sgam-po (Songtsän Gampo) as one of the four Yang-´dul temples in the 7th century A.D. During the 11th century the famous Indian scholar Atisha visited sKyi-grong. sKyid-grong was one of the favorite meditation places of the Tibetan Yogin Mi-la ras-pa (Milarepa). The local dialect of sKyid-grong has been researched thoroughly and folk literature of this region was collected and published during the 1980s. Of outstanding importance are the Byams-sprin lha-khang temple, which was built in the 7th century A. D., and the ´Phags-pa lha-khang temple. The ´Phags-pa lha-khang formerly contained one of the holiest Avalokiteshvara statues of Tibet, the statue of the Ārya Va-ti bzang-po. This statue was brought to India in 1959 and is now kept in Dharamsala. Of some importance is the bKra-shis bdam-gtan gling monastery, founded by yongs-´dzin Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan (1713–1793), who was one of the teachers of the 8th Dalai Lama. Lake Paiku is in this county. This is a 27 kmk long, slightly salty lake surrounded by snowy peaks 5,700 to 6,000 meters high. Towns and townships - Zongga Town (宗嘎镇) - Gyirong Town (吉隆镇) - Zhêba Township (折巴乡) - Kungtang Township (贡当乡) - Chagna Township (差那乡) - Department of Forestry, Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China, ‘’Report on Protected Lands in the Tibet Autonomous Region’’ Lhasa: Tibet Autonomous Region Government Publishing House, 2006 - Roland Bielmeier, Silke Herrmann: Märchen, Sagen und Schwänke vom Dach der Welt. Tibetisches Erzählgut in Deutscher Fassung, Band 3. Viehzüchtererzählungen sowie Erzählgut aus sKyid-grong und Ding-ri, gesammelt und ins Deutsche übertragen. Vereinigung für Geschichtswissenschaft Hochasiens Wissenschaftsverlag (= Beiträge zur tibetischen Erzählforschung, 3), Sankt Augustin 1982 - Aufschnaiter, Peter: Land and Places of Milarepa. East and West, 26 (1976):1-2, S. 175-189 - Brauen, Martin: Heinrich Harrers Impressionen aus Tibet. Innsbruck, 1974 - Brauen, Martin: Peter Aufschnaiter. Sein Leben in Tibet. Innsbruck, 1983 - Ehrhard, Franz-Karl: Die Statue des Ārya Va-ti bzang-po. Wiesbaden, 2004 - Huber, Brigitte: The Tibetan Dialect of Lende (Kyi-rong): a grammatical description with historical annotations. Bonn, 2005 - Dieter Schuh: Das Archiv des Klosters bKra-shis bsam-gtan gling von sKyid-grong. Bonn, 1988

The Mangy Parrot |Author||José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi| |Original title||El Periquillo Sarniento| |1816 - 1831| |Media type||Print (Hardback & Paperback)| The Mangy Parrot: The Life and Times of Periquillo Sarniento Written by himself for his Children (Spanish: El Periquillo Sarniento) by Mexican author José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, is generally considered the first novel written and published in Latin America. El Periquillo was written in 1816, though due to government censorship the last of four volumes were not published until 1831. The novel has been continuously in print in more than twenty editions since then. El Periquillo Sarniento can be read as a nation-building novel, written at a critical moment in the transition of Mexico (and Latin America) from colony to independence. Jean Franco has characterized the novel as "a ferocious indictment of Spanish administration in Mexico: ignorance, superstition and corruption are seen to be its most notable characteristics" [Jean Franco, An Introduction to Spanish-American Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), p. 34; cited in Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, revised edition (London: Verso, 1991), p. 29]. Given Lizardi's career as a pioneering Mexican journalist, his novel can also be read as a journal of opinion in the guise of a picaresque novel. It follows the adventures of Pedro Sarmiento (nicknamed "Periquillo Sarniento" or "Mangy Parrot" by his disreputable friends), who, like Lizardi himself, is the son of a Criollo family from Mexico City with more pretensions to "good birth" than means of support. The story begins with Periquillo’s birth and miseducation and continues through his endless attempts to make an unearned living, as a student, a friar, a gambler, a notary, a barber, a pharmacist, a doctor, a beggar, a soldier, a count, and a thief, until late in life he sees the light and begins to lead an honest life. At every point along the way, Lizardi uses the deathbed voice of the elderly and repentant Periquillo to lambast the social conditions that led to his wasted life. In this, the novelist mimics the role of the early nineteenth-century journalist more interested in arguing opinions than relating mundane incidents. The marriage of slapstick humor with moralizing social commentary, established in El Periquillo, remained a constant in the Mexican novels that followed on its heels throughout the nineteenth century (Antonio Benitez-Rojo, "José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi and the Emergence of the Spanish American Novel as National Project," Modern Language Quarterly 57 (2): pp. 334–35). Agustín Yáñez justifies this often criticized "moralizing" tendency in Lizardi as "a constant in the artistic production of Mexico… and moreover, it is a constant in Mexican life" ("El Pensador Mexicano," in Cedomil Goic, ed., Historia y crítica de la literatura hispanoamericana, t. I, Época colonial, Barcelona: Grijalbo, 1988, pp. 428–29). At the same time, as critics have noted, Lizardi's interest in depicting the realities and reproducing the speech of Mexicans from all social classes make his novel a bridge between the inherited picaresque mold that forms its overt structure and the costumbrista novels of the nineteenth century. Place in Lizardi's Work José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi is emblematic of the generation of intellectuals, artists, and writers who led Mexico into the modern era. His own life history resonates with the ambivalences and outright contradictions of a world between colonial rule and independence. His writings — four novels, several fables, two plays, dozens of poems, over 250 articles and pamphlets — are important in three ways: as artistic expressions in themselves; as texts that contributed in vital ways to the intellectual life of Mexico early in its independence; and as windows into the daily life of that period. Of Lizardi's many published works, El Periquillo Sarniento remains the most important. It typifies the dual impulse of his writing: to entertain and to edify. It is also a lively, comic novel that captures much of the reality of Mexico in 1816. In his subsequent novels Noches tristes (1818) and La Quijotita y su prima (1818–19), Lizardi's didactic side won out over his will to entertain. La Quijotita in particular is an exercise in moralizing, populated with flat characters whose function is to model particular foibles or virtues. Lizardi's last novel, Don Catrín de la Fachenda (1820), has on the contrary been held up by some critics as superior to El Periquillo. In Don Catrín, Lizardi took pains to respond to critics of the overt moralizing in his first novel. The result is a slimmed-down, artistically unified, more ironic, and darker picaresque (Nancy Vogeley, "A Latin American Enlightenment Version of the Picaresque: Lizardi's Don Catrín de la Fachenda," in Carmen Benito-Vessels and Michael Zappala, eds., The Picaresque, Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1994, pp. 123–46). Yet El Periquillo retains its importance. As Antonio Benítez-Rojo writes, citing Benedict Anderson's use of El Periquillo as an exemplar of the anti-colonial novel, "the illusion of accompanying Periquillo along the roads and through the villages and towns of the viceroyalty helped awaken in the novel's readers the desire for nationness." Don Catrín "is artistically superior to El Periquillo Sarniento," Benítez-Rojo continues, "yet for all its defects the latter, because of its great vitality, is a major work of Mexican literature." ("José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi and the Emergence of the Spanish American Novel as National Project," p. 335; p. 336.) Finally, El Periquillo has the virtue of being the first, as Lizardi himself noted: "I am far from believing that I have written a masterpiece that is free from defects: it has many that I recognize, and must have others still that I have not noticed; but it also has one undeniable distinction, which is that of being the first novel that has been written in this country by an American in three hundred years." (Cited in Jefferson Rea Spell, Bridging the Gap, Mexico City: Editorial Libros de México, 1971, p. 267.) Because of its status as the first novel written by a Latin American and one emulated by generations of Mexican novelists, El Periquillo Sarniento appears on many "must-read" lists for graduate programs in Latin American literature, and it is of equal interest to students of Latin American history. Print Editions of El Periquillo in Spanish and English - The most widely available edition in Spanish of El Periquillo Sarniento, edited and annotated by Jefferson Rea Spell, is published in Mexico by Editorial Porrúa (many editions since 1949). - An excellent new edition, edited and annotated by Carmen Ruiz Barrionuevo, was published in Madrid by Ediciones Cátedra in 1997, but has since gone out of print. - A partial translation of El Periquillo Sarniento into English was published in 1942 by Doubleday under the title The Itching Parrot. - A new and unabridged English translation, The Mangy Parrot (2004), is published by Hackett Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87220-735-8 - An abridgment of the Hackett translation is published under the title The Mangy Parrot, Abridged (2005). ISBN 0-87220-670-X - The Bilbioteca Virtual has a digital version available in Spanish (Vol. i-iv) at (This article was contributed and corrected by the translator of the Hackett edition, and contains much of the same information that will be found in the preface to that translation.)

On World Book and Copyright Day, UNESCO invites all women and men to rally around books and all those who write and produce books. This is a day to celebrate books as the embodiment of human creativity and the desire to share ideas and knowledge, to inspire understanding and tolerance. Books are not immune from a world of change, embodied in the advent of digital formats and the transition to open licensing for knowledge-sharing. This means more uncertainty but also new opportunity -- including for innovative business models in the world of publishing. Change is raising sharp questions about the definition of the book and the meaning of authorship in the digital era. UNESCO is leading from the front in the new debates about the dematerialization of books and the rights of authors. By championing copyright and open access, UNESCO stands up for creativity, diversity and equal access to knowledge. We work across the board – from the Creative Cities of Literature network to promoting literacy and mobile learning and advancing Open Access to scientific knowledge and educational resources. For instance, in partnership with Nokia and Worldreader, UNESCO is striving to harness mobile technology to support literacy. To this end, on 23 April, we will release a new publication: Reading in the Mobile Era. In the same spirit, Port Harcourt in Nigeria has been named as the 2014 World Book Capital, on account of the quality of its programme, in particular its focus on youth and the impact it will have on improving Nigeria’s culture of books, reading, writing and publishing to improve literacy rates. Taking effect on World Book and Copyright Day, this initiative is supported by UNESCO, along with the International Publishers Association, the International Booksellers Federation and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. In all of this, our goal is clear – to encourage authors and artists and to ensure that more women and men benefit from literacy and accessible formats, because books are our most powerful forces of poverty eradication and peace building. Message from Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Book and Copyright Day

James Salter' "Dusk and Other Stories" Some years ago, I bought a copy of "A Reader's Manifesto" by B.R. Myers at a used bookstore. The book might have been misplaced, or shelved incorrectly on purpose by a disgruntled employee or customer or both. I didn't read the book... the introduction was enough to make me put it down and regret spending all of $2 on it. B.R. Myers apparently got a memo from God telling him Ed McMahon had died, and God decided (against His better judgment) to name Myers the new host of "Star Search." Perhaps my humor doesn't carry via the Internet, or the joke is simply my own personal bitterness at the misguidedness of B.R. Myers. It's one thing to singlehandly decide, "well, here... this is what is wrong with contemporary American literature... it's full of pretentiousness and high-brow idiots," and to actually say it with a straight face and mean it, and publish a book about to boot. It is another thing altogether to actually have the credentials to criticize indiscriminately while at the same time not having produced a novel of the quality of any of the authors he blasts throughout the book. I know, I know, I can already hear Myers say, "If you didn't read the entire book, you can't say shit about it." But more on this later because, as you will see, I can say shit about it. The introduction to this post is based on the fact that when I began reading "Dusk and Other Stories" by James Salter I couldn't decide on whether or not B.R. Myers was right all along. James Salter was introduced to me by a very good friend, and since my good friend is someone whose literary taste I have supreme confidence on, I figured I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. The first short story, "Am Strande von Tanger" struck me odd from the start. What I mean with this cryptic statement is that I couldn't decide if this was great literature because of its style, or whether I was being filmed secretly by a "Candid Camera" crew waiting to see my reaction. It was tough going, but once I got to the middle of the story, I was hooked. My initial reaction was based, in part, on some criticism I read while in graduate school about the "young literary men" of the 1920s who tried so hard to imitate the language and style of "The Sun Also Rises" that everyone sounded like Ernest Hemingway regardless of genre. Imagine a romance novel written in the voice of Nick Adams and you might get the idea. I don't know much about Salter, but the first few pages of "Dusk and Other Stories" made me think he was a left-over from that very period of time. Here's a sample of the opening story, "Morning. Villa-Lobos is playing on the phonograph. The cage is on a stool in the doorway. Malcolm lies in a canvas chair eating an orange. He is in love with the city. He has a deep attachment to it based on a story by Paul Morand and also on an incident which occurred in Barcelona years before: one evening in the twilight Antonio Gaudi, mysterious, fragile, even saintlike, the city's great architect, was hit by a streetcar as he walked to church. He was very old, white beard, white hair, dressed in the simplest of clothes. No one recognized him. He lay in the street without even a cab to drive him to the hospital. Finally he was taken to the charity ward. He died the day Malcolm was born." And then, a little further on... Malcolm has a pair of shorts made from rough cotton, the blue glazed cotton of the Tauregs. They have a little belt, slim as a finger, which goes halfway around. He feels powerful as he puts them on. He has a runner's body, a body without flaws, the body of a martyr in a Flemish painting. One can see vessels laid like cord beneath the surface of his limbs." But by the end of the first story, I was a convert... James Salter is down-right a master of descriptive artistry and a weaver of amazing plot structure. Two things are absolutely genius about Salter's work. First, the amount of description can be misleading. I've tried to analyze the amount of skill and talent it takes to pull this off, but to no avail. Salter draws the reader in with descriptive passages that paint a complete picture in the reader's mind. He builds the characters around these settings and allows them to take shape inside these imaginary worlds. Secondly, the number of brilliant literary analogies (often found at the end of paragraphs) makes me feel like a young lady sighing the night away. Somehow (and this is the part that is nearly impossible to pin down), all of the stories work so brilliantly that any suspicion of pretentiousness or high-brow posturing evaporate. There's a genius here that is hard to dissect, a type of word-craft and skill at writing that borders on absolute perfection. Not one word (and this is no hyperbole) seems out of place. The story "Dusk" is (despite being the title story) not one of the most impressive, but it illustrates Salter's ability to construct a character by telling details about her/him all the while incorporating the character into the description, the setting, the vast canvas of the imagined world. The main character, a woman named Marian is, from start to finish, an enigma... even when minute details about her life story have been revealed, she remains open to the reader's interpretation. It is simply masterful, and I can't stop saying it again and again. The entire collection is an absolute pleasure to read and an intellectual challenge to boot. Which brings me back to B.R. Myers. James Salter did, in fact, bring back B.R. Myers to the forefront of my literary reading list. My impression of Salter made me dig out the little book of criticism, but after re-reading the introduction, I had to once again put it down. This is all I need to know about "A Reader's Manifesto." You have to understand... I wasn't always a scholar. I was a U.S. Marine in my youth and not prone to lengthy diplomatic discussions about any topic. So, when I read Myers' criticism of my favorite writer, Paul Auster (the anointed one... the Great White Jewish One... pound for pound the best writer in the world) I took it personally. I won't stand for it. I worship the literary ground Auster walks on, and, as a devotee, I have a strong warning for B.R. Myers that comes from the regions of my being where I am still a hard-charging U.S. Marine, an infantryman with a bad attitude and a cutting-edge will to get the mission done. First, stop using initials and write out your real fucking name--most pretentious, high-brow asshats use initials. Second, you criticize Paul Auster again, and I swear I will fucking cut you, bitch. (End of rant).

Unregulating Online Harassment Essay By Eric Goldman I posted a very short essay to SSRN called Unregulating Online Harassment. This essay recaps and expands some of my remarks from the Denver University “Cyber Civil Rights” Symposium last November. I previously posted a lengthy recap of the conference. The essay provides a high-level defense of 47 USC 230–in its current form and without any embellishments–as a response to the way the immunity rankles many advocates against online harassment. If you can believe it–and it may be hard to do so given how many times I’ve blogged about 47 USC 230 cases–this brief-‘n’-breezy essay is actually the first time I have written about 47 USC 230 in the (quasi-)academic literature. The publication specs make the essay almost embarrassingly glib as a contribution to the academic discourse; it’s only about 1,000 words and has almost no footnotes, so it’s neither industrial-grade nor the final word on this topic. However, I find that people are more likely to read short academic works than the big battleship pieces, so perhaps a piece like this has a place in the academic canon despite its format limitations. I promise a different but more industrial-grade academic defense of 230 when I get around to writing up my regulating reputational systems research. Adam Thierer and Berin Szoka of PFF posted a response to the essay, praising 230 as “the very cornerstone of Internet Freedom, since it makes possible an online ‘utopia for utopias.'” My favorite part of their post (other than the link love, of course!) is a BCG-like four-quadrant matrix of pressures to deputize online intermediaries to intervene on third party content.

Special Assistance Plan The Special Assistance Plan (Abbreviation: SAP; Chinese: 特别辅助计划) is a programme in Singapore which caters to academically strong students who excel in both their mother tongue as well as English. It is only available in selected secondary schools. In a SAP school, several subjects may be taught in the mother tongue, alongside other subjects which are taught in English. Currently SAP schools only cater to those studying the Mandarin mother tongue, although theoretically, future SAP schools for other mother tongues are a possibility. - Anglican High School 圣公会中学 - Catholic High School 公教中学 - CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School 圣尼各拉女校 - Chung Cheng High School (Main) 中正中学（总校） - Dunman High School 德明政府中学 - Hwa Chong Institution 华侨中学 - Maris Stella High School 海星中学 - Nan Chiau High School 南侨中学 - Nan Hua High School 南华中学 - Nanyang Girls' High School 南洋女子中学校 - River Valley High School 立化中学 A student's admission to a SAP school (or any secondary school for that matter) is decided based on their results in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). To enter a SAP school, a student must achieve a PSLE aggregate score that puts him in the top 10% of his cohort, with an 'A' grade for the mother tongue and an A* ('A star', i.e. a score of more than 91 out of 100) in English. This means that only a relatively small group of students who are academically and linguistically strong may enter a SAP school. Consequently, SAP schools have a reputation of being the "elite" group of secondary schools in the country, alongside independent and autonomous schools. This stems from the Singaporean tradition of effective bilingualism in the education of the elite students from SAP schools. The best students in SAP school, i.e. the top 10% of the top 10% selected for SAP school admissions, i.e. the top 1% of each national cohort are offered a chance at effective trilingualism in secondary education starting from age 12. The first language, English, is the international language of commercial and the administrative and legal language of Singapore, a former British colony. The mother tongue reflects the cultural and ethnic identity or in recent times, the linguistic curiosity of the students, e.g. Malay and Indian students who opt to study Mandarin as second Language in Singapore. The "third languages" are foreign languages which are considered by MOE to be "economically, politically and culturally vital", such as Japanese, German and French. Many SAP schools were historically Chinese language medium schools, i.e. they taught all academic subjects in Mandarin (including science and mathematics), and which may have taught English as a foreign language. Following Singapore's independence in 1965, the government recognised four official languages in Singapore (English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil), but clearly designated English as the main language of basic and higher education, government and law, science and technology as well as trade and industry. While according official recognition to the languages of different ethno-linguistic communities in Singapore, it sought to promote English as a neutral common language to unite a culturally diverse nation of immigrants. English was also held to be the language of international higher education, science/technology and commerce. As such, it was indispensable to Singapore, given her ambition to become a 'Global City', articulated as early as 1972. In 1980, the Ministry of Education (MOE) designated nine Chinese-medium secondary schools as Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools. These schools were intended to provide top-scoring primary school leavers with the opportunity to study both English and Mandarin to high levels of competence. Also, these schools were to preserve the character of traditional Chinese-medium secondary schools and allay fears that the Government was indifferent to Chinese language and culture amid declining enrolments in Chinese-medium schools. With rapid economic development and exposure to Western, particularly American popular culture and values in the 1970s and 1980s, Singapore began to change from a lower income, poorly educated society to a more confident, educated, vocal and individualistic society. Around the same time, in the 1980s, the world was witnessing the rise of Japan and the Asian newly-industrialised economies or NIEs, of which Singapore was one. In contrast, the West and in particular the United States, appeared to be in a stage of decline, with rising drug use and crime, the transformation or collapse of the nuclear family and other social problems. Economically, American appeared unable to compete with rising Asian manufacturing competitors, especially Japan. The United States appeared lost and sinking under the weight of ballooning public and private debt, with large and growing trade and budget deficits. Singapore politicians from the dominant People's Action Party synthesised these various situations and developed certain ideas that came to be known as the Asian Values discourse. According to this line of argument, Singapore, along with Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan, had succeeded so spectacularly in no small part because of their shared Confucianist cultural heritage, which emphasised values such as hard work, education, family unity, deference and loyalty to authority figures, community spirit (in contrast to Western individualism), etc. Some parallels were drawn between this Confucian ethic and the Protestant Work Ethic. However, the West was seen to have fallen into a state of permanent decline, marked by cultural decadence, indiscipline and even impending social decay. As an English speaking country and, in some ways the most Westernised of the Asian NIEs, Singapore was seen to be vulnerable to cultural influences from the West. To better sell this argument to a multi-ethnic population where the non-Chinese / non-'Confucianist' communities formed at least a quarter of the population, the discourse was re-branded 'Asian Values', rather than Confucian Work Ethic. In Singapore, traditional Asian culture was seen as a valuable bulwark against 'decadent Western values', as well as a source of the nation's economic success thus far. As such, the government embarked on programmes and campaigns to promote traditional culture, including the revitalised Speak Mandarin Campaign (targeted at English rather than dialect speakers, as was historically the case) as well as SAP schools. Concerns and criticisms The SAP school programme is periodically criticised in the national media by Singaporeans who are concerned about the ethnic segregation that it inevitably promotes. SAP schools only offer Mother Tongue lessons in one language (always Mandarin). In addition, several other academic and non-academic subjects may be taught in Mandarin (the academic subjects are usually related to Chinese culture – e.g. Chinese literature or the history of China). Sports, arts and music lessons may be held in Mandarin in some schools, and assemblies and other formal and ceremonial events (including the school song and motto), as well as routine public announcements, may be in Mandarin. These are intentional moves to allow students to be immersed into a Chinese speaking environment, notwithstanding the fact that the main academic subjects, especially all science and mathematics subjects, are taught in English, in common with all other Singapore schools. Consequently, SAP students tend to use Mandarin more frequently on a daily basis, for example, in canteen, during co-curricular activities (sports, games, societies, cultural events, etc.) as well as when mixing with friends outside of school. Almost all students that attend SAP schools are ethnic Chinese, and those that are not, usually study Mandarin too. Critics are concerned that the effect of SAP schools is to take a group of academically strong students and to cluster them together academically and socially in an artificial, Mandarin speaking environment devoid of ethnic minorities. The concern is that these students will be less well equipped to integrate with non-Chinese in their later social and professional adult lives. A counter argument would be the SAP students with better academic results tend to come from better off families and thus were more likely to speak English Language more in their daily conversations. Although this might mean that they might include English into their conversations with other Chinese students, they would not be as adept at adapting to nuances that come with speaking to people of other races. - p.166. Tan, Jason. (2001). "Education in the Early 21st Century: Challenges and Dilemmas"' in Singapore in the New Millennium: Challenges Facing the City-state. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies: Singapore.

Candidate Seamus McCaffery is preparing for election day on Nov. 6. He's appeared at picnics, parades, even several motorcycle events, wearing a black leather vest surrounded by biker buddies. But he's not your average candidate. He's not even a politician. He's a judge. And he is trying to get a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Pennsylvania is one of 22 states that have contested state Supreme Court elections. The states have varying degrees of regulations from contribution limits to advertising disclosures to public financing limits. Critics of the system say that the fundraising for the elections has gotten out of control. McCaffery calls himself a "walking, talking American dream." He has served as a police officer and spent 11 and a half years at night school to become a lawyer and trial judge. He currently sits as an appellate superior court judge of Pennsylvania and may be best known as the judge who set up the Eagles Court at Philadelphia's Veterans stadium to bring immediate justice to overly rowdy fans. He has raised more than a $1 million for his race. Fundraising efforts in his state have exceeded $5 million, and are smashing previous records. The election has seen a sharp influx of fancy Web sites, campaign commercials and speeches on the campaign trail. In last year's election for state Supreme Court seats, TV ads ran in 10 of the 11 states with contested elections. Average television spending per state was $1.6 million. But watchdog groups see real problems with judges becoming beholden to special interests that donate to judicial campaigns. Those advocating reform believe special interest pressure is metastasizing into a permanent national threat to the impartiality of American courts. According to Justice at Stake, which monitors judicial elections and ballot measures, Pennsylvania is not the only state breaking records. Candidates for the Alabama Supreme Court have combined to raise $54 million since 1993, more than any state in the country. Special interest groups in Washington state combined to spend over $2.7 million on top court campaigns, and every TV ad in those races in 2006 was paid for by third-party groups. Critics of the elections are hoping for a change in the system. In Minnesota, voters may consider a constitutional amendment that would change how the state's judges are chosen. "When judges must raise big money for their election campaigns, public confidence in America's courts is undermined," said Jesse Rutledge, a spokesman for Justice at Stake. "Increasingly, judges are facing escalating pressure to be accountable to special interests and political partisans instead of the law and the Constitution." McCaffery tells potential voters on his Web site to "come out and vote" because "I need your help." His Web site flashes pictures of him touting his experience and asking for volunteers to distribute literature door to door. On the Web site, he admits that the "hardest part of a campaign is raising money," but he has no qualm with the system and thinks it is far better than a "merit based system" favored in other states where a governor might select a judge. McCaffery said Pennsylvania is "lucky we have elections" and said that a governor's choice in a merit based system would not be a "poor guy like me who went to night school."

symmetric monoidal (∞,1)-category of spectra A monad on the category Set of sets, is finitary (also called algebraic, although some people consider any monad to be an algebraic notion) if the underlying endofunctor commutes with filtered colimits. In other words, an algebraic monad is a monoid in the category of algebraic endofunctors on . A finitary monad is completely determined by its value on all finite ordinals considered as standard finite sets. is then the set of -ary operations. The notion of algebraic monad is hence similar to the notion of a nonsymmetric operad in , but it is not equivalent, because of the possibility of duplicating or discarding inputs. More precisely, each finitary monad defines a Lawvere theory , namely where is the category of free algebras on finite sets (as a full subcategory of ). In fact, the two notions are equivalent: the assignment defines an equivalence between the category of finitary monads on and the category of Lawvere theories. Moreover, the category of -algebras is equivalent to the category of models of . However, a technical advantage of Lawvere theories is that they can be interpreted in categories other than Set: a model of a Lawvere theory in a category with cartesian products is just a product-preserving functor . There is an interesting commutativity condition singling out the subclass of commutative algebraic/finitary monads, cf. commutative algebraic theory; they are useful to establish a theory of generalized commutative schemes. For a proof of the equivalence between finitary monads and Lawvere theories, see Durov’s application of finitary monads to the “field with one element” may be found in… This discussion appeared when the page was at algebraic monad. Mike: Does anyone besides Durov use this terminology? In category theory these already have two standard names: “finitary monads” and “(Lawvere) theories.” Zoran Škoda Lawvere theories are equivalent to algebraic monads, but not in standard exposition literally a type of monad, but one says algebraic monad when one really talks about a condition on monads. Algebraic monad is just a monoid in the category of algebraic endofunctors. Lawvere and others studied few variants of notion of algebraic functor, but in all of them algebraic functor commutes with filtered colimits, isn’t it ? I heard the term certainly in a number of algebra talks before Nikolai Durov’s thesis (I can say some names but I may misremeber sources). Definitely the term is getting much more influential after the Durov’s work, and reused by algebraic geometers now. He is quite familiar with Lawvere’s work so I hope the related expression “algebraic endofunctor” is not chosen incompatibly. Also there is some parallel with terminology cartesian monad. But what do you think ? In any case, one should also list term finitary monad, both synonyms should be listed. Toby: Whether these are ‘algebraic’ or ‘finitary’ (I'd be more inclined to the latter, but not through any familiarity with the literature), they're not obviously the same as Lawvere theories. I've tried to indicate the connection, although (vague as my statement is) I'm not even sure that it's correct!

Bring Me the Books – My New Book Blog I’m sure some of you have been wondering, what happened to all those Free E-Book Alerts I used to post about all the time. Others of you have been wondering why I haven’t posted a book review in a little while either. Well, the answer is simple – I have started a new blog. Gasp! I bet you’re all shocked! Ok, maybe you haven’t noticed anything different and couldn’t care less what some no-name blogger does with his free time… But, I’ll tell you all about it anyway. One of the new year’s resolutions I made last year was to read more books. But the grace of God (and the tenacity of relentless pastor who keeps asking me about it), I have been able to accomplish that goal. In fact I have found reading to a be a great avenue for learning so it’s something I plan to keep doing. Yet, to be honest, I cannot yet say it is something I crave to do each day. I would much rather plop myself on the couch and watch a rerun of some mindless sitcom I’ve seen one hundred times before. In other words, I’m not a book nerd. However, I find each time I challenge myself to read a good, edifying Christian book, I never regret taking the time to do it and wonder why I don’t do it more often. So, I guess what I am trying to say is that this new blog is my attempt to plunge myself further into the world of reading and literature. Blogging is something I’ve enjoyed doing for quite some time now. So, why not combine the two? I’m trying to read anyway, why not blog about it. Besides, some publishing companies will actually give you free books if you agree to review them on your blog. Being broke, I find that particularly appealing. You can find my new blog at http://bringmethebooks.wordpress.com. On this blog you will find all of those cool free e-book alerts you’ve been missing here in the past week or so. I’ll be moving all of my book review over there little by little. Eventually I will be including author interviews, sneak previews of upcoming books and reviews from other readers I’ve invited to join me. Through in a few pictures and random thoughts and you basically have my blog. Check it out today: Follow Bring Me the Books on Twitter:

Logolounge the 2011 report These are logos that look like Napster had his way with Hello Kitty: All are far too cute, with the smell of cigarettes on their breath. I believe we have seen this coming for some time, but this last year the trend reached a tipping point. Designers' fascination with the social culture characters has led to the adorable personification of the logo design industry's output. Society has become comfortable with the endorsement of anything bearing a smile. Gaming characters, Twitter birds, manga literature-all inundate a new generation. At every on-screen pop-up, there is an opportunity to have your own mug shot translated into a two-dimensional avatar. These aren't just the cereal box advertising characters that coaxed a generation to the breakfast table. These logos are simple, often geometric and monoweight in line. Anticipate their audience to be tech savvy and relatively new to a paycheck.

Adopting a qualitative approach, videotaped extracts of lessons on composition and improvisation with pupils aged 11-14 were used as a basis for discussion during in-depth interviews with six teachers. The investigation was divided into four stages: (1) examination of the meanings attached to the word ¿creativity¿ and review of previous studies, after which a four-fold framework for researching teachers¿ perception of creativity in music education was put forward (Pupil-Environment-Process-Product); (2) discussion of the methodological assumptions underpinning the research, including issues relating to data collection and analysis; (3) examination of findings, and (4) implications. Two of the three original research questions are considered in this paper focusing on (a) how participants characterized creativity in their discourse, and (b) the differences of their perceptions compared with the literature. Twenty-eight categories and subcategories that complemented the four-fold framework emerged from the analysis of the interviews. Some of the categories and their educational implications are discussed with reference to the framework and the above research questions. The findings show that these teachers¿ comments on practical issues, such as the pupils¿ different learning styles and the problems related to under-resourced music departments, are to be rarely found in the music education literature.

Maybe not. So says the new working paper by Campbell R. Harvey, Yan Lui, and Heqing Zhu, the abstract is here: Hundreds of papers and hundreds of factors attempt to explain the cross-section of expected returns. Given this extensive data mining, it does not make any economic or statistical sense to use the usual significance criteria for a newly discovered factor, e.g., a t-ratio greater than 2.0. However, what hurdle should be used for current research? Our paper introduces a multiple testing framework and provides a time series of historical significance cutoffs from the first empirical tests in 1967 to today. We develop a new framework that allows for correlation among the tests as well as publication bias. We also project forward 20 years assuming the rate of factor production remains similar to the experience of the last few years. The estimation of our model suggests that today a newly discovered factor needs to clear a much higher hurdle, with a t-ratio greater than 3.0. Echoing a recent disturbing conclusion in the medical literature, we argue that most claimed research findings in financial economics are likely false. If you click on the link above, you also will see a picture summarizing their main points. For the pointer I thank Noah Smith.

George Mason University professor Robin Hanson in my view is one of the most thought-provoking and innovative thinkers in the world. I often read Hanson’s blog Overcoming Bias and I always find my own views challenged and even though Hanson’s views often seem outrageous they surely make you think and personally I often conclude that Hanson is right. One of Robin Hanson’s most provocative ideas is his suggestion to replace democracy with what he calls Futarchy. Hanson first presented this idea in his paper “Shall We Vote on Values, But Bet on Outcome?” originally from 2000 (and revised in 2007). Hanson’s view is that democracies often fail to aggregate information and different forms of bias – well known from the Public Choice literature – plague democracy, while the market mechanism is a much better aggregator of information that should be utilised in the decision making process. Hanson thinks that democratically elected officials should vote on what objectives (“Values”) to pursue, but not on how to achieve these objectives. Hanson instead suggest using Decision Markets to make decisions instead of voting on different proposals. Most people will find Hanson’s suggestion outrageous and I am not advocating Futarchy as a general form of government, but I do think that Hanson’s idea have lot of merit in regard to the conduct of central banking (assuming that we want to have central banks in the first place…) Today most “modern” central banks have some more or less clearly stated objective (“values” in Hanson’s terminology). For example the Swedish Riksbank, the New Zealand Reserve Bank or the Polish central bank all have relatively clearly defined inflation targets, while the ECB as objective has to ensure “price stability” (in praxis defined as an inflation target of 2%) and the Federal Reserve has the (in)famous “dual mandate” (price stability and a high level of employment). Market Monetarists of course are advocating NGDP level targeting. Central banks around the world are relatively clear on what they want to achieve – at least on paper. However, when it comes to the question of how to achieve these objectives it is often a lot less clear. A reason for that is that economists often disagree on what model best describes the economy. Furthermore, often disagreement in what really should be the objective of the central bank blurs policy discussions. I have previously argued that central banks should utilise prediction markets to do macroeconomic forecasting, but why not take this one step further and listen to Robin Hanson and introduce Futarchy as the basis for decision-making in monetary policy? (Please note here that I am “just” thinking out loud here. I have no clue whether this is a good idea, but if we don’t play around with ideas we will never make progress…) Today the decision-making process in most central banks follows a pretty well-defined “industry standard”, where policy decisions often are made on a monthly basis by what is often termed something like monetary policy committee (MPC). In the US this of course is the FOMC. Policy decisions are then made by a “democratic” method where the MPC members vote on different policy proposals – for example to cut or hike interest rates or to engage in asset buying and open market operations etc. The central bank’s research department will often play a key role in the decision making process as the research department will present scenario analysis based on different proposals. There are of course variations from country to country but I think this is pretty close to the “real-life” praxis in for example the Bank of England, the ECB and the Federal Reserve. The Bank of Israel is an interesting exemption. Here BoI governor Stanley Fischer is “monetary dictator” as he alone – at least on paper – makes decisions on monetary policy. A monetary policy making process based on Futarchy would change that decision-making process in a significantly more transparent direction. Here is a simple illustrative “proposal” (I stress again that I am thinking out loud). I imagine a four-step procedure. First, the MPC would vote on what objective to pursue – for example a NGDP level target and a target for the growth path of NGDP. Most likely that objective would be reaffirmed very month. Second, each member of the MPC would be allowed to suggest a proposal for how to achieve the agreed policy objective. To make things simple the MPC would be asked to decide on from all the suggestions on three different suggestions based on the gross list of proposals. It would be conditioned that these proposals where clearly defined in terms of timing and execution – for example the central bank will buy X dollars (or whatever currency) of foreign currency every month in the coming 6 months or the central bank will increase the overnight rate by 25bp every quarter in the coming year. Compared to today’s policy-making process this would be much more transparent and clear to market participants. Third, the central bank would set-up “policy markets” for each of the three policy proposals. These markets then will give an implicit estimate on the probability that each of the proposals will be successful in achieving the stated policy goal. I imagine the markets are opened the day after the MPC decision and then be open initially for a week. Forth, the one of the three policy proposals the market judges to have the highest probability of succeeding in achieving the policy objective is put into action. The two other policy markets would be closed down again and the investors in these markets would get their money back. This will happen one week after the three markets have been opened. Obviously the price of the chosen proposal would jump once it becomes clear that it will be put into action. This market will then automatically give a market based forecast on the likely outcome in terms of the overall policy objective of the chosen policy instrument. Lets relate this to the present US monetary policy and lets assume the Fed has decided that it would target a return of NGDP to the pre-crisis trend by the end of 2014. The FOMC agrees on three alternative policy proposals to achieve this policy objective. 1) Ben’s solution: The Fed will keep interest rates at basically zero until late 2014. 2) Scott’s solution: The Fed will issue NGDP futures and target a level for the futures, which is compatible with the overall policy objective. 3) Irving’s solution: A modified version of the compensated dollar plan – the Fed will buy unlimited amounts of commodities until NGDP reaches the target level. I wonder how the markets would price these three proposals, but it doesn’t really matter because if you believe in the wisdom of the crowds then you will trust the markets will choose the policy that best ensures the overall objective. Furthermore, a complete commitment to the overall set-up would probably ensure that the markets would do a lot of the lifting on its own. But yes, let me just say that I am still just thinking out loud, but I am looking forward to hear what my readers think of this “minor” institutional reform idea. PS George Selgin would of course say that we should just get rid of central banks all together and Scott Sumner would say why not just implement NGDP futures? I would not argue with George and Scott, but for now we just want people to start thinking serious about monetary policy. And there is of course no conflict between a Hansonian monetary system and Scott’s ideas (which on it own could be seen as a privatisation strategy) PPS In Hanson’s Futarchy paper he in fact briefly discusses monetary policy and decision markets.

Meeting of Church Commissioners and Auckland Castle Trustees, Directors and Supporters Auckland Castle, July 13 2005 THE BISHOP’S MINISTRY AT AUCKLAND CASTLE briefing paper from the Bishop of Durham In his briefing paper, the Secretary to the Commissioners has highlighted as the principal question before us: ‘how do the retention of the [Zurbarán] paintings, and the Bishop and his family continuing to live at Auckland Castle, support his ministry in the diocese of Durham?’ While I believe the questions should be put the other way round (castle first, paintings second), and while we must not sideline other questions of history, heritage, culture and society, I accept that this is is indeed the key question and will attempt to address it here. Much could be written; I will keep this briefing paper fairly short and happily expand at the meeting any points people may wish to raise. I shall look at episcopal ministry in general, at the ministry of the bishops of Durham, and at the focal points of my own episcopal ministry, and comment on the place of the castle, and of the paintings in relation to these. 1. The Ministry of a Bishop The Ordinal highlights scripture, prayer, teaching, holiness, ordering the diocese, and caring for the poor as the key elements of episcopal ministry, invoking to this end the Holy Spirit in Cosin’s translation of Veni Creator Spiritus (‘Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire’). Recent work on the nature of episcopal ministry has highlighted, among other things, the role of the bishop as a leader in mission and a focus of unity. There is a strong aspiration on the part of most of today’s bishops to return to these primary episcopal tasks and not to be swamped by administration. Most of today’s clergy and laity strongly support this. This forms the wider setting for what now follows. 2. The Ministry of the Bishops of Durham The Diocese of Durham is keenly aware of, and enthusiastic about, the particular focus of its bishops and their work down the years. The most obvious aspects of this work are (a) theological and biblical scholarship, (b) leadership in local and national issues (especially on behalf of the weak and in support of social justice), and (c) the contemporary articulation of the faith. a. There is a long line of episcopal scholarship from at least as early as de Bury in the C14, through Cosin in the C17, Butler in the C18, Van Mildert (founder of Durham University), Lightfoot and Westcott in the C19, to Moule, the Ramseys, John Habgood and David Jenkins in the C20. Other bishops, notably Barrington, founded schools. The bishop and the university remain closely linked at both formal and informal levels. This scholarship is reflected particularly in the Library at Auckland, which houses books going back to the sixteenth century. b. Bishops of Durham have been in the forefront of speaking out and taking practical action on the issues of the day. Trevor (who bought the Zurbarán paintings) was a noted philanthropist and spoke out strongly for social tolerance in relation to the C18 Jewish question. Westcott, a lifelong Christian Socialist, intervened in the terrible miners’ strike of the 1890s; one of the great local memories of Auckland Castle is of Westcott doing shuttle diplomacy between the mine owners and the workers’ representatives in two of the upstairs rooms, retiring to the Chapel to pray while they discussed his proposals, and eventually persuading the owners to meet the workers’ urgent demands. Henson was tireless in addressing local, national and international issues during his two decades; Ian Ramsey was doing the same before his untimely death. David Jenkins followed Westcott’s footsteps in his interventions in the miners’ strike of the 1980s. Michael Turnbull in the 1990s was one of the leaders of the reforms of church structures and also of the plans for local government reorganisation in the north-east. c. Most of the bishops already mentioned were energetic in articulating the faith afresh for their times, and in relation to their contemporary culture, through writing, speaking and action. One way of doing this (developed particularly by Lightfoot in the Chapel) was by re-invoking the memories of the ancient church of north-east England and by encouraging contemporary Christians to rekindle those ancient flames. 3. The Ministry of the Present Bishop The question I have been asked demands that I speak of myself. I do so reluctantly, not least because I do not regard the argument about the castle and the paintings as hanging on the particular gifts and calling of a single bishop. Rather, I suspect that one of the reasons I was asked to come to Durham was because my background, training and previous work provided a close fit with some at least of the episcopal gifts for which the See has been known and valued. For this reason I cannot, if I am to answer the question, avoid talking about my own work. Throughout my ministry I have done my best to focus my energies on prayer, scripture, the eucharist, biblical and theological scholarship. With Maggie’s constant help and encouragement, I have worked at engagement with, and mission to, the contemporary culture, and at pastoral ministry not least through hospitality. One major theme that has constantly emerged has been fresh engagement with the past in order to generate fresh engagement with the present. This engagement with the past has driven me to rethink the place within religion of scripture, church history, buildings, music, art and literature. My desire to reconnect past and present is reinforced by the holistic theology of mission (both ‘spiritual’ and ‘practical’) which I have been developing and articulating for the last fifteen years; in particular, through my work on resurrection. Resurrection means, among other things, the consequent recapturing of the sacramental dimensions of the created order of space, time and matter. If the church asks someone with this understanding of resurrection, and, more broadly, with this background and these interests and passions, to do a particular job, I presume it is because the church wants this kind of ministry and intends to support it. Let me elaborate these different aspects. a. prayer and sacraments. I have been shaped all my life by the habit of Bible reading and prayer, and since confirmation by the regular Eucharist. In my early ministry this was folded into the world of college chaplaincy; since 1993 it has been incorporated within the daily life first of Lichfield Cathedral and then of Westminster Abbey. I have become increasingly conscious of the sense of place as one significant element in prayer, as in Eliot’s phrase, ‘where prayer has been valid’ – not that prayer cannot be valid anywhere, but that a habit of prayer in a particular place can tap into existing memories of earlier local devotion and generate its own in turn (a point I expounded in my book The Way of the Lord). At Auckland I have settled into a pattern of private prayer in one corner of my own study; household prayer in the Oratory; and larger services, (not least licensings), in the great Chapel which was so central to the life and ministry of (to look no further) Cosin, Van Mildert, Lightfoot, Westcott and Moule. I regard this holding together through prayer of the life, work and history of the house as foundational for everything else. b. scholarship and teaching. Having been called and equipped to follow a vocation of biblical and theological scholarship in the service of the church, I enquired carefully before accepting episcopal orders whether the church really wanted a bishop who would continue with such work. Having been assured that it did, I further enquired whether it would be possible to have two separate rooms, one for diocesan business and one for private study. Auckland has provided this splendidly, so that I have at least a chance of keeping on top of the competing piles of paper, with the great Library as my main diocesan working-room and the smaller study for my own research and writing. I am very conscious of the fact that J. B. Lightfoot, one of my lifelong heroes, completed his massive work on the Apostolic Fathers in the next room, now our private sitting room. (See Appendix 1.) Since coming to Auckland I have written the popular-level Romans for Everyone (2 vols.) and the small book Scripture and the Authority of God; I delivered the Hulsean Lectures in Cambridge, which are now about to appear in print (Paul: Fresh Perspectives), as are two other books, a work of apologetics entitled Simply Christian and a devotional book, based on Holy Week talks in Durham Cathedral, entitled The Scriptures, the Cross, and the Power of God. I am working on several other projects large and small. All this is regularly translated into spoken teaching in the Diocese and beyond; last year I hosted a Study Day on Philippians here at the Castle, this year I am doing a series of lectures in each of the three Archdeaconries, and I not only preach but also lecture in various churches and other locations. I have attended some of the New Testament seminars at the University (where the relevant chair is named after J. B. Lightfoot) and given a paper there on one occasion. In addition, I have responded to requests from the wider church, especially in my membership of the Lambeth Commission which produced the Windsor Report and in commenting on a draft of the ARCIC report on Mary. In all this work three things have been of great help to me: first, having the two separate rooms; second, having the splendid library which includes key texts from the Fathers and Reformers as well as several Jewish and Classical sources; third, my daily consciousness of the communion of saints who have laboured at similar work in this very house. I have increasingly developed my work with schools and young people, and have found teachers eager to bring pupils to Auckland, where we hope to develop an educational programme geared to the teaching needs of different curricular stages. We are planning a major youth event in the Diocese for next July, for which I am Patron; some of the events may take place here, and plans are in hand to hold a similar event in the Park in 2007. c. mission and engagement with the culture. I have wrestled historically over the last twenty years with questions to do with Jesus, Paul and early Christianity. As I have done so, I have become increasingly driven towards the holistic expression of the Christian faith in and for the postmodern world. My background on this includes, among many things, several events at Lichfield, including (at Maggie’s instigation and under her leadership) a week-long exhibition of prison work leading up to Prisoner Sunday; and a day conference on Jubilee 2000, with economists, bankers, politicians and African bishops. My various broadcasts in the 1990s were aimed in the same direction of reimagining the Christian message and so addressing urgent needs in the contemporary world. This background has enabled me to develop the crucial theme, which came to full expression in our Diocesan Conference this last spring (entitled Imagine!), of re-imagining and re-expressing the Christian faith in today’s culture, and using all the treasures of art, music, literature and architecture to do so. The postmodern world is crying out both to reconnect with ancient wisdom after the flat denials of secular modernity, and to go forward with fresh creativity into the new millennium. To help our clergy and people answer this call, I have drawn on the work of people like Neil McGregor (one of our main speakers at the conference) – not just to enable us to articulate truth, vital though that is, nor simply to support projects of social justice, essential and exciting though they are, but to reconvert the imagination to appreciate and appropriate the sacramental dimension of the whole created order and the effect of the gospel of Jesus. This reconversion of the imagination is thus to undergird and energise theology and action alike. Not for nothing has Hopkins’ poem ‘God’s Grandeur’ (‘The world is charged with the grandeur of God’) been a recurring theme throughout my ministry. In this context I devised, wrote and delivered four radio programmes entitled ‘Spring Journey’, using a wide variety of music to express the theme of hope and new life (not least social, cultural and political) which the programmes attempted to embody as well as to expound. I see my television work (for example, the programmes on Resurrection in 2004, the Problem of Evil in 2005, and the projected programme on Paul and Caesar in 2006) as attempting the same kind of multi-layered cultural engagement; so too (for instance) a projected poetry reading by Michel O’Siadhail later this year. I have consistently approached the various buildings where I have worked (Worcester College Chapel; Lichfield Cathedral; Westminster Abbey) in this way, and have tried, through an understanding of their history, architecture, and interior design, to call people to worship, and equip them for mission, in fresh ways. Here again the theme of resurrection – as the reaffirmation of the goodness of God’s creation after the judgment which falls on all human idolatry – has been central. This understanding of resurrection points to the re-awakening of human creativity after the collapse of western aesthetics into brutalism on the one hand and kitsch on the other. It is in this setting that I have expounded a sacramental approach to space, time and matter, and have warmly welcomed the renewed emphasis of contemporary theologians on a theology of sacred space and how it can be used and cultivated. This is at the heart of the theological question that has to be asked of an ancient episcopal residence. Since it is a topic to which I had given considerable attention before I ever arrived at Auckland I am bound to take it seriously. As with all space, time and matter, the key question is whether these things have become idols, or whether they are vehicles for the sacramental grace of God. Puritanism ancient and modern assumes the former. I do not assume that the material world is an automatic vehicle of grace, but I constantly seek to make this a reality through prayer, eucharist, mission and pastoral work. The same concern for the integration of those things held apart by secular modernity (and the theology which has connived at it) has been evident in my scholarly work on the kingdom of God within the proclamation of Jesus and on the interface between Paul’s gospel and the first-century Roman imperial ideology. These have led me directly into constant engagement with social, cultural and political issues. I have spoken and written on many current topics, especially global debt, and have been as firm in my support for the Prime Minister in this area as I was in my opposition to him over the war in Iraq. I have begun to get to grips with the work of the House of Lords and the many issues facing the north-east, not least the need for regeneration after disastrous industrial decline. I made my maiden speech on the theme of church-state collaboration on urgent social projects such as those in Bensham (Gateshead) and West Harton (South Shields). All this grows directly out of (a) my scholarly work on Christian origins and (b) my theological emphasis on resurrection and its effects in the regeneration of the community – the same themes which provide the roots of the reimagination described above. Within this context, I have for many years taken every opportunity for dialogue with people of other faiths, particularly Jews, and more recently (through the Archbishop’s seminar at Qatar in 2003) Muslims. I taught for a semester at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and have often led pilgrimages to the Holy Land. I have engaged with Jewish conversation partners at both a scholarly and a popular level, and am eager to find ways to continue this in the north-east, despite the difficulties connected with the ultra-orthodox stance of our main Jewish community (in Gateshead). When I reflect on the themes which have thus occupied me for many years, I discover that they integrate in a remarkable way with life here at Auckland. This house is not only soaked with the prayer of centuries and replete with the history of biblical and theological scholarship; it is equipped with a spectacular sign of my predecessors’ concern for the relation between the Church and the Jewish people and (since that is what the Jews were in the C18) a concern for those on the margins of society. Everything I have worked at over the last thirty years – understanding Jesus and Paul in their first-century Jewish context and reapplying that for today, understanding God’s kingdom as compelling us to work on behalf of the poor and the marginalised, seeing resurrection as implying the reimagination, through the arts, of what the gospel means for the postmodern world and the sacramental approach to space, time and matter, and applying this to buildings and their contents as instruments of mission – all of this comes together here, not least in the Long Dining Room which, running east to west, forms an architectural sign of the cross with the main north-south line of the building, and which has for the last quarter of a millennium displayed to great advantage ‘Jacob and his Twelve Sons’ by Zurbarán. For someone with my background, training, special interests and particular shape of ministry, there is an almost uncanny fit. I hope, pray and intend to exploit this rich resource to the full as I believe I have been able to do in my previous three positions. This is where the Zurbarán paintings, within the context of the Castle as a whole, are an ideal resource for all kinds of fresh initiatives which grow directly out of the theology and mission on which I have been engaged for many years. The whole process of reimagining is precisely about working with historic works of art in the place where they belong; just as Auckland Castle belongs in the old heart of the diocese, and the bishop belongs in Auckland Castle, and Cosin’s tomb in the chapel, so the Zurbarans belong in the Long Dining Room, where they have been for 249 out of their roughly 360 years of life. There, and only there, they make a series of powerful statements which can be explored and exploited in several ways – partly in relation to the Jewish people, partly in relation to the plight of the marginalised, and partly in connection with the nature of the Christian hope for the renewal of all things (this last theme was important in Bishop Trevor’s C18 context). The events we hope to host next year are simply a start at this kind of work. It is time not only to make the Castle and its treasures more available to a wider public but to use it, and them, within the work of the kingdom. This is exactly the kind of opportunity for which I have hoped and prayed. d. pastoral hospitality. We have always practised a full round of hospitality, mostly with students in the 1970s and 1980s, and then with the wider community at Lichfield in the 1990s (where the Deanery played host each year to artists, musicians and sponsors of the Lichfield Festival and other similar events), and to a lesser extent (since I was mainly writing) at Westminster. Pastoral work flows into and out of shared meals, organised and semi-organised events, and hospitable engagement with the whole community. Here at Auckland all this comes naturally. We have delighted in being able to entertain whole deaneries of clergy and spouses (usually bringing together two deaneries from very different parts of the diocese); in hosting special events for clergy spouses; in musical events (not least the regular concerts of Bishop Auckland Music Society which take place in the Throne Room); in events for Readers and lay people, including the annual awards for the Living Theology course and similar events; in a regular tea party for mayors and other civic leaders. In addition, there is a whole series of events organised by Wear Valley and other local bodies and which have taken place at the Castle: the Great North Walk (in aid of Traidcraft and similar charities) which ended up with several thousand people in the front garden relaxing with ice cream, hot dogs and a jazz band; the similar Run; the Wear Valley Food Festival; and the very popular Proms in the Park. All this is easy and obvious in this location, and can be catered for efficiently and economically, providing incidentally a good advertisement for Auckland Castle Enterprises. It is natural and appropriate to begin and/or end many such events with shared worship and prayer in the great Chapel; we held a Traidcraft service before the Great North Walk, and our normal habit is to end dinner parties with Compline, which has been greatly appreciated not least by those on or beyond the fringes of the church. In the same way, of course, one-on-one pastoral interviews lead naturally to shared prayer in the Oratory or the Chapel. In addition, we have just enough spare rooms to be able to host various overnight meetings; not enough, alas, to accommodate all the ordination candidates for a retreat, though we are working on ways of hosting that kind of event (in the tradition of Lightfoot and Westcott, and after the example of other bishops like John Habgood). The idea of the bishop as host as well as pastor and teacher has been central to the life of Auckland for many centuries and I fully intend that it should remain so. e. administration. Successive bishops have contributed to what is now a remarkably efficient setting for the routine (and often massive) administrative tasks. The secretaries’ office opens off the main entrance hall opposite the Library where I do my diocesan work. The Chaplain’s room is half way between the further door of the Library and the door into the Diocesan Offices. The Diocesan Office itself, including its splendid Archive, is ideally placed from my point of view, enabling all kinds of formal and informal meetings to take place at a moment’s notice. There are no doubt always things that could be improved, but at present the system is about as streamlined, in terms of facilitating my own work and ministry, as it could possibly be. Were there to be any question of relocating either the Bishop, his personal office, or the Diocesan Office, it would result in considerable extra work and nuisance getting to and fro (not to mention the thousand questions about finding new locations and the complex business of moving there). Indeed I cherish the hope that we might be able to extend the Diocesan Offices, perhaps with the addition of one of the other departments currently located in rented accommodation in Durham, in part of the old quadrangle to the west of the Scotland wing. In particular, it is an excellent use of the building, and very effective in terms of my own time and work, that the Castle can host meetings not only of Bishop’s Staff and Area Deans but also of Bishop’s Council and some of our Boards and Councils (e.g. the Board for Ministry and Training, which I chair). Indeed, we have on occasion had one of these in one room while a Clergy Spouse gathering was taking place in another. I spend quite a bit of time getting about the Diocese (yesterday, for example, I was in Durham for two different events in the morning, at a school in Sunderland at lunchtime, back at Auckland for a meeting in the afternoon, and in Newton Aycliffe for a confirmation in the evening) and it is a great help to be on home territory for many of the routine meetings rather than having to make yet more journeys. The location of Auckland Castle, at the confluence of the rivers Gaunless and Wear, is near the heart of ancient County Durham. Bishop Auckland features more prominently on seventeenth-century maps than almost all other towns between Tyne and Tees, and the Wear, flowing down from the Pennines past Stanhope (where Bishop Butler wrote his Analogy) and on past Auckland to Durham, then to Finchale (where Godric lived and prayed in the eleventh century), and thence to Sunderland, carries a good deal of the historic memory of spirituality and industry which have been characteristic of the whole region. Auckland Castle is easier to access than most parts of Durham City itself (certainly the main peninsula, whose traffic is a daily nightmare); except at the very busiest times, I can be in almost any corner of the diocese (and clergy and people can come here) within at most forty minutes or so. The private part of the house forms an excellent family home for a couple like us with four children, three of whom are married, and grandchildren starting to arrive – and one set of elderly parents who, though currently independent, may need more looking after in the not too distant future. Our private garden is fine for our needs; the larger public garden is an excellent facility for all kinds of events. The arrangements for staff, both those who live in the cottages and those who, like secretaries, come from further afield, work very well. There is a happy collaboration with Wear Valley District Council who, with the Commissioners, run the Park. We have greatly enjoyed settling in and getting to know people around us in the diocese, the local community, and the counties and boroughs into which the diocese is now divided. We very much hope that the question of the Castle and the paintings can now be put to rest so that we can expend our energies on developing our varied ministries, and develop and exploit to the full, for the next generation, the extraordinary physical, cultural and spiritual resources bequeathed by nine hundred years of history. 8 July 2005 Appendix: Westcott on Lightfoot When Lightfoot was nearing his death in 1889, he worked hard to complete his massive five-volume work on the Apostolic Fathers. It fell to his close friend Westcott, his successor both in Cambridge and Durham, to see it through the press. In September 1890, not long after becoming Bishop, Westcott wrote the prefaratory note to the work and supplied a moving portrait of his old friend in his final years: ‘He . . . continued [his labours] with unflagging interest and zeal up to the time of his illness in the Autumn of 1888 and after his partial recovery. Even when he was suffering from the relapse in the following year which proved speedily fatal, he retained his passion for work and was busy with Clement till he fell into a half-unconscious state three days before his death . . . So it is that from the historic house which he delighted to fill with the memorials of his predecessors, under the shadow of the Chapel, which he made a true symbol of our Church in its foundation and its catholicity, surrounded by personal relics which speak of common labours through twenty years, it is my duty to commend to the welcome of all serious students the last mature fruit of labours pursued with unwearied devotion at Cambridge, at St Paul’s, and at Durham, by one whose “sole desire” was, in his own words written a few months before his death, in “great things and in small, to be found a ‘fellow worker for the truth’”.’

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Cheryl, thank you for that kind introduction, and thank you all for that warm welcome. Cheryl and I first met at the department shortly after I assumed my duties as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. HUD Secretary Sean Donovan and I met with Cheryl, George Basher, and the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCVH) Board of Directors. I’d already met with George and members of VA’s Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans two weeks earlier. These two meetings left three early impressions: First, they reminded me about the large number of our Nation’s homeless Veterans and the problems facing them. Second, they exposed me to the tremendously good works that NCVH, among others, bring to this equation in the tireless work to alleviate and, eventually, eliminate homelessness among America’s Veterans. Finally, those meetings reinforced deeply the genuine goodness, compassion, and commitment of the men and women on the front lines of this fight against homelessness. The tremendous work of your board and of VA’s Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans remind me of William Faulkner’s declaration upon accepting the Nobel Prize for literature nearly 60 years ago: “I decline,” he said in Oslo in 1950, “to accept the end of man. I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone, among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.” That spirit he describes is what brings us together this morning—the same noble spirit that infuses hearts and fuels the labors of all in our efforts to seek out, to comfort, and to help lift up our Nation’s homeless Veterans. It will take all of us to succeed in our mission to safely return every homeless Veteran from the streets of our Nation. I commend the coalition for the tens of thousands of hours of hands-on work you put in every year, developing and sharing new strategies to address homelessness, helping other organizations navigate the maze of federal grants so that they, too, can be successful in their homeless initiatives, working with VA and our federal colleagues at HUD, HHS, Labor, DoD, SBA, Education and others to coordinate our efforts to bring into sharper focus the resources needed not only to mitigate and eliminate homelessness, but to prevent its occurrence in the first place. During a virtual town hall meeting last March 2008, President Obama made clear that homelessness among Veterans is unacceptable. He said, “the homeless rate for Veterans is multiple times higher than it is for non-Veterans. That's inexcusable. We're going to make sure that homeless Veterans are receiving housing and services.” Tomorrow night you are going to honor the president with the Jerald Washington Memorial Founders' Award. His early work as a community organizer provided him first hand experience about the devastation that is homelessness—for individuals, for families, and for communities. Now, as our president and as our Commander-in-Chief, he is committed to combating this stain on the American conscience. Homelessness is a blight on our society. We will all continue to be something much less than our ennobling democratic ideals so long as we carry on our rolls so many for whom our promises remain unfulfilled. We have a moral duty to prevent and eliminate homelessness among Veterans. Each of us, taking a piece of this problem and synchronizing our efforts, can help eradicate homelessness in our time. But to be truly transformational, we must go beyond promise; we must strive to return even the most troubled and challenged amongst us to productive, independent lives. The president has asked us to transform the department into a 21st century organization that will serve the well-being of Veterans for generations to come. My intent is to seek ways to increase access, improve benefits, and raise quality of services, all at lower costs. Can we do this? Can we harmonize and discipline these competing principles? I’m not exactly sure what it will take, but I don’t think we’ll get there by telling one another how good we are. We have to begin by telling each other how much better we can be. As they say in Central Texas, you can’t wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time; you have to do one or the other. i’m all for rolling up our sleeves. Make no mistake about it, change is difficult. It’s demanding on the leadership; it’s threatening to the inflexible; it undercuts the power base of those who are currently comfortable and powerful; it saps the energy of senior leadership, whose strength and commitment are necessary to see things through. If you are committed to excellence, change is about being better. Technological advances will always be important to any organization’s functioning, but technological advances alone do not make us better. Bank accounts and new buildings don’t make mission. Hospitals and clinics don’t outreach or heal. VISNs don’t take risks, don’t nurture, don’t console or inspire. The people who populate those spaces do; transformation is about people, about enabling them to exercise initiative so they can challenge all the assumptions. And where people are concerned, leadership counts. In much the same way, lifting homeless Veterans out of the shadows of lives lived in limbo is about leadership. Leadership, innovation, and initiative—those qualities are crucial, if we are going to change the culture of this department in important ways that enable us to cure homelessness. And it is those qualities that frame the work of NCVH. Your leadership is sound, your philosophy and practices are forward looking, and you are well-regarded nationally. Homeless Veterans are not an isolated group. What happens to them, what we do, or do not do, to address their needs, has repercussions across the entire fabric of our society. In our battle to wrest back homeless Veterans from the streets and back alleys, we have some wonderful, compassionate, and broad reaching programs in progress: Now, the list of programs already in place is impressive, and the achievements of those programs, thanks to the men and women behind the numbers, is gratifying. But we must do more. This year, we will spend $2.8 billion to provide health care and specialized homeless programs. Our proposed budget for next year requests an additional $400 million increase. These funds will allow us to make bold improvements. HUD-VASH [Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supported Housing], has undergone a transformation of its own. In December, 2007, Congress approved funding for HUD to create 10,000 new units of Section 8 housing for homeless Veterans and families. An additional 10,000 units of Section 8 housing was approved in March, 2009; VA and HUD program staff are working now on the placement of those units. Today, VA is announcing the creation of a National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans. The center is VA’s first opportunity to develop, promote, and enhance policy, clinical care research, and education to improve homeless services so that Veterans may live as independently and self-sufficiently as possible in a community of their choosing. The center’s outreach will be co-located with the Philadelphia and Tampa VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) with the support of host-site academic affiliates, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of South Florida. These programs, and others that are helping to open doors to better futures for homeless Veterans, deserve praise. But they must be augmented by programs that avert the threat of homelessness before it has a chance to take root. That is the thrust of the At-Risk of Homeless Pilot. Based upon appropriations from the Congress, VA and HUD are collaborating on a pilot designed to address Veterans and families at risk of homelessness. Based upon the availability of funding, we believe HUD will be able to fund housing and supportive services at up to 10 locations, and VA will provide staff to work with Veterans and families. We expect this pilot will roll out later this year. As many in this audience know, our programs within VA and in communities continue to grow. Veterans often come to us in need of services now, not next week or next month, but now. Our prevention efforts will be enhanced by providing new contract care for Veterans who need housing and services in locations where such services are in limited supply. My goal is to have no “wrong door” phenomena—Veterans who seek assistance should find it, either in VA internal programs, from you, our community partners, or through enhanced, contracted services. I currently chair the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. In that role, and in my role as Secretary of VA, my intent is to be as inclusive as possible. In addition to overseeing our VA programs on homelessness, I have asked Pete Dougherty to serve as the acting Executive Director to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness as an additional duty; you simply can’t work a good horse hard enough. Our efforts will be designed to create even stronger partnerships at the federal level, with the goal of simplifying the confusing and overlapping requirements of programs and services that sometimes confuses those we seek to help. We look forward to working with this coalition. Your community-level experience has helped tens of thousands of Veterans with a variety of problems. Your expertise is respected, and I look forward to being your partner as we eliminate homelessness among Veterans. Thank you for the tremendously good work you do. I’m honored to have been here today.

Two stat relevant segments on today's show, one on Obama email marketing and another on mining online data. Good stuff. Schlock Mercenary: November 27, 2014 3 hours ago Comments, observations and thoughts from two left coast bloggers on applied statistics, higher education and epidemiology. Joseph is a new assistant professor. Mark is a marketing statistician and former math teacher. This is a great case study in rhetorical strategies. But the analysis is admirably clear. Wal-Mart's profit margins, though by no means enormous, are larger than those of its main competitors. Given the weak national labor market, Wal-Mart has no reason to cough up extra money to its workforce. But a strong labor union could coerce them into coughing up higher pay and bringing their margins in line with Costco and Macy's. As a result, each Wal-Mart employee might get a bit less than $3,000 more a year. Whether that's "life-changing" or not is an interesting question, but since we're talking about low-wage workers here, I think the intuitions of highly paid professionals may be a bit off. It seems very plausible that the marginal hedonic value of a thousand bucks or three to Wal-Mart's workforce would be very large. The average Walmart "associate," Wake Up Walmart reports, makes $11.75 an hour. That's $20,744 per year. Those wages are slightly below the national average for retail employees, which is $12.04 an hour. They also produce annual earnings that, in a one-earner household, are below the $22,000 poverty line.So a $3,000/year hike in wages would, conservatively, be a 15% increase in pay. That would leave prices unchanged and reset the margins at Walmart to that of Macy's (hardly a disaster in the making to have margins at this level). If the average employee makes more like $14,000 (another plausible estimate) then the pay rise is even steeper. At these pay levels, a few thousand a year can be a life changing event, given the number of fixed expenses in life. Again, the 14-year Hostess bakery veteran: “Remember how I said I made $48,000 in 2005 and $34,000 last year? I would make $25,000 in five years if I took their offer. It will be hard to replace the job I had, but it will be easy to replace the job they were trying to give me.”One thing that is easy to overlook in the discussion of did Unions show inflexibility is that a 50% wage cut over less than 10 years is an amazing drop in nominal wage (and the initial drop from 30,000 to 19,000 employees). Mark's piece has pointed out that management was not doing any of the obvious moves to try save the business. While the actual pattern of executive compensation is slightly more complicated than early reports indicated, it is pretty clear that huge (long term) wage cuts were not envisioned in the executive suite. Let's get a few things clear. Hostess didn't fail for any of the reasons you've been fed. It didn't fail because Americans demanded more healthful food than its Twinkies and Ho-Hos snack cakes. It didn't fail because its unions wanted it to die. It failed because the people that ran it had no idea what they were doing. Every other excuse is just an attempt by the guilty to blame someone else. Hostess management's efforts to blame union intransigence for the company's collapse persisted right through to the Thanksgiving eve press release announcing Hostess' liquidation, when it cited a nationwide strike by bakery workers that "crippled its operations." That overlooks the years of union givebacks and management bad faith. Example: Just before declaring bankruptcy for the second time in eight years Jan. 11, Hostess trebled the compensation of then-Chief Executive Brian Driscoll and raised other executives' pay up to twofold. At the same time, the company was demanding lower wages from workers and stiffing employee pension funds of $8 million a month in payment obligations. Hostess management hasn't been able entirely to erase the paper trail pointing to its own derelictions. Consider a 163-page affidavit filed as part of the second bankruptcy petition. There Driscoll outlined a "Turnaround Plan" to get the firm back on its feet. The steps included closing outmoded plants and improving the efficiency of those that remain; upgrading the company's "aging vehicle fleet" and merging its distribution warehouses for efficiency; installing software at the warehouses to allow it to track inventory; and closing unprofitable retail stores. It also proposed to restore its advertising budget and establish an R&D program to develop new products to "maintain existing customers and attract new ones." None of these steps, Driscoll attested, required consultation with the unions. That raises the following question: You mean to tell me that as of January 2012, Hostess still hadn't gotten around to any of this? The company had known for a decade or more that its market was changing, but had done nothing to modernize its product line or distribution system. Its trucks were breaking down. It was keeping unprofitable stores open and having trouble figuring out how to move inventory to customers and when. It had cut back advertising and marketing to the point where it was barely communicating with customers. It had gotten hundreds of millions of dollars in concessions from its unions, and spent none of it on these essential improvements. The true recent history of Hostess can be excavated from piles of public filings from its two bankruptcy cases. To start with, the company has had six CEOs in the last 10 years, which is not exactly a precondition for consistent and effective corporate strategizing. Hostess first entered bankruptcy in 2004, when it was known as Interstate Bakeries. During its five years in Chapter 11, the firm obtained concessions from its unions worth $110 million a year. The unions accepted layoffs that brought the workforce down to about 19,000 from more than 30,000. There were cuts in wages, pension and health benefits. The Teamsters committed to negotiations over changes in antiquated work rules. The givebacks helped reduce Hostess' labor costs to the point where they were roughly equal to or even lower than some of its major competitors'. But the firm emerged from bankruptcy with more debt than when it went in — in with $575 million, out with $774 million, all secured by company assets. That's pretty much the opposite of what's supposed to happen in bankruptcy. By the end, there was barely a spare distributor cap in the motor pool that wasn't mortgaged to the private equity firms and hedge funds holding the notes (and also appointing management). The post-bankruptcy leadership never executed a growth strategy. It failed to introduce a significant new product or acquire a single new brand. It lagged on bakery automation and product R&D, while rivals such as Bimbo Bakeries USA built research facilities and hired food scientists to keep their product lines fresh. At the time of the 2004 bankruptcy, Hostess was three times the size of Bimbo. Today it's less than half Bimbo's size. (Bimbo, which has been acquiring bakeries such as Sara Lee and Entenmann's right and left, might well end up with Hostess' brands.) HP has become the place where synergies go to die. In its earnings release today, HP said it has taken an $8.8 billion writedown, caused by what it calls “serious accounting improprieties” at Autonomy, a software company it acquired for $11 billion in August 2011. This, as David Benoit notes, is HP’s second acquisition-related $8 billion writedown of the year.I love the phrase "flexible definition." HP is furiously pointing fingers: in a statement, the company said there was a “willful effort on behalf of certain former Autonomy employees to inflate the underlying financial metrics”. And CEO Meg Whitman told analysts that Deloitte had signed off on Autonomy’s accounts, with KPMG signing off on Deloitte. Still, only $5 billion of this quarter’s write down came from Autonomy’s accounting; the rest came from those pesky “headwinds against anticipated synergies and marketplace performance”. There’s a strong case that HP should have smelled a rat. Bryce Elder points to “a decade’s worth of research questioning Autonomy’s revenue recognition, organic growth and seemingly flexible definition of a contract sale”. Then there’s the scathing statement which came about a month after the HP sale, in which Oracle revealed that it too had looked at Autonomy, but considered the company’s $6 billion market value to be “extremely over-priced”. Lynch, for his part, says that he was “ambushed” by the allegations. Michael Hogan, CEO of A.D. Makepeace, a large cranberry grower based in Wareham, says for now cranberries are still a viable crop in Massachusetts. But climate change is making it much tougher to grow there.I know we've been over this before, but it gets harder and harder to see how a cost/benefit analysis of climate change don't support immediate implementation of a carbon tax.or something similar. "We're having warmer springs, we're having higher incidences of pests and fungus and we're having warmer falls when we need to have cooler nights," Hogan says. Those changing conditions are costing growers like Makepeace money. The company has to use more water to irrigate in the hotter summers, and to cover the berries in spring and fall to protect them from frosts. They're also spending more on fuel to run irrigation pumps, and have invested heavily in technology to monitor the bogs more closely. It's also meant more fungicides and fruit rot. "Because of the percentage of rot that was delivered to Ocean Spray, they paid us $2 a barrel less," Hogan says. "We delivered 370,000 barrels last year. So you're talking about millions of dollars." Cranberries also need a certain number of "chilling hours" to ensure that deep red color. Glen Reid, assistant manager of cranberry operations for A.D. Makepeace, says that's a problem as well. "The berries actually need cold nights to color up," Reid says. "Last year we had a big problem with coloring up the berries. We had a lot more white berries." Some growers in the Northeast have already moved some cranberry production to chillier climates, like eastern Canada. Ocean Spray has started growing cranberries on a new farm in the province of New Brunswick. Makepeace's Hogan is even considering Chile, which apparently has a favorable climate for growing the North American berry. When Oster was expecting her first child, she felt powerless to make the right decisions for her pregnancy. How doctors think and what patients need are two very different things. So Oster drew on her own experience and went in search of the real facts about pregnancy using an economist’s tools. Economics is not just a study of finance. It’s the science of determining value and making informed decisions. To make a good decision, you need to understand the information available to you and to know what it means to you as an individual.So, when applied to a medical topic (like pregnancy) how does this differ from evidence based medicine? Should I be calling myself an economist? We discovered that about two-thirds of the ninth-grade academic achievement gap between disadvantaged youngsters and their more advantaged peers can be explained by what happens over the summer during the elementary school years.Mike goes on to point out the obvious question this raises about the fire-the-teachers approach to education reform. I also want to point out that the higher performing group isn’t necessarily high income, but simply better off. In the context of the Baltimore City school system, that usually means solidly middle class, with parents who are likely to have gone to college versus dropping out. Statistically, lower income children begin school with lower achievement scores, but during the school year, they progress at about the same rate as their peers. Over the summer, it’s a dramatically different story. During the summer months, disadvantaged children tread water at best or even fall behind. It’s what we call “summer slide” or “summer setback.” But better off children build their skills steadily over the summer months. The pattern was definite and dramatic. It was quite a revelation. Hart and Risley also found that, in the first four years after birth, the average child from a professional family receives 560,000 more instances of encouraging feedback than discouraging feedback; a working- class child receives merely 100,000 more encouragements than discouragements; a welfare child receives 125,000 more discouragements than encouragements. In 2005 it was another contract year and this time there was no way out of concessions. The Union negotiated a deal that would save the company $150 million a year in labor. It was a tough internal battle to get people to vote for it. We turned it down twice. Finally the Union told us it was in our best interest and something had to give. So many of us, including myself, changed our votes and took the offer. Remember that next time you see CEO Rayburn on tv stating that we haven't sacrificed for this company. The company then emerged from bankruptcy. In 2005 before concessions I made $48,000, last year I made $34,000. My pay changed dramatically but at least I was still contributing to my self-funded pension. In July of 2011 we received a letter from the company. It said that the $3+ per hour that we as a Union contribute to the pension was going to be 'borrowed' by the company until they could be profitable again. Then they would pay it all back. The Union was notified of this the same time and method as the individual members. No contact from the company to the Union on a national level. This money will never be paid back. The company filed for bankruptcy and the judge ruled that the $3+ per hour was a debt the company couldn't repay. The Union continued to work despite this theft of our self-funded pension contributions for over a year. I consider this money stolen. No other word in the English language describes what they have done to this money.This illustrates a couple of things. One is that defined contribution pensions (i.e. the 401(k) and other such vehicles) are not necessarily a safe harbor from corporate games if something like this can happen without the union proactively agreeing. Two, the concessions made by the unions were pretty significant. They took pretty large pay cuts (29%) and lost additional money from the pension fund. No manager who made the decision to borrow this money was held liable. The problems at Hostess have been decades in the making. The company went into bankruptcy in 2004 and left in 2009 with numerous labor concessions, but without major reform to the pension system. Some people liked to blame that on the unions, but it is up to management to decide what is profitable or unprofitable. Now three years later, management has deemed their old agreements aren't profitable and that would be correct given how much money Hostess has been bleeding. And people still wonder why some union leaders were skeptical of management. Skepticism is warranted, especially in light of Hostess having left bankruptcy in 2009 with more debt than it had in 2004 with falling sales. 2011 sales were down 28% from 2004. Of course, this is the union's fault that sales have dropped and not a failure of the company's leadership. On top of that, management comes to the labor unions demanding 8% pay cuts and slashes to the pension, while the top executives increase their own pay--what a nice goodwill gesture. Some unsecured creditors actually filed suit over the pay raises. Yes, pensions and work issues needed to be addressed. The unions had to make concessions, but it's difficult in light of what has happened for anyone to have any faith in what management has been doing at Hostess. Now, enter two hedge funds, who hold the majority of secured debt, and they're likely looking to get out. After all, the business model isn't working; it's time for a showdown. The Teamsters actually finally agreed to the wage and benefit concessions. Some of the other unions, including the Bakers' Union, didn't. Of course, I have a suspicion that some of the unions were acting in the best interest of all their union workers and not the union workers who were working at Hostess. Though, I also have suspicions that even if the unions capitulated to the hedge fund demands (they're the ones driving the show), Hostess would have likely been sold or have been back in bankruptcy in a few years. The other day a Republican political veteran forwarded me a hiring notice from the Obama 2012 campaign. It read like politics as done by Martians. The "Analytics Department" is looking for "predictive Modeling/Data Mining" specialists to join the campaign's "multi-disciplinary team of statisticians," which will use "predictive modeling" to anticipate the behavior of the electorate.It might seem that, after the last thousand or so Noonan columns, pointing out flaws in the latest entry is coals-to-Newcastle. This is, after all, the pundit who told us the day before the election that Romney was on track to win because "all the vibrations are right." (She said a lot of other memorable things in that column. You really ought to check it out.) Sicko is about America's health care system, and the alternatives. Before I saw Sicko, I believed the common line that, for all its flaws, America's health care system was "the best in the world". After I saw the movie, I did not believe anything of the kind. Sicko opened my eyes to the existence of Britain's National Health Service; after watching the movie, I looked into the NHS, and found that it achieves better results than the U.S. on almost any outcome measure, for far fewer costs. Importantly, it does this using a rational incentive system - doctors are paid for improving the health of their patients, not for recommending large numbers of expensive services.This really highlights the central dilemma facing US medical care. It is really expensive and it has very mediocre outcomes at a population level. It is possible that some people get exceptional medical care beyond that available elsewhere. And it is true that putting a lot of resources into a sector does tend to drive advances in that sector. My own person question is whether this is the best way to drive medical innovation; could targeted research money do more good on innovation than paying more for physician office visits? I'm not sure, but around the same time that I stopped believing that America had the best health system in the world, I noticed that other people stopped saying it (and in fact started saying the opposite!). Around the same time I started thinking that Britain's NHS is the best alternative, I noticed a lot of policy-wonkish people praising that system in the press. Around the same time I started realizing the insanity of the "fee for service" incentive system, everyone started talking about it. So I wonder if Sicko, rather than just changing my mind, actually changed the whole national conversation The claim that high pay is necessary to attract and motivate good workers is not merely an economic postulate. If it were, it could apply across the wage distribution. Instead, it functions as a defence of inequality - used to justify higher pay for the rich, rather than for any job. For grunt workers, wages are a cost to be minimized regardless of consequence.This is a really good point; if wages for managers were treated like an expense for the company (instead of as an investment in talent) then would we have seen manger salaries rise so far in recent years? Megan McArdle argues that surging costs are as much a consequence as they are a cause of unprecedented levels of student debt, spurred on by government subsidies. But Mike Konczal flags a Department of Education study that shows that the government earns $1.14 back for every dollar it loans to students and asks, “What’s a good word for the opposite of a subsidy? Whatever it is, student loans are that”.This really seems to be a major problem with the modern discourse on education. We are all convinced that there has to be some sort of amazing (clever, counter-intuitive) theory about why tuition is going up. Bad policy, on the other hand, seems to be completely ignored. But if the government is making a net profit off of student loans, that seems to be rather concerning. Not because I object to profit, but because the loans are so high. In fact, Social Security is NOT in crisis. If we hiked payroll taxes by two percentage points we would probably take care of the payroll tax deficit. Yes, that’s a regressive tax and we should be cautious about doing it. But our long-run budget problems are mostly in health care. Why the unearthly fascination with cutting Social Security?I mean, seriously, why is it such conventional wisdom that it needs to be reformed? It is true that a private alternative would be a great revenue center for finance types. But a lot of things would be great revenue sources that we don't privatize for good reason (Police, Military), either because it would be inefficient or because only the government can guarentee long term contracts like those required for retirement in 45 years. All statisticians use prior information in their statistical analysis. Non-Bayesians express their prior information not through a probability distribution on parameters but rather through their choice of methods. I think this non-Bayesian attitude is too restrictive, but in this case a small amount of reflection would reveal the inappropriateness of this procedure for this example.I had never phrased things like this but it does seem to be a sensible description of what I (essentially a Frequentist) actually do in real life. This may be a very good teaching point and it nicely illustrates that all analysis involves priors -- just that some are more explicit than others. FOLKENFLIK: But if Florida stays blue, Silver will have picked every state correctly, along with the president's margin of victory. Conservative columnist John Podhoretz of the New York Post and Commentary magazine had earlier argued pollsters were getting it wrong by ignoring the high turnout by Republicans in the 2010 elections that swept the GOP into control of the U.S. House. The 2012 race would be the same, Podhoretz argued, quite mistakenly, as it turned out. JOHN PODHORETZ: That view was strengthened and amplified by what I wanted to happen, which I freely confess. People don't ordinarily cast a skeptical eye on data and information that supports their opinions. They're happy to take it. “Most of the polls I ‘unskewed’ were based on samples that generally included about five or six or seven percent more Democrats than Republicans, and I doubted and questioned the results of those polls, and then ‘unskewed’ them based on my belief that a nearly equal percentage of Democrats and Republicans would turn out in the actual election this year,” Chambers wrote on The Examiner website. “I was wrong on that assumption and those who predicted a turnout model of five or six percent in favor of Democrats were right. Likewise, the polling numbers they produced going on that assumption turned out to be right and my ‘unskewed’ numbers were off the mark.” RAZ: The popular vote. Yeah. Interestingly, when you asked voters who they think will win, 52 percent say Obama, just 32 percent say Romney. KOHUT: Yes. That has been pretty consistent through this election. Obama is seen by average voters as the likely winner of the next election. That's another measure that's been a pretty good indicator of who will win the election. That is the candidate that the electorate thinks will win generally does win. Regarding dumping money into non-competitive states, here in Dallas nearly every other commercial is an anti-Obama ad from the superPAC, “Restore our Future.” I’m trying to figure out why they’re dumping so much money into the Texas ad market when I’d assume Texas is about as solidly red as it gets. I have two theories: 1. It’s to build up GOP enthusiasm for down-ticket races.This reminded me of the Stag Hunt game where players have to decide whether to stick with a group in hopes of a big pay-off that's dependent on cooperation or go off on their own for a smaller but more likely pay-off. 2. They need to spend some of their donations on something other than lining their own pockets to help keep people from realizing they’re nothing but grifters who have been lining their own pockets with all that political donation money. [D]ue to pressure from Republicans, the Congressional Research Service is withdrawing a report that showed the lack of correlation between high end tax cuts and economic growth.And with Sandy still on everyone's mind, here's something from Menzie Chinn: The study, by economist Tom Hungerford, is of high quality, and is one I’ve cited here at OTE. Its findings are fairly common in the economics literature and the concerns raised by that noted econometrician Mitch McConnell are trumped up and bogus. He and his colleagues don’t like the findings because they strike at the supply-side arguments that they hold so dear. NOAA's programs are in function 300, Natural Resources and Environment, along with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and a range of conservation and natural resources programs. In the near term, function 300 would be 14.6 percent lower in 2014 in the Ryan budget according to the Washington Post. It quotes David Kendall of The Third Way as warning about the potential impact on weather forecasting: "'Our weather forecasts would be only half as accurate for four to eight years until another polar satellite is launched,' estimates Kendall. 'For many people planning a weekend outdoors, they may have to wait until Thursday for a forecast as accurate as one they now get on Monday. … Perhaps most affected would be hurricane response. Governors and mayors would have to order evacuations for areas twice as large or wait twice as long for an accurate forecast.'"There are also attempts from prominent conservatives to delegitimize objective data: Apparently, Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric, is accusing the Bureau of Labor Statistics of manipulating the jobs report to help President Obama. Others seem to be adding their voices to this slanderous lie. It is simply outrageous to make such a claim and echoes the worrying general distrust of facts that seems to have swept segments of our nation. The BLS employment report draws on two surveys, one (the establishment survey) of 141,000 businesses and government agencies and the other (the household survey) of 60,000 households. The household survey is done by the Census Bureau on behalf of BLS. It’s important to note that large single-month divergences between the employment numbers in these two surveys (like the divergence in September) are just not that rare. EPI’s Elise Gould has a great paper on the differences between these two surveys.We can also put many of the attacks against Nate Silver in this category. BLS is a highly professional agency with dozens of people involved in the tabulation and analysis of these data. The idea that the data are manipulated is just completely implausible. Moreover, the data trends reported are clearly in line with previous monthly reports and other economic indicators (such as GDP). The key result was the 114,000 increase in payroll employment from the establishment survey, which was right in line with what forecasters were expecting. This was a positive growth in jobs but roughly the amount to absorb a growing labor force and maintain a stable, not falling, unemployment rate. If someone wanted to help the president, they should have doubled the job growth the report showed. The household survey was much more positive, showing unemployment falling from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent. These numbers are more volatile month to month and it wouldn’t be surprising to see unemployment rise a bit next month. Nevertheless, there’s nothing implausible about the reported data. The household survey has shown greater job growth in the recovery than the establishment survey throughout the recovery. The labor force participation rate (the share of adults who are working or unemployed) increased to 63.6 percent, which is an improvement from the prior month but still below the 63.7 percent reported for July. All in all, there was nothing particularly strange about this month’s jobs reports—and certainly nothing to spur accusations of outright fraud. The House Committee on Appropriations recently proposed cutting the Census budget to $878 million, $10 million below its current budget and $91 million less than the bureau’s request for the next fiscal year. Included in the committee number is a $20 million cut in funding for this year’s Economic Census, considered the foundation of U.S. economic statistics.And Bruce Bartlett had a whole set of examples involving Newt Gingrich: On Nov. 21, Newt Gingrich, who is leading the race for the Republican presidential nomination in some polls, attacked the Congressional Budget Office. In a speech in New Hampshire, Mr. Gingrich said the C.B.O. "is a reactionary socialist institution which does not believe in economic growth, does not believe in innovation and does not believe in data that it has not internally generated." Mr. Gingrich's charge is complete nonsense. The former C.B.O. director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, now a Republican policy adviser, labeled the description "ludicrous." Most policy analysts from both sides of the aisle would say the C.B.O. is one of the very few analytical institutions left in government that one can trust implicitly. It's precisely its deep reservoir of respect that makes Mr. Gingrich hate the C.B.O., because it has long stood in the way of allowing Republicans to make up numbers to justify whatever they feel like doing. Mr. Gingrich has long had special ire for the C.B.O. because it has consistently thrown cold water on his pet health schemes, from which he enriched himself after being forced out as speaker of the House in 1998. In 2005, he wrote an op-ed article in The Washington Times berating the C.B.O., then under the direction of Mr. Holtz-Eakin, saying it had improperly scored some Gingrich-backed proposals. At a debate on Nov. 5, Mr. Gingrich said, "If you are serious about real health reform, you must abolish the Congressional Budget Office because it lies." Because Mr. Gingrich does know more than most politicians, the main obstacles to his grandiose schemes have always been Congress's professional staff members, many among the leading authorities anywhere in their areas of expertise. To remove this obstacle, Mr. Gingrich did everything in his power to dismantle Congressional institutions that employed people with the knowledge, training and experience to know a harebrained idea when they saw it. When he became speaker in 1995, Mr. Gingrich moved quickly to slash the budgets and staff of the House committees, which employed thousands of professionals with long and deep institutional memories. Of course, when party control in Congress changes, many of those employed by the previous majority party expect to lose their jobs. But the Democratic committee staff members that Mr. Gingrich fired in 1995 weren't replaced by Republicans. In essence, the positions were simply abolished, permanently crippling the committee system and depriving members of Congress of competent and informed advice on issues that they are responsible for overseeing. Mr. Gingrich sold his committee-neutering as a money-saving measure. How could Congress cut the budgets of federal agencies if it wasn't willing to cut its own budget, he asked. In the heady days of the first Republican House since 1954, Mr. Gingrich pretty much got whatever he asked for. In addition to decimating committee budgets, he also abolished two really useful Congressional agencies, the Office of Technology Assessment and the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. The former brought high-level scientific expertise to bear on legislative issues and the latter gave state and local governments an important voice in Congressional deliberations. The amount of money involved was trivial even in terms of Congress's budget. Mr. Gingrich's real purpose was to centralize power in the speaker's office, which was staffed with young right-wing zealots who followed his orders without question. Lacking the staff resources to challenge Mr. Gingrich, the committees could offer no resistance and his agenda was simply rubber-stamped. Unfortunately, Gingrichism lives on. Republican Congressional leaders continually criticize every Congressional agency that stands in their way. In addition to the C.B.O., one often hears attacks on the Congressional Research Service, the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Government Accountability Office. Lately, the G.A.O. has been the prime target. Appropriators are cutting its budget by $42 million, forcing furloughs and cutbacks in investigations that identify billions of dollars in savings yearly. So misguided is this effort that Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma and one of the most conservative members of Congress, came to the agency's defense. In a report issued by his office on Nov. 16, Senator Coburn pointed out that the G.A.O.'s budget has been cut by 13 percent in real terms since 1992 and its work force reduced by 40 percent -- more than 2,000 people. By contrast, Congress's budget has risen at twice the rate of inflation and nearly doubled to $2.3 billion from $1.2 billion over the last decade. Mr. Coburn's report is replete with examples of budget savings recommended by G.A.O. He estimated that cutting its budget would add $3.3 billion a year to government waste, fraud, abuse and inefficiency that will go unidentified. For good measure, Mr. Coburn included a chapter in his report on how Congressional committees have fallen down in their responsibility to exercise oversight. The number of hearings has fallen sharply in both the House and Senate. Since the beginning of the Gingrich era, they have fallen almost in half, with the biggest decline coming in the 104th Congress (1995-96), his first as speaker. In short, Mr. Gingrich's unprovoked attack on the C.B.O. is part of a pattern. He disdains the expertise of anyone other than himself and is willing to undercut any institution that stands in his way. Unfortunately, we are still living with the consequences of his foolish actions as speaker. We could really use the Office of Technology Assessment at a time when Congress desperately needs scientific expertise on a variety of issues in involving health, energy, climate change, homeland security and many others. And given the enormous stress suffered by state and local governments as they are forced by Washington to do more with less, an organization like the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations would be invaluable.

PeriGen’s perinatal systems improve patient safety by addressing the root causes of preventable medical errors: errors of cognition and communication. Scientific literature shows that 40%-50% of birth traumas that occur in the United States each year are potentially avoidable. By reducing the incidence of complications, PeriGen systems support clinicians in improving clinical outcomes for their patients. Together with improved, measurable clinical outcomes, hospitals using PeriGen systems have decreased their malpractice exposure and reduced their self-insured reserves. Improvement in Clinical Outcomes and Decrease in Complications In addition to PeriBirth’s clinical decision support protocols and real-time monitoring of the patient’s changing condition, the system generates detailed reporting data. Each hospital’s clinical outcomes are benchmarked against national trends as well as against peer hospitals. With objective, comprehensive data, clinicians can truly see clinical outcomes in a meaningful context. Hospitals have used the PeriBirth system to help them reduce and even eliminate elective inductions of less than 39 weeks; reduce the use of potentially harmful labor inducing drugs; and ensure compliance with their patient safety protocols. A study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology (June 4, 2012) shows that physicians using the PeriCALM® Shoulder Screen™ experienced a 50% decrease in the rate of shoulder dystocia, with no increase in the primary cesarean rate. Depending upon preferred thresholds, its detection rates between 44.8% and 61% could translate to multimillion dollar savings for large hospital systems or insurers. Reduction in Medical Malpractice and Decrease in Claims With documented improvements in clinical outcomes, hospitals can demonstrate a reduction in malpractice exposure which enables them to lower their self-insured reserves. The Journal of Healthcare Risk Management published a 2007 article, Partnering with Technology to Reduce OB Losses, documenting MedStar Health’s recapture of their total investment in PeriGen’s clinical decision support system in less than 2 years. The ROI was realized through a $3M annual reduction in their self-insurance reserves that was directly tied to the installation of the PeriBirth solution. Additionally, MedStar, and other clients, have received 10%-15% reductions in their excess insurance premiums due to their use of the system. One of the Top Five Large Health Systems in the country based on clinical performance according to Thomson Reuters, Banner Health posted equally dramatic results. In the eight years preceding the installation of the PeriBirth® system, Labor and Delivery was the second highest center for paid cost of claims at approximately $49M. In the two years following implementation, Labor and Delivery dropped 92% to $500,000 in paid cost of claims and fell from the second to the ninth slot. Revenue Increase Resulting from Improved Charge Capture A high-volume academic medical center in New York City increased its OB triage revenue substantially following the installation of the PeriBirth system. In less than three years, the hospital recouped the cost of the system. A flagship hospital ranked in the Top 100 Best Hospitals experienced a 9.2% volume increase in OB Triage charge capture over the two-year period following the PeriBirth system’s implementation. With an average increase of $98.00 per triage visit, the hospital enjoyed an annual revenue increase of $857,206.

Show 81 first broadcast on 18th December 2009 This weeks show begins with another science cooking tip about denaturing the protein in your eggs. Next its the rise of the robot warriors and finally The genetic basis of intelligence. The rise of the robot warrior? This week’s featured interview is with Professor Noel Sharkey from the University of Sheffield – yes its me myself. This is an interview conducted by a young German journalist, whose name I have lost, following a talk that I gave to the Deursche Welle Global Media Forum on “Conflict prevention”. Deutsche is the german equivalent of the BBC World Service and they know how to throw a party. There were over 1200 of us there and they managed a massive party every evening. On one night we were all put on a massive boat ride down the rhine with great rock bands playing. Back to the point: in this interview, I talk about some of the threats and dangers arising from the rapid rise of the application of robots by the military. It was recorded in June and listening to it now, it already seems a bit out of date because there have been so many new developments over the past six months. This is intended as a reminder that this is going on behind the scenes and hopefull it serves as a warning that might help to inhibit the growth just a little. Genes the regulate intelligence The regular monthly Cafe Scientifique slot is presented by Erick Taylor. It feature interviews and discussion with Dr Tony Payton from the University of Manchester BIG APOLOGIES HERE FOR CALLING HIM TONY RYAN ON THE PROGRAMME – (that was the information given to me by Cafe Scientifique). Dr Payton talked about identifying the risk factors for individual differences in age-related cognitive ability and decline and how that is amongst the greatest challenges facing the healthcare of older people. Cognitive impairment caused by “normal ageing” is a major contributor towards overall intellectual deficit in the elderly and a process that exhibits substantial variation within the population. Both cognitive ability and its decline with age are influenced by both our genes and the environment with interaction between the two. Over the past fourteen years genetic research has aimed to identify the genetic variation responsible for high cognitive functioning and successful cognitive ageing. During this period a bewildering array of contrasting reports have appeared in the literature that have implicated over 50 genes with effect sizes ranging from 0.1 to 21 per cent. This talk will discuss the progress that’s been made in the field and the benefits and pitfalls of discovering genes that regulate intelligence. Holiday arrangements for the Sound of Science May I wish all of our podcast listeners and merry holiday season and a very happy new year. I hope that you will stick with us through next year. The podcast will be off air for the next two weeks to return on 8th January, 2010. The programme will still go out live on Sheffield Live 93.2FM. This is because I am broadcasting some science fiction plays based on the writings of my favourite sci-fi author Philip K. Dick. The station is licensed to air recorded material and pays a royalty fee but I am not licensed to podcast the material. BUT: I will be putting a link here to the radio station site each week so that you can pick it up directly from them so you wont lose out.

A palindrome is a word or a phrase that has the property of reading the same in either direction. Spacing and punctuation do not matter. - Able was I ere I saw Elba. - Madam, I'm Adam. - Quoted in Mark Twain, The Galaxy, Vol. 1, p. 439 - A man, a plan, a canal: Panama! - Leigh Mercer, Notes and Queries, November 13, 1948 - A man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, heros, rajahs, a coloratura, maps, snipe, percale, macaroni, a gag, a banana bag, a tan, a tag, a banana bag again (or a camel), a crepe, pins, Spam, a rut, a Rolo, cash, a jar, sore hats, a peon, a canal – Panama - Si Nummi immunis. - Sator arepo tenet opera rotas. - In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni. - Translation: We go about in the night and are consumed by fire. - quoted in The concise Oxford companion to English literature, 2007

Hindu nationalists continue to oppress Christians in Kandhamal district, report says. NEW DELHI, November 11 (CDN) — More than two years after losing relatives and property in anti-Christian violence, there is no sense of relief among survivors in India’s Orissa state, as many are still ostracized and pressured to “return” to Hinduism, according to a private investigation. “Despite the state administration’s claim of normalcy,” the preliminary report of a fact-finding team states, “a state of lawlessness and utter fear and sense of insecurity” prevails among Christians of Kandhamal district, which saw a major anti-Christian bloodbath in 2008. The team, consisting of local attorney Nicholas Barla and another identified only as Brother Marcus, along with rights activists Jugal Kishore Ranjit and Ajay Kumar Singh, visited four villages in three blocks of Kandhamal on Nov. 5. In Bodimunda village in Tikabali, the team met a pastor who said he has been closely watched since Hindu extremists forced him to become a Hindu. The pastor, whose name the report withheld for security reasons, said he had to convert to Hinduism in 2008 “to save his old mother, who could not have escaped the violence as she was not in a position to walk.” He is still closely watched in an effort to prevent him from returning to Christianity. While the attorneys and activists were still at the pastor’s house, a man who identified himself as from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, India’s most influential Hindu nationalist conglomerate) came to inquire about his visitors. The pastor felt compelled to tell them that they were “bank officials.” In the same village, Hindu nationalists have also imposed a de facto ban on any private or public vehicle to ferry Christians or their belongings, said the report. The team met the family of a paralyzed Christian, Bamadev Pradhan, whom auto-rickshaw drivers refused to take to a hospital when he recently ran a high fever. Eventually a Christian driver took him to the only hospital in Tikabali, around eight kilometers (nearly five miles) from his village of Bodimunda, but as the Christian was driving back, some local men confiscated his vehicle. With the help of the auto-rickshaw union, the driver (unnamed in the report) got the vehicle released after paying a fine of 1,051 (US$24) rupees and promising that he would not transport any Christians in the future. Another Christian said area Hindus extremists prohibited Christians from procuring basic necessities. “We are not allowed to bring housing materials or food provisions or medicines, and nor are we allowed to buy anything from local shops,” he said. “We do not have any shop of our own. Here, we are struggling to live as human beings.” The team also met a Hindu who had to pay 5,000 rupees (US$112) to get his tractor returned to him, as he had transported housing material for the construction of the house of a Christian. In the house of a Christian in Keredi village in Phulbani Block, the team found a picture of a Hindu god. The resident, who was not identified in the report, explained that he had to display it in order to protect his family from harm. The team found pictures of Hindu gods also in the house of a Christian in Gandapadar village in the Minia area, Phiringia Block. A woman in the house told the team that local Hindu nationalists had given her pictures of Hindu gods for worship. “We have kept them, as they often come to check whether we have reconverted to Christianity,” she said. Almost all Christians the team met complained that the local administration had done little to protect them and suspected that officials colluded with area Hindu nationalists. Released on Nov. 8, the report asserts that Christians have been barred from taking water from a government well in Dakanaju village, under G. Udayagiri police jurisdiction in Tikabali Block. The village head, Sachindra Pradhan, has promised to take action “at the earliest,” it added. Violence in Kandhamal and some other districts of Orissa state followed the assassination of Hindu nationalist leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on Aug. 23, 2008. The rampage killed over 100 people and burned 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions, according to estimates by human rights groups. The spate of attacks began a day after Saraswati’s killing when Hindu nationalist groups blamed Christians for his murder, although Maoists (extreme Marxists) active in the district claimed responsibility for it. John Dayal, a Christian activist in Delhi, told Compass that “the apparatus of 2008 remains undisturbed.” The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was part of the ruling state alliance with the regional Biju Janata Dal (BJD) party at the time of the violence. Although the BJD broke up with the BJP in 2009, blaming it for the violence, the former cannot be excused, said Dayal. “While the BJP is mainly to be blamed, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is not entirely innocent,” Dayal said. “Not just that he allowed the BJP and RSS cadres to run amok when they were part of his government, turning a blind eye to their very visible anti-Christian activities, but he was his own home [interior] minister and cannot really shirk command responsibility for the carnage together with his BJP ministerial colleagues and senior officers.” Kandhamal district Magistrate Krishan Kumar, who was on a tour at press time, could not be contacted for comment despite repeated attempts. Of the 648,201 people in Kandhamal district, 117,950 are Christian, mostly Dalit (formerly “untouchables” in the caste hierarchy in Hindu societies), according to the 2001 Census. Hindus, mainly tribal people and numbering 527,757, form the majority. Report from Compass Direct News An American street preacher has been arrested and fined £1000 in Glasgow for telling passersby, in answer to a direct question, that homosexual activity is a sin. Shawn Holes was kept in jail overnight on March 18, and in the morning pled guilty to charges that he had made “homophobic remarks…aggravated by religious prejudice,” reports Hilary White,LifeSiteNews.com. Holes, a 47 year-old former wedding photographer from Lake Placid, New York, was in Glasgow as part of a preaching tour of Britain with a group of British and American colleagues. He said, “I was talking generally about Christianity and sin.” “I only talked about these other issues because I was specifically asked. There were homosexuals listening – around six or eight – who were kissing each other and cuddling, and asking ‘What do you think of this?’” A group of homosexuals approached police with a complaint. Holes later said that the situation seemed like a “set-up by gay campaigners.” “When asked directly about homosexuality, I told them homosexuals risked the wrath of God unless they accepted Christ.” The charge, under the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003, has angered freedom of speech advocates in Britain and has even been criticized by homosexualist campaigner Peter Tatchell who called the £1,000 “totally disproportionate.” Local Christians supporting the preaching ministry took up a collection and paid the fine. Tatchell told the Daily Mail, “The price of freedom of speech is that we sometimes have to put up with opinions that are objectionable and offensive. Just as people should have the right to criticize religion, people of faith should have the right to criticize homosexuality. Only incitements to violence should be illegal.” Holes relates that at the same time he had been asked for his views on Islam and had said he believed there is only one true Christian God and that the Prophet Mohammed is a “sinner like the rest of us.” He said that two men who were listening spoke to police officers who approached him and said, “These people say you said homos are going to Hell.” “I told them I would never say that, because I don’t use the term homo. But I was arrested.” Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Glasgow told the Scotsman, “We supported [hate crime] legislation but it is very difficult to see how this man can be charged for expressing a religious conviction. “The facts of this case show his statement was clearly his religious belief. Yes, it is strong language he has used, but it is obviously a religious conviction and not a form of discrimination.” Gordon Macdonald, of Christian Action Research and Education for Scotland, said, “This is a concerning case. I will be writing to Chief Constable Stephen House of Strathclyde Police for clarification of the guidance given to police officers in these situations.” In related news, a district judge has thrown out the case against another street preacher, Paul Shaw, who was arrested on February 19 in Colchester over comments he made about homosexual activity. Shaw, who did not plead guilty, said, “I’ve preached regularly for about three or four years without incident. “In four years, I’ve only dealt with homosexuality about twice.” Shaw told the judge that he was obliged to act according to his conscience and that homosexuality was a significant issue in Britain today. The case was dismissed through lack of evidence and written testimony from complainants. Shaw said, “My reasons were twofold. Firstly, there is a consequence for the country and society if society does not appreciate the difference between right and wrong, particularly noticeable by homosexuality. “As a nation, we are coming under God’s judgment not very far away in the future and there will be terrible consequences for this if it is not made unlawful again. Secondly, on a personal level, as with all other sins, it needs to be repented of in order to enter the Kingdom of God.” District Judge David Cooper told Shaw, “There are other sorts of ‘sins’. Do you think you could concentrate on those for a bit?” Meanwhile, a new study conducted on behalf of religious think-tank Theos has shown that nearly 1/3 of British people think that Christians are being marginalized and religious freedom has been restricted. The report’s author Professor Roger Trigg, wrote, “A free society should never be in the business of muzzling religious voices, let alone in the name of democracy or feigned neutrality.” “We also betray our heritage and make our present position precarious if we value freedom, but think that the Christian principles which have inspired the commitment of many to democratic ideals are somehow dispensable,” Professor Trigg said. Report from the Christian Telegraph After months of asking, delegation wins clearance to enter Kandhamal district. NEW DELHI, January 29 (CDN) — Weary of international scrutiny of troubled Kandhamal district in Orissa state, officials yesterday finally allowed delegates from the European Union (EU) to visit affected areas – as long as they do no fact-finding. A team of 13 diplomats from the EU was to begin its four-day tour of Kandhamal district yesterday, but the federal government had refused to give the required clearance to visit the area, which was wracked by anti-Christian violence in 2008. A facilitator of the delegation said that authorities then reversed themselves and yesterday gave approval to the team. The team plans to visit Kandhamal early next month to assess the state government’s efforts in rehabilitating victims and prosecuting attackers in the district, where a spate of anti-Christian violence in August-September 2008 killed over 100 people and burned 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions. When the federal government recommended that Orissa state officials allow the delegation to visit the area, the state government agreed under the condition that the diplomats undertake no fact-finding, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency. The government stipulated to the EU team, led by the deputy chief of mission of the Spanish embassy, Ramon Moreno, that they are only to interact with local residents. The delegation consented. Delegates from the EU had also sought a visit to Kandhamal in November 2009, but the government denied permission. The diplomats from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland were able to make it only to the Orissa state capital, Bhubaneswar, at that time. Ironically, three days before the government initially denied permission to the EU team, the head of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Mohan Bhagwat, visited Orissa and addressed a huge rally of its cadres in Bhubaneswar, reported PTI on Tuesday (Jan. 26). While Bhagwat was not reported to have made an inflammatory speech, many Christians frowned on his visit. It is believed that his organization was behind the violence in Kandhamal, which began after a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP), Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, was killed by Maoists (extreme Marxists) on Aug. 23, 2008. Hindu extremist groups wrongly blamed it on local Christians in order to stir up anti-Christian violence. On Nov. 11, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told the state assembly House that 85 people from the RSS, 321 members of the VHP and 118 workers of the Bajrang Dal, youth wing of the VHP, were rounded up by the police for the attacks in Kandhamal. It is believed that New Delhi was hesitant to allow EU’s teams into Kandhamal because it has indicted India on several occasions for human rights violations. Soon after violence broke out in Kandhamal, the European Commission, EU’s executive wing, called it a “massacre of minorities.” Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who was attending the ninth India-EU summit in France at the time of the violence, called the anti-Christian attacks a “national shame.” French President Nicolas Sarkozy, head of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, took up the issue “strongly with Singh,” reported The Times of India on Sept. 30, 2008. On Aug. 17, 2009, the EU asked its citizens not to visit Kandhamal in an advisory stating that religious tensions were not yet over. “We therefore advise against travel within the state and in rural areas, particularly in the districts of Kandhamal and Bargarh,” it stated. The EU’s advisory came at a time when the state government was targeting the visit of 200,000 foreign tourists to Orissa, noted PTI. Kandhamal Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar suggested that the advisory was not based on truth. “There is no violence in Kandhamal since October 2008,” he told PTI. “The people celebrated Christmas and New Year’s Day as peace returned to the tribal dominated district.” Before denying permission to the EU, the Indian government had restricted members of a U.S. panel from coming to the country. In June 2009, the government refused to issue visas for members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to visit Orissa. The panel then put India on its “Watch List” for the country’s violations of religious freedom. Local human rights activist Ajay Singh said that while the state government had made some efforts to rehabilitate the victims, a lot more needed to be done. An estimated 300 families are still living in private relief camps in Kandhamal, and at least 1,200 families have left Kandhamal following the violence, he said. These families have not gone back to their villages, fearing that if they returned without converting to Hinduism they would be attacked, he added. Singh also said that authorities have asked more than 100 survivors of communal violence living in an abandoned market complex known as NAC, in G. Udayagiri area of Kandhamal, to move out. He said it is possible they were asked to leave because of the intended visit of the EU team. Of the more than 50,000 people displaced by the violence, around 1,100 have received some compensation either from the government or from Christian and other organizations, he added. Additionally, the state administration has to do much more in bringing the attackers to justice, said a representative of the Christian Legal Association. Of the total 831 police cases registered, charges have been filed in around 300 cases; 133 of these have been dropped due to “lack of evidence,” said the source. Report from Compass Direct News Anti-Christian violence, efforts to tarnish church increase in past five years. NEW DELHI, October 14 (CDN) — Since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in Madhya Pradesh in December 2003, Christians in the state have suffered increased attacks and concerted efforts to tarnish their image, church leaders said. Before the BJP took office the state recorded two or three attacks against Christians per year, they said, whereas Jabalpur Archbishop Gerald Almeida said that in the past five years 65 baseless charges of forceful conversion – commonly accompanied by mob violence – have been registered in his diocese alone. “There are some groups who are closely monitoring the Christian movement, and these people are bent on creating problems for the Christians for the past five years,” Almeida told Compass. The state is not able to control these groups, he added. Indeed, police routinely working with Hindu extremist groups filed an average of more than three unsubstantiated complaints of “coerced” conversions each month in the past five years, according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Madhya Pradesh (see sidebar below). In the first eight months of this year, Madhya Pradesh saw the third highest number of attacks against Christians and Christian institutions in the country with 11, behind Karnataka with 43 and Andhra Pradesh with 14, according to Christian advocacy organizations. The Rev. Anand Muttungal, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Madhya Pradesh, said growing attacks on Christians were a symptom of fear among Hindu extremists that the Catholic Church’s influence is spreading. “The Church as an organization is doing very well in many fields,” Muttungal said. “It causes those fundamentalists to worry. It could be one of the main reasons for the continuous attacks on Christians.” Madhya Pradesh has a Christian population of 170,381, only 0.3 percent of the total in the state, according to the 2001 census. The state’s history of religious intolerance runs deep, with an “anti-conversion” law passed in 1968 that has serves as a pretext for harassing Christians. Igniting anti-Christian violence shortly after the BJP came to power was an incident in Jhabua district, where the body of a 9-year-old girl called Sujata was found in one of the Christian schools on Jan. 11, 2004. Although a non-Christian confessed to the crime, Hindu extremists used the event to justify various attacks against the Christian community. Abuses became so rampant in 2005 and 2006 that the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) sent a fact-finding team to Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in June 2006. Investigators found that Hindu extremists had frequently invoked the state’s anti-conversion law as a means to incite mobs against Christians and to get Christians arrested without evidence. Jabalpur Archbishop Almeida cited cases chronicled by the NCM such as the arrest under the anti-conversion law of two local women who were merely distributing gospel tracts in March 2006. Almeida also cited the NCM report on the jailing of four pastors in January 2006 for alleged “forceful conversion” after Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal dragged them to a Hindu temple and forced them to deny Christ. Catholic Church records show that in 2007, a 70-year-old woman identified only as Mrs. Godwin was arrested along with another woman on charges of forceful conversion; they too were only distributing religious literature, a right they had under the nation’s constitution. Christian leaders said one aim of such abuses of the state’s anti-conversion law is to tarnish the image of Christians by showing them as lawbreakers. Hate propaganda and spurious allegations against Christians continue unabated in the state, church leaders said. The customary practice in India and especially in Madhya Pradesh, they said, is for Hindu extremists to raise false allegations on the slimmest of pretexts and get police to make hurried arrests. After the NCM report in 2006 first documented the violence, the Madhya Pradesh political machinery’s influence became evident when State Minorities Commission Chairman Anwar Mohammed Khan asserted that reports of Hindu extremists attacking Christians in the state were “baseless.” Khan told Frontline magazine that extremists had not targeted Christians. The magazine also quoted state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan as saying the BJP government was greatly concerned about “unethical conversions” – presumably of Hindus to Christianity. The magazine criticized the state Minorities Commission for speaking “the same language as the Bajrang Dal and the state chief minister,” thereby failing its mandate to defend minorities. This year the commission tried to increase state control over church activities, unofficially recommending that the government enact a law to set up a board to manage church properties such as schools, colleges, hospitals and charities. The Christian community strongly protested, and the state withdrew the proposal. Leo Cornelio, archbishop of Bhopal, said the Minorities Commission recommendation “shows beyond doubt that it is disloyal to minorities” and “loyal to the government,” according to the Indian Catholic. The battle over state control of church properties is not over. Muttungal told Compass that the Minorities Commission has started to collect details of church properties through the Education Department. It is certain, he said, that this will lead to a legal battle involving the Education Department, Minorities Commission and the Catholic Church. Police Collusion Seen in ‘Forced Conversion’ Complaints NEW DELHI, October 14 (Compass Direct News) – Hindu extremist groups in collusion with the state police filed an average of more than three baseless complaints of “coerced” conversions per month in the past five years – shortly after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power – according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Madhya Pradesh. “I have gathered information from all the districts of the state, according to which the number of [forced or fraudulent] conversion complaints against Christians in the last five years is over 180,” the Rev. Anand Muttungal, spokesman for the state’s Catholic body, told Compass. Muttungal said he asked the Madhya Pradesh State Crime Records Bureau, a body under the state interior ministry that monitors criminal complaints, about the number of forced conversion complaints in the last five years, and the state agency put the number wrongly at fewer than 35. Muttungal also said most of the complaints were filed by third parties – not the supposed “victims” – who were unable to produce any unlawfully converted people to support their allegations. He added that the complainants were mainly members of the Hindu extremist Bajrang Dal, youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP). “In Jabalpur, the complaints were lodged mainly by the Hindu Dharam Sena [Hindu Religion Army],” he said. Most recently, the leader of the Hindu Dharam Sena on Sept. 27 got police to interrogate, without cause, a Catholic group traveling through Jabalpur. The Rev. Anto Mundamany of the Carmelite of Mary Immaculate order said the inspector-in-charge of the Civil Lines police station and four other policemen came to the Carmel Niketan center, where the group had stopped for dinner. Police interrogated him and the 45 Catholic visitors about their religious identity, he said, to determine whether the visitors were Hindus whom the priests and nuns at the center might be forcibly trying to convert. Journalists accompanied the police, and the following day local newspapers reported on the incident, portraying the Christians as inherently suspect. “Although the police left after making sure that all the participants who had arrived for an inter-parish tour were Christians, the newspapers made no mention of that fact,” Mundamany said. The local daily Dainik Bhaskar reported that Yogesh Agarwal, head of the Hindu Dharam Sena, had informed police about a supposed “conversion plot” by the Catholic order. “There can be little doubt that the police are party to this disturbing trend,” Muttungal said. The incidence of anti-Christian attacks is the highest in the state in Jabalpur – local Christians say the city witnessed at least three attacks every month until recently, mainly by Agarwal and his cohorts. Although numerous criminal complaints are pending against Agarwal, he remains at large. A Christian requesting anonymity said police officers personally act on his complaints against Christian workers. A June 2006 report by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) found that Hindu nationalist groups in Madhya Pradesh had frequently invoked the state’s anti-conversion law as a pretext to incite mobs against Christians. The NCM report also pointed at police collusion in the attacks. “The life of Christians has become miserable at the hands of miscreants in connivance with the police,” the NCM said in its report. “There are allegations that when atrocities were committed on Christians, the police remained mere spectators, and in certain cases they did not even register their complaints.” The NCM is an independent body created by Parliament in 1993 to monitor and safeguard the rights of minorities. Muttungal said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference would approach the state high court with the facts it has gathered to prove police involvement in complaints against Christians. Most complaints against Christians are registered under Section 3 of the Madhya Pradesh “Freedom of Religion Act” of 1968, popularly known as an anti-conversion law. The section states, “No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religious faith to another by the use of force or by inducement or by any fraudulent means nor shall any person abet any such conversion.” Offenses under the anti-conversion law are “cognizable,” meaning police are empowered to register a complaint, investigate and arrest for up to 24 hours, without a warrant, anyone accused of forced conversion. Police also use Sections 153A and 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to arrest Christians. Section 153A refers to “promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.” Section 295A concerns “deliberate and malicious acts to outrage religious feelings.” These IPC crimes are also cognizable. Report from Compass Direct News By Brian Nixon, special to ASSIST News Service Dr. Steven Collins, the unassuming archeologist from New Mexico, was at a crossroad. The site he was helping to excavate in the West Bank (Ai) from 1995-2000 closed down due to warfare and political maneuvering in the region. Steve, and project director Bryant Wood, had to close up shop. “I didn’t know what to do,” he told me in a recent interview. “For the past five years, my life had been consumed by this dig. Then it was gone. I was dumbfounded.” But this closed door proved to be an opening for something more amazing. “It was then that I decided to conduct some research on a thought I had in 1996. During an archeology tour, I found that the traditional site for Sodom (known as the “Southern Theory”) didn’t match the geographical profile as described in Genesis 13-19.” “As I began to research it more, and read through Genesis 13-19 several times, I had a thought that I had to pursue: they have the wrong location.” “Many think Sodom is in the South (modeled after the famous archeologist, William F. Albright’s views), but the text seems to indicate that the site is in the Northeast,” he continued. As “Indiana Jones” as Steve’s thoughts were, the conclusions and findings could be even more monumental than any blockbuster movie. Essentially, Steve took the literal text of Genesis 13-19 and created a theoretical map, using the research methodology of Dr. Peter Briggs. This “map” utilizes a scientific approach to determine the validity of ancient texts. The conclusion? The texts in Genesis are reliable geographical indicators. Working with Briggs, Collins developed a theory that the location was not in the Southern region, but in the Northeast. From there, Dr. Collins began to flesh out his thoughts in a formal paper. This 250-page research paper was highlighted at the Near-Eastern Society Conference. In his research, Collins focused in on five key areas: the geographical indicators, the chronological indicators, the terms of the destruction, the architecture and pottery, and the facts themselves. “What I didn’t want to do,” he said, “was trample down the well-worn theories of past commentators and scholars. Basically, I wanted the text to speak for itself.” “At the NES meeting, I received favorable comments from men of whom I have the utmost respect. I knew we were on to something quite thrilling.” The one thing left to do was further research and the beginning of a dig. “So my wife, a couple of students from Trinity Southwest University, and I headed off to Jordan to do research. We were in Jordan by 2002.” “When I was doing research in the U.S., many of the maps and books were conspicuously absent of any detailed information regarding the north eastern region of the Dead Sea. Sadly, many of the scholars had ignored the text in Genesis.” In Jordan, Collins found a host of helpful material. “While in Jordan I found many maps, books, and archeological information at the American Center for Oriental Research library. In particular, a book by the journalist Rami Khouri, gave me the foundation I needed to get started.” “Though this book was a popular work, it quoted from—and made reference to—many scholarly works. From that point on, we used Khouri’s book as a guide to the Jordanian literature on the sites north of the Dead Sea . We spent hours copying as much material as we could.” “What we discovered seemed to coincide with our findings: Sodom was not in the south, it was northeast of the Dead Sea.” “We were able to locate some information from one of the last major digs that occurred in the area. We also paid close attention to a 1975/1976 survey of the Jordan Valley. This survey stated that the area of our interest had many ancient sites.” “So we headed off to the area northeast of the Dead Sea and began to look around. What we found amazed us. There were at least ten sites that could possibly be ancient Sodom.” “Sodom is mentioned first in the Bible—consistently—thereby giving it prominence as the largest city in that area. So based upon the text and our previous research we chose the largest site. And let me tell you, this find at Tel-al-Hammam turned out to be much greater than we ever hoped for.” Report from the Christian Telegraph The 10th July 2009 will mark 500 years since the birth of John Calvin. Calvin was perhaps the greatest of the Reformers (and is in my opinion) and no man has had such an impact on the Christian Church as he. A web site has been set up to help mark this anniversary, including an invite to a tour and conference being held to commemorate this special day. The site can be found at: As you would expect, the conference will include a large selection of various Reformed speakers from various Reformed denominations and organisations. The event will take place at Geneva. See also: http://calvin500blog.org/ With the third day of the second test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka soon to be underway at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan, the Sri Lankan cricket team was making its way to the stadium. As the team bus was about to enter the stadium it came under attack from terrorists. A rocket was fired at the bus and missed, probably saving the lives of those on the bus. Following this explosion the bus came under fire from grenades and small arms as masked terrorists moved through the surrounding trees and bushes. Travelling not far behind the bus were the umpires of the second test and their van was also attacked. The driver of the van was killed by gunfire. The terrorists were soon engaged with Pakistani security forces. However it is understood that the terrorists have escaped the scene, fleeing into side streets away from the stadium. It is thought there may have been up to a dozen terrorists in the attack. So far the reports are sketchy as to just what the fatalities are, but at least eight people are dead and six Sri Lankan team members have been wounded in the attack. The police escort for the Sri Lankan team have taken at least five fatalities. There are reports that up to 25 security force members have also been killed, but this is unconfirmed. Thilan Samaraweera (gunshot wound to the upper leg), who yesterday scored his second consecutive double-century and Tharanga Paranavitana (deep shrapnel wound in the chest) have been treated in hospital and are the most seriously wounded of the Sri Lankan players after being hit by gunfire. Also wounded were Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Thushara, Suranga Lakmal and Ajantha Mendis. Also wounded was support staff member Paul Farbrace. They received shrapnel injuries of various kinds. Sri Lanka has now recalled their team, abandoning the remainder of the Pakistan tour. The team is expected to leave Pakistan as soon as possible. The attack resembled the well planned Mumbai attacks a few months ago and the terrorists in this attack were clearly well trained.

Neil Gaiman wins Carnegie medal | Alison Flood The science fiction and fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman has added the UK's top children's literature prize to his roster of awards, as The Graveyard Book wins the Carnegie medal A novel he came up with 25 years ago but put aside because he didn't think he was good enough to write it has made Neil Gaiman the first author ever to win the Carnegie and the Newbery medals with the same book. Thursday, 24 June, 2010 - JK Rowling's first novel for adults draws on her struggles with poverty - John Keats was an opium addict, claims a new biography of the poet - Bilbo Baggins at 75 - Emma Thompson: By the Book - ArtsBeat: Stephen King's 'Misery' Back From the Dead in Bucks County - Pottermore goes back to school with new content - Elmore Leonard to be honoured by National Book Foundation - Stranger, young adult novel with gay hero, acquired by publisher - Books of The Times: ‘This Is How You Lose Her,’ by Junot Díaz - Neil Young quits drugs and alcohol Register for an account and review books, comment on articles and build a list of your favourite reviews. Coming soon.

2004 Baker & Taylor Award Winners Small Library Award The Sugar Grove Public Library Friends of Sugar Grove, IL, worked in partnership with library staff, community leaders, and other organizations to plan 24 hours of activities and awareness for a Libraries Remember event on Patriot's Day, September 11, 2003. Beginning with a 12:01 a.m. flag raising ceremony conducted by the Boy Scouts complete with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol, and ending with the 11:55 p.m. closing of the library, the day was packed with food, fundraisers, and activities for all ages. Even with the program falling mid-week, enthusiasm, support, and attendance was high. The Friends and library staff hosted story times, patriotic movies, a night-time quilting bee, community gatherings, visits from local heroes with the Sugar Grove Police and Fire Departments, a book sale, silent auction, membership drive, and a coffee and snack bar. The library also sponsored hourly door prize drawings for gift books which were placed in the library collection in honor or memory of an individual or group. A final door prize was the flag flown at the library for the event which had been flown over The U.S. Capitol. Library patrons and residents talked about the program for days after it was over. The information regarding the Libraries Remember Event was the most visited item on the library website for several months before and after the program. The program truly revitalized the Sugar Grove Public Library Friends and several new members were recruited. Money raised at the silent auction continues to help fund Friends’ initiatives and programs. Plans are underway for a second event on Saturday, September 11, 2004, when more even people, especially families, are expected to attend. Large Library Award Early in 1999, the Friends of Hedberg Public Library in Janesville, Wisconsin, partnered with the Janesville Noon Lions Club to create an innovative, reading-themed park adjacent to the library in downtown Janesville. A coordinating committee consisting of Friends and Lions Club members formed and developed the following goal: Using art and literature, transform the greenspace adjacent to the library along the Rock River into a unique and special park where neighbors, workers, residents, and visitors of all ages can find relaxation, enjoyment, and inspiration. Complementary goals include: 1) to celebrate the joy of reading and encourage the appreciation of art and literature; 2) to provide an inviting space that enables the library to bring its programming outdoors; and 3) to contribute to downtown development and renewal. The first phase of the park is complete and the former open space now features colorful metal sculptures inspired by local children’s art, seating shaped like oversize books, a performance backdrop, benches, lighting, a bronze sculpture, and engraved brick pavers. More than 5,000 Janesville-area children from preschool through high school voted for their three favorite children’s books which were included on large, inscribed brick pavers placed under the storytelling tree in the park. Details and updates. The 12 members of the Friends Board of Trustees provide oversight and input into the project. Other Friends members serve on the Park Coordinating Committee, Storybook Committee, and the Fundraising Committee. Still others contribute time working in the park by painting, planting trees, watering plants, and performing other maintenance and landscaping function. Friends and library volunteers have staffed booths where brocks were sold, worked on mailing crew, and helped with special events. The Friends have contributed more than $29,000 toward the $273,000 raised for the park project. The Park Coordinating Committee hopes to raise an additional $400,000 to complete additional phases of the park that will include more art, a river overlook, a fountain and riverwalk with railing. @ your library® Award Friends of the Houston Public Library in Houston, Minnesota made the best use of the @ your library® logo and campaign materials The Houston Public Library serves a small village and surrounding area of approximately 1,500. Being small didn’t stop a group of volunteers from deciding to establish a library, however. The city council was persuaded to adopt a new line item in the budget for a library and a building was donated. In order to refurbish and furnish the building making it suitable for a library the Friends of the Houston Public Library successfully raised $51,000! Only one issue remained – the donated building “resembled nothing more than a drab military bunker” according to the Friends. Inspiration struck and the group decided to wrap the building in a mural – the central feature being “find it @ your library!” With the help of 42 volunteers, ranging in age from 6 to 79, 333 hours were logged on the project. The result is “an eye-catching reminder of the importance of our local libraries, where one can explore the world and find anything.”

By AZoNano Staff Writers Overview of nanoIR AFM-IR Analysis of stratum corneum About Anasys Instruments The outermost layer of the skin, which serves as a barrier to foreign substances and maintains the homeostasis of the human body, is called the stratum corneum (SC). These functions are critical for ensuring an individual's well-being. The SC includes a brick-and-mortar structure of corneocytes and lipids that is generated from the underlying skin layers. In this application note, the lipid distribution within a specimen of SC is studied at substantially higher spatial resolution than is possible with conventional Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) microscopy, using instrumentation (Anasys nanoIR™) that combines a tunable IR laser source with an atomic force microscope (AFM). Overview of nanoIR The nanoIR from Anasys Instruments eliminates the limits on spatial resolution inherent to infrared microscopy. The nature of the IR absorbance detection results in the simultaneous measurement of nanoscale chemical compositions, mechanical properties, and surface morphologies. The nanoIR also has integrated nanoscale thermal property mapping, making it a true multifunctional tool. Figure 1 shows the nanoIR instrument. Figure 1. The nanoIR instrumentation platform; the system is typically mounted onto a 4 ft x 3 ft (1.2 m x 0.9 m) vibration isolation table Using a proprietary design, the system's IR source is continuously tunable from 1200 to 3600cm-1 covering a broad range of the mid-IR spectrum. As the sample absorbs radiation, it heats up, leading to rapid thermal expansion that excites resonant oscillations of the AFM cantilever. The induced oscillations decay in a characteristic ringdown as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Schematic showing the technique behind nanoIR The amplitudes and frequencies of the oscillations are extracted by Fourier transformation of the ringdown. Measuring the amplitudes of the cantilever oscillation as a function of the source wavelength creates local absorption spectra; the oscillation frequencies of the ringdown are related to the mechanical stiffness of the sample. Survey regions of a sample via AFM imaging can be quickly surveyed by the nanoIR instrument. As shown in Figure 3 for polystyrene, AFM-IR spectra have excellent correlation with the bulk FT-IR spectra. This permits the researcher to import an individual nanoIR spectrum into commercial IR databases where they can be digitally searched to identify the materials at specific locations in the sample. Alternatively, the IR source can be tuned to a single wavelength and the intensity of rapid thermal expansions are collected in real-time as the specimen moves under the stationary AFM tip. Figure 3. A comparison of the spectrum generated by the nanoIR (red) and conventional FT-IR (blue) of polystyrene Further to its ability to provide high-resolution IR spectra, the nanoIR instrument provides information on the mechanical properties of the sample. This is accomplished by monitoring the frequency of the fundamental or higher resonant modes of the cantilever. This is similar to the contact resonance method used for a number of years in the AFM community. The contact resonant frequency of the cantilever correlates to the stiffness of the sample and can be used to map the modulus of the sample qualitatively. The nanoIR platform can also perform nanoscale thermal analysis utilizing novel AFM cantilevers that incorporate a resistive heating element. This enables identification or mapping of the amorphous/crystalline content, stress, extent of cure, or other material properties which can be characterized by the transition temperature of the material. This combination of measurement capabilities creates a multifunctional tool in nanoIR that provides nanoscale structure, chemical, mechanical and thermal properties. AFM-IR of Stratum Corneum - Procedure & Results A Kapton tape strip was used to obtain a sample of SC from a subject's skin surface. The sample was then transferred from the tape directly onto the ZnSe prism. After removing the tape, some clusters of SC cells remain adhered to the prism surface, such that they could be scanned with the AFM. The high lipid content in SC can be seen readily from local AFM-IR spectra as show in Figure 5. The methylene antisymmetric and symmetric stretching absorptions are near 2920 and 2852cm-1 , respectively, which suggest the presence of long-chain aliphatic materials (lipids). The band height ratio between 2920cm-1 and 3290 cm-1 is observed to vary depending on the location. Here, the weaker band at 3290 cm-1 (blue curve, Figure 5) suggests a lower total protein content relative to the hydrophobic lipid-like components. These results agree favorably with the literature on pigskin. This SC specimen may look nondescript on the surface, but interesting and chemically distinct structures can be elucidated by AFM-IR. Along with the amide-I and amide-II bands, the medium-strong signal at 1732cm-1 is seen near the center of this sample of SC (red curve, Figure 4). This is where the lipids are thought to be concentrated. On the periphery, the SC would still have lipids but at a lower level, as suggested by the weaker 1732cm-1 signals. Figure 4. Point-and-click spectral acquisition over a large area of a SC specimen on a ZnSe prism; the area in the dashed box is enlarged and displayed in Fig 5 (low wavenumber spectra are normalized to 1640 cm-1) Figure 5. Enlarged area as indicated by the dashed box in Fig 4; high wavenumber spectra showing variations near the lipid-rich area (spectra normalized to 2920 cm-1) IR imaging using the AFM-IR technique offers an insightful visualization of the SC specimen. As expected, the strong amide absorption at 1650 cm-1 is observed at nearly every point of measurement within the SC. However, stronger absorptions at 1732 cm-1 are detected mostly in the area identified by the AFM-IR spectra as seen in Figures 4 and 5. High resolution IR analysis of a human stratum corneum specimen is performed without cryomicrotomy using this novel AFM-IR technique. Simultaneous collection of topographic and IR images at 1650 and 1732cm-1, along with localized IR spectra enable the spatial visualization of the distribution of proteins and lipids in the specimen. This technique can potentially be expanded to examine the distributions of cosmetics and topical medicines in stratum corneum, as well as their effects on the protein and lipid structure and distribution. About Anasys Instruments Anasys Instruments provides innovative AFM and related accessories which offer chemical, mechanical, and thermal analysis at the sub-100nm scale. The Company’s technology and products are being used to address metrology and analysis challenges in the polymers, pharmaceuticals, data-storage, and advanced-materials markets. Anasys has been awarded numerous awards which establish Anasys as leaders in innovative technology, including the inaugural MICRO/NANO 25 Award in 2007, the R&D 100 Award in 2010 for the nanoIR and Microscopy Today’s 2011 Innovation Award for their breakthrough AFM-IR platform. This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Anasys Instruments. For more information on this source, please visit Anasys Instruments.

I’m in Nürnberg, which has some of the most thought-provoking sites anywhere relating to Germany’s Nazi past. Those curious about this dark period can visit Hitler’s vast Nazi Party Rally Grounds, and learn more at the excellent Nazi Documentation Center. The goal of a “Documentation Center” is to catalog, analyze, and attempt to explain the crimes of the Nazis — to ensure that this important history is never forgotten. With the passing of the generation that lived through WWII and the Holocaust, oral history is now transferred into these historic sites. I remember when the Germans I met seemed to know very little about the Holocaust and Hitler. In the 1960s and 1970s, German history teachers mysteriously ran out of time when they got to World War I. But these days, it’s clear to me that Germans feel a responsibility to inform themselves about past generations’ crimes. It’s built into their school curriculum: Literature classes include The Diary of Anne Frank. All German 8th graders learn about the basic concepts of nationalism, patriotism, socialism, and fascism as they study “the 19th-century roots of 20th-century turbulence.” The 9th grade history curriculum is entirely dedicated to World War I, the rise of Hitler, and World War II. And German 10th graders learn about the Cold War and Reunification. Every student makes several field trips to Nazi Documentations Centers (like the one in Nürnberg) as well as concentration camp memorials. Visitors to Europe’s Nazi and Holocaust sites inevitably ask the same haunting question: How could this happen? Nürnberg’s superb Documentation Center does its best to provide an answer. It meticulously traces the evolution of the National Socialist (Nazi) movement, focusing on how it both energized and terrified the German on the street. This is not a WWII or Holocaust museum; those events are almost an afterthought. Instead, the center frankly analyzes the Nazi phenomenon, to understand how it happened — and to prevent it from happening again. Nürnberg’s Documentation Center is sometimes called “a spear through Speer,” as it’s housed in a modern annex slicing diagonally through the middle of the Albert Speer-designed Nazi Congress Hall building. Just like post-WWII doctors didn’t want to take advantage of medical knowledge gained through Nazi torture, modern architects who designed the museum didn’t want to utilize anything the Nazis had built here. The unfinished Nazi Congress Hall is a strangely chilling sight. It was to be big enough for an audience of 50,000. Inspired by Rome’s Colosseum, it was originally intended to be topped with a roof and skylight. Nürnberg’s Documentation Center plays an important role in a society determined to learn from the horrible deeds of its dark past. For example, students at police and military academies go to special required programs taught in classrooms like this one, right on this sobering site.

|McComas, William, "Ten myths of science: Reexamining what we think we know....," Vol. 96, School Science & Mathematics, 01-01-1996, pp 10.| |This article addresses and attempts to refute several of the most widespread and enduring misconceptions held by students regarding the enterprise of science. The ten myths discussed include the common notions that theories become laws, that hypotheses are best characterized as educated guesses, and that there is a commonly-applied scientific method. In addition, the article includes discussion of other incorrect ideas such as the view that evidence leads to sure knowledge, that science and its methods provide absolute proof, and that science is not a creative endeavor. Finally, the myths that scientists are objective, that experiments are the sole route to scientific knowledge and that scientific conclusions are continually reviewed conclude this presentation. The paper ends with a plea that instruction in and opportunities to experience the nature of science are vital in preservice and inservice teacher education programs to help unseat the myths of science.| |Myths are typically defined as traditional views, fables, legends or stories. As such, myths can be entertaining and even educational since they help people make sense of the world. In fact, the explanatory role of myths most likely accounts for their development, spread and persistence. However, when fact and fiction blur, myths lose their entertainment value and serve only to block full understanding. Such is the case with the myths of science.| |Scholar Joseph Campbell (1968) has proposed that the similarity among many folk myths worldwide is due to a subconscious link between all peoples, but no such link can explain the myths of science. Misconceptions about science are most likely due to the lack of philosophy of science content in teacher education programs, the failure of such programs to provide and require authentic science experiences for preservice teachers and the generally shallow treatment of the nature of science in the precollege textbooks to which teachers might turn for guidance.| |As Steven Jay Gould points out in "The Case of the Creeping Fox Terrier Clone" (1988), science textbook writers are among the most egregious purveyors of myth and inaccuracy. The fox terrier mentioned in the title refers to the classic comparison used to express the size of the dawn horse, the tiny precursor to the modem horse. This comparison is unfortunate for two reasons. Not only was this horse ancestor much bigger than a fox terrier, but the fox terrier breed of dog is virtually unknown to American students. The major criticism leveled by Gould is that once this comparison took hold, no one bothered to check its validity or utility. Through time, one author after another simply repeated the inept comparison and continued a tradition that has made many science texts virtual clones of each other on this and countless other points.| |In an attempt to provide a more realistic view of science and point out issues on which science teachers should focus, this article presents and discusses 10 widely-held, yet incorrect ideas about the nature of science. There is no implication that all students, or most teachers for that matter, hold all of these views to be true, nor is the list meant to be the definitive catolog. Cole (1986) and Rothman (1992) have suggested additional misconceptions worthy of consideration. However, years of science teaching and the review of countless texts has substantiated the validity of the inventory presented here.| |This myth deals with the general belief that with increased evidence there is a developmental sequence through which scientific ideas pass on their way to final acceptance. Many believe that scientific ideas pass through the hypothesis and theory stages and finally mature as laws. A former U.S. president showed his misunderstanding of science by saying that he was not troubled by the idea of evolution because it was "just a theory." The president's misstatement is the essence of this myth; that an idea is not worthy of consideration until "lawness" has been bestowed upon it.| |The problem created by the false hierarchical nature inherent in this myth is that theories and laws are very different kinds of knowledge. Of course there is a relationship between laws and theories, but one simply does not become the other--no matter how much empirical evidence is amassed. Laws are generalizations, principles or patterns in nature and theories are the explanations of those generalizations (Rhodes & Schaible, 1989; Homer & Rubba, 1979; Campbell, 1953).| |For instance, Newton described the relationship of mass and distance to gravitational attraction between objects with such precision that we can use the law of gravity to plan spaceflights. During the Apollo 8 mission, astronaut Bill Anders responded to the question of who was flying the spacecraft by saying, "I think that Issac Newton is doing most of the driving fight now." (Chaikin, 1994, p. 127). His response was understood by all to mean that the capsule was simply following the basic laws of physics described by Isaac Newton years centuries earlier.| |The more thorny, and many would say more interesting, issue with respect to gravity is the explanation for why the law operates as it does. At this point, there is no well. accepted theory of gravity. Some physicists suggest that gravity waves are the correct explanation for the law of gravity, but with clear confirmation and consensus lacking, most feel that the theory of gravity still eludes science. Interestingly, Newton addressed the distinction between law and theory with respect to gravity. Although he had discovered the law of gravity, he refrained from speculating publically about its cause. In Principial, Newton states" . . . I have not been able to discover the cause of those properties of gravity from phenomena, and I frame no hypothesis . . ." " . . . it is enough that gravity does really exist, and act according to the laws which we have explained . . ." (Newton, 1720/1946, p. 547).| |The definition of the term hypothesis has taken on an almost mantra- like life of its own in science classes. If a hypothesis is always an educated guess as students typically assert, the question remains, "an educated guess about what?" The best answer for this question must be, that without a clear view of the context in which the term is used, it is impossible to tell.| |The term hypothesis has at least three definitions, and for that reason, should be abandoned, or at least used with caution. For instance, when Newton said that he framed no hypothesis as to the cause of gravity he was saying that he had no speculation about an explanation of why the law of gravity operates as it does. In this case, Newton used the term hypothesis to represent an immature theory.| |As a solution to the hypothesis problem, Sonleitner (1989) suggested that tentative or trial laws be called generalizing hypotheses with provisional theories referred to as explanatory hypotheses. Another approach would be to abandon the word hypothesis altogether in favor of terms such as speculative law or speculative theory. With evidence, generalizing hypotheses may become laws and speculative theories become theories, but under no circumstances do theories become laws. Finally, when students are asked to propose a hypothesis during a laboratory experience, the term now means a prediction. As for those hypotheses that are really forecasts, perhaps they should simply be called what they are, predictions.| |The notion that a common series of steps is followed by all research scientists must be among the most pervasive myths of science given the appearance of such a list in the introductory chapters of many precollege science texts. This myth has been part of the folklore of school science ever since its proposal by statistician Karl Pearson (1937). The steps listed for the scientific method vary from text to text but usually include, a) define the problem, b) gather background information, c) form a hypothesis, d) make observations, e) test the hypothesis, and f) draw conclusions. Some texts conclude their list of the steps of the scientific method by listing communication of results as the final ingredient.| |One of the reasons for the widespread belief in a general scientific method may be the way in which results are presented for publication in research journals. The standardized style makes it appear that scientists follow a standard research plan. Medawar (1990) reacted to the common style exhibited by research papers by calling the scientific paper a fraud since the final journal report rarely outlines the actual way in which the problem was investigated.| |Philosophers of science who have studied scientists at work have shown that no research method is applied universally (Carey, 1994; Gibbs & Lawson, 1992; Chalmers, 1990; Gjertsen, 1989). The notion of a single scientific method is so pervasive it seems certain that many students must be disappointed when they discover that scientists do not have a framed copy of the steps of the scientific method posted high above each laboratory workbench.| |Close inspection will reveal that scientists approach and solve problems with imagination, creativity, prior knowledge and perseverance. These, of course, are the same methods used by all problem-solvers. The lesson to be learned is that science is no different from other human endeavors when puzzles are investigated. Fortunately, this is one myth that may eventually be displaced since many newer texts are abandoning or augmenting the list in favor of discussions of methods of science.| |All investigators, including scientists, collect and interpret empirical evidence through the process called induction. This is a technique by which individual pieces of evidence are collected and examined until a law is discovered or a theory is invented. Useful as this technique is, even a preponderance of evidence does not guarantee the production of valid knowledge because of what is called the problem of induction.| |Induction was first formalized by Frances Bacon in the 17th century. In his book, Novum Organum (1620/1952), Bacon advised that facts be assimilated without bias to reach a conclusion. The method of induction he suggested is the principal way in which humans traditionally have produced generalizations that permit predictions. What then is the problem with induction?| |It is both impossible to make all observations pertaining to a given situation and illogical to secure all relevant facts for all time, past, present and future. However, only by making all relevant observations throughout all time, could one say that a final valid conclusion had been made. This is the problem of induction. On a personal level, this problem is of little consequence, but in science the problem is significant. Scientists formulate laws and theories that are supposed to hold true in all places and for all time but the problem of induction makes such a guarantee impossible.| |The proposal of anew law begins through induction as facts are heaped upon other relevant facts. Deduction is useful in checking the validity of a law. For example, if we postulate that all swans are white, we can evaluate the law by predicting that the next swan found will also be white. If it is, the law is supported, but not proved as will be seen in the discussion of another science myth. Locating even a single black swan will cause the law to be called into question.| |The nature of induction itself is another interesting aspect associated with this myth. If we set aside the problem of induction momentarily, there is still the issue of how scientists make the final leap from the mass of evidence to the conclusion. In an idealized view of induction, the accumulated evidence will simply result in the production of a new law or theory in a procedural or mechanical fashion. In reality, there is no such method. The issue is far more complex -- and interesting --than that. The final creative leap from evidence to scientific knowledge is the focus of another myth of science.| |The general success of the scientific endeavor suggests that its products must be valid. However, a hallmark of scientific knowledge is that it is subject to revision when new information is presented. Tentativeness is one of the points that differentiates science from other forms of knowledge. Accumulated evidence can provide support, validation and substantiation for a law or theory, but will never prove those laws and theories to be true. This idea has been addressed by Homer and Rubba (1978) and Lopnshinsky (1993).| |The problem of induction argues against proof in science, but there is another element of this myth worth exploring. In actuality, the only truly conclusive knowledge produced by science results when a notion is falsified. What this means is that no matter what scientific idea is considered, once evidence begins to accumulate, at least we know that the notion is untrue. Consider the example of the white swans discussed earlier. One could search the world and see only white swans, and arrive at the generalization that "all swans are white. " However, the discovery of one black swan has the potential to overturn, or at least result in modifications of, this proposed law of nature. However, whether scientists routinely try to falsify their notions and how much contrary evidence it takes for a scientist's mind to change are issues worth exploring.| |We accept that no single guaranteed method of science can account for the success of science, but realize that induction, the collection and interpretation of individual facts providing the raw materials for laws and theories, is at the foundation of most scientific endeavors. This awareness brings with it a paradox. If induction itself is not a guaranteed method for arriving at conclusions, how do scientists develop useful laws and theories?| |Induction makes use of individual facts that are collected, analyzed and examined. Some observers may perceive a pattern in these data and propose a law in response, but there is no logical or procedural method by which the pattern is suggested. With a theory, the issue is much the same. Only the creativity of the individual scientist permits the discovery of laws and the invention of theories. If there truly was a single scientific method, two individuals with the same expertise could review the same facts and reach identical conclusions. There is no guarantee of this because the range and nature of creativity is a personal attribute.| |Unfortunately, many common science teaching orientations and methods serve to work against the creative element in science. The majority of laboratory exercises, for instance, are verification activities. The teacher discusses what will happen in the laboratory, the manual provides step-by-step directions, and the student is expected to arrive at a particular answer. Not only is this approach the antithesis of the way in which science actually operates, but such a portrayal must seem dry, clinical and uninteresting to many students. In her book, They're Not Dumb, They're Different (1990) Shiela Tobias argues that many capable and clever students reject science as a career because they are not given an opportunity to see it as an exciting and creative pursuit. The moral in Tobias' thesis is that science itself may be impoverished when students who feel a need for a creative outlet eliminate it as a potential career because of the way it is taught.| |Philosophers of science have found it useful to refer to the work of Karl Popper (1968) and his principle of falsifiability to provide an operational definition of science. Popper believed that only those ideas that are potentially falsifiable are scientific ideas.| |For instance, the law of gravity states that more massive objects exert a stronger gravitational attraction than do objects with less mass when distance is held constant. This is a scientific law because it could be falsified if newly-discovered objects operate differently with respect to gravitational attraction. In contrast, the core idea among creationists is that species were placed on earth fully-formed by some supernatural entity. Obviously, there is no scientific method by which such a belief could be shown to be false. Since this special creation view is impossible to falsify, it is not science at all and the term creation science is an oxymoron. Creation science is a religious belief and as such, does not require that it be falsifiable. Hundreds of years ago thoughtful theologians and scientists carved out their spheres of influence and have since coexisted with little acrimony. Today, only those who fail to understand the distinction between science and religion confuse the rules, roles, and limitations of these two important world views.| |It should now be clear that some questions simply must not be asked of scientists. During a recent creation science trial for instance, Nobel laureates were asked to sign a statement about the nature of science to provide some guidance to the court. These famous scientists responded resoundingly to support such a statement; after all they were experts in the realm of science (Klayman, Slocombe, Lehman, & Kaufman, 1986). Later, those interested in citing expert opinion in the abortion debate asked scientists to issue a statement regarding their feelings on this issue. Wisely, few participated. Science cannot answer the moral and ethical questions engendered by the matter of abortion. Of course, scientists as individuals have personal opinions about many issues, but as a group, they must remain silent if those issues are outside the realm of scientific inquiry. Science simply cannot address moral, ethical, aesthetic, social and metaphysical questions.| |Scientists are no different in their level of objectivity than are other professionals. They are careful in the analysis of evidence and in the procedures applied to arrive at conclusions. With this admission, it may seem that this myth is valid, but contributions from both the philosophy of science and psychology reveal that there are at least three major reasons that make complete objectivity impossible.| |Many philosophers of science support Popper's (1963) view that science can advance only through a string of what he called conjectures and refutations. In other words, scientists should propose laws and theories as conjectures and then actively work to disprove or refute those ideas. Popper suggests that the absence of contrary evidence, demonstrated through an active program of refutation, will provide the best support available. It may seem like a strange way of thinking about verification, but the absence of disproof is considered support. There is one major problem with the idea of conjecture and refutation. Popper seems to have proposed it as a recommendation for scientists, not as a description of what scientists do. From a philosophical perspective the idea is sound, but there are no indications that scientists actively practice programs to search for disconfirming evidence.| |Another aspect of the inability of scientists to be objective is found in theory-laden observation, a psychological notion (Hodson, 1986). Scientists, like all observers, hold a myriad of preconceptions and biases about the way the world operates. These notions, held in the subconscious, affect everyone's ability to make observations. It is impossible to collect and interpret facts without any bias. There have been countless cases in the history of science in which scientists have failed to include particular observations in their final analyses of phenomena. This occurs, not because of fraud or deceit, but because of the prior knowledge possessed by the individual. Certain facts either were not seen at all or were deemed unimportant based on the scientists's prior knowledge. In earlier discussions of induction, we postulated that two individuals reviewing the same data would not be expected to reach the same conclusions. Not only does individual creativity play a role, but the issue of personal theory-laden observation further complicates the situation.| |This lesson has clear implications for science teaching. Teachers typically provide learning experiences for students without considering their prior knowledge. In the laboratory, for instance, students are asked to perform activities, make observations and then form conclusions. There is an expectation that the conclusions formed will be both self-evident and uniform. In other words, teachers anticipate that the data will lead all pupils to the same conclusion. This could only happen if each student had the same exact prior conceptions and made and evaluated observations using identical schemes. This does not happen in science nor does it occur in the science classroom.| |Related to the issue of theory-based observations is the allegiance to the paradigm. Thomas Kuhn (1970), in his ground-breaking analysis of the history of science, shows that scientists work within a research tradition called a paradigm. This research tradition, shared by those working in a given discipline, provides clues to the questions worth investigating, dictates what evidence is admissible and prescribes the tests and techniques that are reasonable. Although the paradigm provides direction to the research it may also stifle or limit investigation. Anything that confines the research endeavor necessarily limits objectivity. While there is no conscious desire on the part of scientists to limit discussion, it is likely that some new ideas in science are rejected because of the paradigm issue. When research reports are submitted for publication they are reviewed by other members of the discipline. Ideas from outside the paradigm are liable to be eliminated from consideration as crackpot or poor science and thus do not appear in print.| |Examples of scientific ideas that were originally rejected because they fell outside the accepted paradigm include the sun-centered solar system, warm-bloodedness in dinosaurs, the germ-theory of disease, and continental drift. When first proposed early in this century by Alfred Wegener, the idea of moving continents, for example, was vigorously rejected. Scientists were not ready to embrace a notion so contrary to the traditional teachings of their discipline. Continental drift was finally accepted in the 1960s with the proposal of a mechanism or theory to explain how continental plates move (Hallam, 1975 and Menard, 1986). This fundamental change in the earth sciences, called a revolution by Kuhn, might have occurred decades earlier had it not been for the strength of the paradigm.| |It would be unwise to conclude a discussion of scientific paradigms on a negative note. Although the examples provided do show the contrary aspects associated with paradigm-fixity, Kuhn would argue that the blinders created by allegiance to the paradigm help keep scientists on track. His review of the history of science demonstrates that paradigms are responsible for far more successes in science than delays.| |Throughout their school science careers, students are encouraged to associate science with experimentation. Virtually all hands-on experiences that students have in science class is called experiments even if it would be more accurate to refer to these exercises as technical procedures, explorations or activities. True experiments involve carefully orchestrated procedures along with control and test groups usually with the goal of establishing a cause and effect relationship. Of course, true experimentation is a useful tool in science, but is not the sole route to knowledge.| |Many note-worthy scientists have used non-experimental techniques to advance knowledge. In fact, in a number of science disciplines, true experimentation is not possible because of the inability to control variables. Many fundamental discoveries in astronomy are based on extensive observations rather than experiments. Copernicus and Kepler changed our view of the solar system using observational evidence derived from lengthy and detailed observations frequently contributed by other scientists, but neither performed experiments.| |Charles Darwin punctuated his career with an investigatory regime more similar to qualitative techniques used in the social sciences than the experimental techniques commonly associated with the natural sciences. For his most revolutionary discoveries, Darwin recorded his extensive observations in notebooks annotated by speculations and thoughts about those observations. Although Darwin supported the inductive method proposed by Bacon, he was aware that observation without speculation or prior understanding was both ineffective and impossible. The techniques advanced by Darwin have been widely used by scientists Goodall and Nossey in their primate studies. Scientific knowledge is gained in a variety of ways including observation, analysis, speculation, library investigation and experimentation.| |Frequently, the final step in the traditional scientific method is that researchers communicate their results so that others may learn from and evaluate their research. When completing laboratory reports, students are frequently told to present their methods section so clearly that others could repeat the activity. The conclusion that students will likely draw from this request is that professional scientists are also constantly reviewing each other's experiments to check up on each other. Unfortunately, while such a check and balance system would be useful, the number of findings from one scientist checked by others is vanishingly small In reality, most scientists are simply too busy and research funds too limited for this type of review.| |The result of the lack of oversight has recently put science itself under suspicion. With the pressures of academic tenure, personal competition and funding, it is not surprising that instances of outright scientific fraud do occur. However, even without fraud, the enormous amount of original scientific research published, and the pressure to produce new information rather than reproduce others' work dramatically increases the chance that errors will go unnoticed.| |An interesting corollary to this myth is that scientists rarely report valid, but negative results. While this is understandable given the space limitations in scientific journals, the failure to report what did not work is a problem. Only when those working in a particular scientific discipline have access to all of the information regarding a phenomenon -- both positive and negative -- can the discipline progress.| |If, in fact, students and many of their teachers hold these myths to be true, we have strong support for a renewed focus on science itself rather than just its facts and principles in science teaching and science teacher education. This is one of the central messages in both of the new science education projects. Benchmarks for Science Literacy (AAAS, 1993) and the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1994) project both strongly suggest that school science must give students an opportunity to experience science authentically, free of the legends, misconceptions and idealizations inherent in the myths about the nature of the scientific enterprise. There must be increased opportunity for both preservice and inservice teachers to learn about and apply the real rules of the game of science accompanied by careful review of textbooks to remove the "creeping fox terriers" that have helped provide an inaccurate view of the nature of science. Only by clearing away the mist of half-truths and revealing science in its full light, with knowledge of both its strengths and limitations, will learners become enamored of the true pageant of science and be able fairly to judge its processes and products.| |Note: William McComas' address is School of Education-WPH 1001E, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0031.| ReferencesAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (1993). Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford University Press. Bacon, F. (1952). The new organon. In R. M. Hutchins, (Ed.), Great Books of the Western World: Vol. 30. 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"Is the scientific paper a fraud?" In P. B. Medawar. The Threat and the Glory. (pp. 228-233). New York: HarperCollins. Menard, H. W. (1986). The ocean of truth: A personal history of global tectonics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. National Research Council (1994). National science education standards (Draft). Washington, DC: Author. Newton, I. (1946). Sir Isaac Newton's mathematical principles of natural philosophy and his system of the world. (A. Motte, Transl. revised and appendix supplied by F. Cajori). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (Original work published in 1720). Pearson,. K. (1937). The grammar of science. London: Dutton. Popper, K. R. (1968). The logic of scientific discovery, (2nd ed. revised). New York: Harper Torchbooks. Popper, K. R. (1963). Conjectures and refutations: The growth of scientific knowledge. New York: Harper and Row. Rhodes, G. and Schaible (1989). "Fact, law, and theory: Ways of thinking in science and literature." Journal of College Science Teaching, 18(4), 228-232 & 288. Rothman, M. A. (1992). The science gap. Buffalo: Prometheus Books. Sonleitner, F. J. (1989, Nov/Dec). "Theories, laws and all that." National Center for Science Education, Newsletter, 9(6), 3-4. Tobias, S. (1990). They're not dumb, they're different: Stalking the second tier. Tucson, AZ: The Research Corporation.

You might think of Canada as a suburb of the USA, after all that is for the most part, the way we treat it. It seems to be moving through space just a bit north of us. Canada has cowboys, entrepreneurs, waiters, teachers and the assortment of “ologists” and others we have. But on my last visit, it became clear that Canada is not like the US in any way that really matters when it comes to the nature of the people who live in these two countries. Despite where I traveled and to whom I spoke, there was pervasive evidence that collectivism is a natural state of being when people live together. And that sense of community did not diminish or dim the evidence that Canadians equally embrace personal responsibility as a natural state of being when people live together. This authentic amalgam of collectivism and rugged individualism seems to inform the personal brands of most Canadians, despite their prized diversity among race, religious practices, political views, and more. Canadians act as if everyone matters and everyone has duties. Their streets are clean. The bathrooms are clean. Even Sears is clean. Not just because enough people are hired to do the jobs, at a true living wage, but also because patrons wipe down the sink when the water splashes, put their litter in trash cans and place things back on the shelves when they are considered but not purchased. Mostly, their abject lack of hate was shocking to me, because in America we are living through the fourth decade of hate driven by fundamentalist special interests beating us on behalf of the uber powerful, the uber religious, the uber nationalists and the uber wealthy. And I discovered that I am a typical American with that “uberness,” when I talk about the importance of the US on the world stage. I was conversing with a Canadian school teacher/waiter with a masters’ degree in literature, and we got onto the subject of the US presidential elections. To this incredibly decent and civilized person, I found myself declaring, “Well, the US elects not just the president of our country, but that person becomes the leader of the free world!” She just nodded. I caught myself and turned red. Then, I tipped uber well. Nance Rosen is the author of Speak Up! & Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers. Read more at NanceRosenBlog. Twitter name: nancerosen

First of all, there are the kudos for The Orchards of Syon. No less an eminence than Harold Bloom calls the book Hill’s most magnificent work in a long career of splendors. A. N. Wilson calls Hill probably the best writer alive, in verse or in prose, the nearest thing we have got to a poet who refashions language and speaks of serious things in new images. And then there is George Steiner, who calls The Orchards a theological-political meditation matched with the prodigality of nature as in no other contemporary poet. The one honored is the reader. But Hill is also a notoriously difficult poet, a world away from most American poets writing today. And at 70, Hill is approaching the close of an extraordinary careera fact he comes back to again and again in this volume. British-born and British-educated (Oxford), for much of his life he taught at the University of Leeds, before going on to lecture at Cambridge. And now, for the past 14 years, he has taught literature and religion at Boston University. Hill’s readership both here and in England cannot be very large, and he will never be a popular poet. But it would be a grievous error on the part of anyone seeking to find the real news in poetry to overlook Hill. Whatever the maddening allusiveness of his work, you know after just a few lines that you are in the presence of the real thinga serious poet concerned with serious issues, that rare phenomenon: a deeply religious poet. The Protestant John Milton seems to be behind Hill’s work, as well as the prophetic William Blake and D. H. Lawrence at his best. He is also one of the closest readers of Gerard Manley Hopkins I know of, not only of the latter’s poetry, but of the letters and sermons as well. Additionally, there are allusions to Augustine, Dante, John Donne and Charles Péguy, as well as to lesser figures like David Jefferies (Hopkins’s English contemporary) and Charles Williamson. Hill is one of those poets who can still pun in Latin and Greek. In heaven he will sup, I feel sure, with T. S. Eliot. It used to be that Hill published a book of poems about every 10 years. In the last six years, however, he has published four. Taken together they appear to approximate his own version of Dante’s Commedia, with much of 20th-century British culture (to say nothing of America’s contributions) standing in for hell. Canaan and The Triumph of Love came first, both published in 1998, followed in 2000 with Speech! Speech! And now, The Orchards of Syon. At first I took the title of this latest book to be a reference to Zion, or Jerusalem, especially because Hill couples it with motif-like references to Hopkins’s Goldengrove, an Eden-like hortus cultus, or enclosed garden. But there is the allusion too to the bloated corpse of Henry VIII. As it was being transferred to London, it was kept overnight at the former monastery at Syon, dissolved by the king in 1539, who turned the friars out and gave the monastery over to his followers. During the night when the king’s body lay there, the coffin burst open. When the body was discovered in the morning, the housedogs were still gnawing on ita sign, perhaps, of the curse on the king for profaning the sacred. Of the original estate, only the orchards the monks planted remain. So: corruption at the heart of the dream of God, the orchards (God’s fingerprint) the only viable reminder of what was corrupted by men hell-bent on getting their own way, even if it meant destroying an entire way of life to do so. And this is just an effort to unpack the resonances of Hill’s abstruse title! Here is a theme, William Carlos Williams wrote 70 years ago, after reading the opening 30 lines of his friend Ezra Pound’s complex epic-length Cantos: a closed mind which clings to its powerabout which the intelligence beats seeking entrance. The same could be said about trying to read Eliot’s The Waste Land, James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, Hart Crane’s The Bridge, John Berryman’s The Dream Songs or Williams’s own Paterson. And yet, somehow Hill’s poetryeven if it stands accused of a kind of willed obscurantismseems worth the effort. I am attracted to his work, even when it leaves me at a loss or gasping for a little more clarity, simply because, when it does register, it has about it an intelligence, honesty and passion that only the classics possess. But to get at this hard-won insight, you don’t read Hill, you reread him, and with each rereading the poem seems to clear a bit more, before it blurs again a few lines later. Or, as Hill himself phrases it in the 13th of his 72-page-long verse paragraphs, this massive, shedding, insubstantial substance/ blurred and refocused, blurred afresh by rain. So why read him? Because of the things he writes aboutwar and peace and sacrifice, and the search for meaning and the truths of the heart, and for that haunting sense that, in spite of war and terror and the indifferences that make up our daily hells, there really is some grander reality, some ineluctable presence we keep touching. There remains in Hill the daunting possibility that it may actually all cohere in the end, or at least enough of it to keep us searching for more. There is a hard edge to Hill, a strong Calvinist streak in him, and an intelligence that reminds one of Milton. Perhaps that is to be expected in someone who has brooded long and hard on the bloody nightmare of two world wars, ending in the Holocaust. He will not be easily consoled, this man, and certainly not by the materialistic and linguistic inanities of postwar England or America. Often he seems nearly to choke on his own bile. But he offers, too, fragments of consolation, and even a hard-won laughter, mordant though that laughter may be. He needs an audience worthy of him. And more: explicators and those who will assume the task of footnoting him. He is surely one of our handful of poets who is worth the time and energy to do that. So there remains at least one serious poet, asking the questions about our lives and our world that have to be asked if we are ever going to awaken from the nightmare of contemporary history. But for that to happen, Hill reminds us, it is we who will have to change. The promise, like the rainbow over the fallen city of man, remains. What we make of it is up to us. The poet, like the prophet, can only warn. The nightmare will not change until we change. Stop trying to amuse with such gleeful sorrow, Hill wisely ends his meditation: Here are the Orchards of Syon, neither wisdom nor illusion of wisdom, not compensation, not recompense: of Syon whatever harvests we bring them.

March 28, 2014 • 7:30 pm A favorite of Portland audiences, Chanticleer has developed a remarkable reputation for its vivid interpretations of vocal literature, from Renaissance to jazz, and from gospel to venturesome new music. With its seamless blend of twelve male voices ranging from countertenor to bass, Grammy award-winning Chanticleer is praised for its “tonal luxuriance and crisply etched clarity” (San Francisco Chronicle). “The world’s reigning male chorus.” The New Yorker “She Said/He Said” will include music and texts exploring the feminine ideal by Hildegard von Bingen and Tomás Luis de Victoria; the harmony and tension between the sexes by Maurice Ravel, Johannes Brahms, and Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn; “Give me Hunger” by Stacey Garrop; and Vince Peterson’s new arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” Generously Sponsored by George & Sarah Oh

Scholars Chip Knappenberger and Patrick Michaels at the libertarian Cato Institute have produced an exhaustive analysis of the government's slipshod report, "Climate Change Impacts in the United States," which the EPA used to claim that carbon dioxide endangers civilization. That claim was the basis for the 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision clearing the way for the government to regulate greenhouse gases, effectively giving carte blanche to regulate nearly everything. The Cato analysis is based on peer-reviewed scientific literature, peer-screened professional presentations and publicly available climate data.But they're politically popular; actual science isn't. Knappenberger and Michaels, working for Cato's Center for the Study of Public Science, found "important science that is missing from" the government's climate change document. Readers can decide whether the government accidentally left out the facts at http://bit.ly/WiOCeh. But, remember, the government document was designed to justify regulation. Among Cato's findings is that the period of warming before and after greenhouse gas emissions began rising dramatically in the past century "are statistically indistinguishable in magnitude." Since 1895, the "Impacts of observed climate change have little national significance." "The slow nature of climate progression results in de facto adaptation, as can be seen with sea level changes on the East Coast," they wrote. In other words, whatever changes may occur happen so slowly that adapting to them is easy – and doesn't cost a dime in carbon taxes or renewable energy subsidies. Saturday, February 09, 2013 The Slow Pace Of Change Why we shouldn't panic over climate change:

Mar. 28, 2007 Listen (RealAudio) | How to listen Poem: "Coastal Farmlet" by David Ray, from Music of Time: Selected and New Poems. © The Backwaters Press. Reprinted with permission. "A man wants nothing so badly as a gooseberry farm." I want a coastal farmlet. I desire it very much. I saw it advertised in the classifieds and I presume that coastal means our land comes right down to the sea with the whitecaps lashing romantically, and farmlet means we can grow gnarled trees on our headland and let sheep roam. It is about cheap enough for us if we borrow, beg and steal, pawn a few poems, also write a harlequin romance or two, and it's only 9000 miles from the place we call home. There's not much of a hitch except the Immigration would not let us stay in the country to live in our farmlet. But still, I want it and think we should go look at it, right now, this moment, while tangy sweet gooseberries glow. Literary and Historical Notes: It's the birthday of writer Nelson Algren, (books by this author) born in Detroit (1909). He made it through the University of Illinois and then drifted around during the Great Depression, hopping freight trains. He eventually settled in Chicago, which he called "The City on the Make." He also said, "Loving Chicago is like loving a woman with a broken nose." He is best known for his novel The Man with the Golden Arm (1949), about a card-dealing World War II veteran named Frankie Machine who's hooked on morphine. It was the first serious novel about a drug addict in American literature. It's the birthday of Frederic Exley, born in Watertown, New York (1929). He wrote one great book, A Fan's Notes (1968). He wrote it as a memoir, but in those days memoirs didn't sell, and his publisher asked him to make it look more like a novel. The main character remained Fred Exley. His biographer described the Exley of the book as "Huck Finn gone alcoholic but still lighting out for the territory." He once said, "[If I] hadn't become a writer ... I would have been stabbed to death in the parking lot outside a bar in Florida at 24, or something like that. I really believe that, actually. I think writing saved my life." It was on this day in 1941 that the novelist Virginia Woolf (books by this author) drowned herself in a river near her house in East Sussex. She had long suffered from periods of depression, and modern scholars believe these depressions may have been symptoms of manic-depressive illness, also known as bi-polar disorder. In her diaries over the years, Woolf had often written about her volatile mood swings, and she seemed to think that they were brought on by her sense that her writing wasn't good enough. She was relatively healthy for most of the 1920s as she published many of her greatest novels, including Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927). But she struggled with her book The Years (1937). Woolf's mood only grew worse as the Second World War broke out in 1939. She and her husband moved to their country house in East Sussex when Germans began to bomb London, because they thought it would be safer. But their country house lay under the flight path of the German bombers. More than once, during the summer of 1940, Woolf watched from her garden as the German planes flew over, close enough that she could see the swastikas on the undersides of the wings. By March of 1941, she was writing in her diary that she had fallen into "a trough of despair." She wasn't at all satisfied with her most recent book, and she felt as though the war made writing insignificant. She wrote, "It's difficult, I find, to write. No audience. No private stimulus, only this outer roar." She finally wrote three letters, possibly as much as 10 days before she committed suicide, explaining her reasons for wanting to end her life. In the longest of the three, she wrote to her husband, "I feel certain that I am going mad again. ... I shan't recover this time. ... I can't fight it any longer. ... What I want to say is that I owe all the happiness of my life to you." Woolf left the letters where her husband would find them, and then on this day in 1941 she walked a half-mile to a nearby river and put a heavy rock in the pocket of her fur coat before jumping into the water. One of the last people to see Virginia Woolf in good spirits was the novelist Elizabeth Bowen, who visited Woolf just a month before her death. Bowen later wrote of the visit, "I remember [Virginia] kneeling on the floor ... and she sat back on her heels and put her head back in a patch of sun, early spring sun. Then she laughed in this consuming, choking, delightful, hooting way. This is what has remained with me." Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

President of the Alumnae Association Susan L. MacLaurin '84 (left and right) and Executive Director Wendy M. Greenfield (center), dressed as Mawrters of 2001 and 1901, presented President of the College Nancy J. Vickers to reuning alumnae with a rhyming translation of the opening words of the College Hymn and an anassa kata. Photography by Paola Nogueras-Balasquide Tagliamonte '84 Assistant to the photographer, Sadie White '03 With reunions held for the classes of 1931, 1941, 1942, 1951, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991 and 1996, more than 900 alumnae, family and friends were on campus for a weekend of catching up with classmates and learning about the Bryn Mawr of today and of the future. "We are not just freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors this weekend," MacLaurin said, "but span more than 70 class years, from the Grand Women of 1931 to the undergraduates working as Reunion helpers. The community of alumnae supports us through a lifetime and takes us even beyond as a part of Bryn Mawr's unique legacy. Your experiences are our history. "The theme of Reunion this year, 'Looking Back and Looking Forward' was anticipated on May Day with 'Bryn Mawr 2001: A Space Odyssey.' President of theCollege Nancy J. Vickers led the parade in a spaceship. The College's Plan for a New Century took on an ambitious spin as Bryn Mawr applications were accepted from other planets and galaxies, and the College commissioned the physics department to construct a craft capable of launching Bryn Mawr students and faculty into space. The launching pad was the new lake between Pen y Groes and Rhoads, and the Bryn Mawr spaceship was none other than 'Blue Bus II.' Through the colonization of Mars, Bryn Mars, we prove once again that you can't sell Mawrters short. Whoever said, 'Men are from Mars' did not know Mawrters well. Down with the patriarchy. We all know that Bryn Mawr women will run Mars!" What is 'Visual Culture'? Teaching at Bryn Mawr has changed vastly as a result of "the computerization of the academic experience," according to Steven Z. Levine, Leslie Clark Professor in the Humanities, chairman of the history of art department, and director of the Center for Visual Culture. His Reunion lecture, "What Is Visual Culture," showed how digital media are transforming the way students learn about the history of art. The site of the lecture, Thomas 110, provided a convenient analogy: The room was formerly part of the library that housed "the stacks." In the '90s it became a "smart classroom" with Internet access. Now, instead of browsing the stacks, students and professor surf the web. Increasingly, virtual reality accompanies existential reality in college classrooms. For example, the Internet slowly is replacing the slide show in history of art classes. "When I came to Bryn Mawr in 1975," recalled Levine, "I was a virtuoso of the slide medium. For these past 25 years, I grew more and more elegant in the presentation of slide lectures. Then all of a sudden, just when my skills were at their mesmerizing peak, I found out that this was an obsolete medium." However, Levine called this era "the most exciting time in my 25 years on the faculty," with the computer allowing "a new kind of conversation" to take place between professors and students. A student living for a semester in Sri Lanka can e-mail a professor with the same ease as a student living in Rockefeller. A shy student intimidated by Levine's "bearded ferocity" can e-mail him a question at 2 a.m., and he can e-mail a response a few hours later. Today, teaching is web-based-and justly so. "People will expect to be able to forge a new community when they come to Bryn Mawr, drawing upon some shared media. If those media are no longer the written media of the Christian/classical consortium of culture in which I was still schooled, then one thing that does draw us together is the new media. We are all citizens of the world of television, advertising, movies and computers. In our information economy, it is through the visual interface, through the computer screen, that information is mediated in the first instance. Increasingly, all of our students, however diverse their backgrounds may be in terms of race, religion, ethnicity, and so on, will have experienced in their schooling the relationship of the new media to the world of knowledge." While Levine sympathized with the critique that viewing digitized paintings on the Internet degrades the actual, unique experience of interacting with a painting in the flesh, he pointed out that today's culture is not one of aesthetic appreciation but "a culture of images, not of paintings." And at that level, there's no degradation at all. "Through the digitization of images," he said, "we enter a new domain of culture. We enter virtual reality where, increasingly, the whole of a person's cultural interaction may be delivered through the home computer. Is that a thing to lament, or is that a thing to celebrate? As historians of culture in a university, we have to acknowledge what's happening around us. This is happening." He compared the digitization of images to an ancient pot that has been broken into many pieces, excavated and configured to present coherent meaning. Similarly, paintings are photographed and put onto the web through the combination of pixels, which by themselves are meaningless, like the shards of the pot. "The configuration that is more and more utilized in presenting knowledge to one another in the world is digital media." Finally, Levine predicted that physical interaction with paintings may become a quaint anachronism. "Just as our houses of worship are no longer decorated with golden mosaics, so too it may come to be in 300 years that the culture will no longer go to 'houses of art' that we call museums." In addition, he suggested an eerie irony: If the "decoding" that takes place when a painting is digitized is the same as the decoding of human genetics, then perhaps, "at the deepest level of our genomic existence, we are precisely nothing but zeros and ones, bits of electrochemical information, seratonin, neurotransmitters, off and on switches." 'Staring down the Gorgon' Alumnae had the opportunity to hear Nancy J. Vickers lecture as "Professor Vickers" on the mythological figure that inspired The Medusa Reader (New York:Routeledge, 2001), which she co-edited with Marjorie Garber, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and director of the Humanities Center at Harvard University. An interpretive anthology of images and references depicting the Medusa from Homer to the present, it is intended for both scholars and general readers. As a course book for students, it demonstrates how myth generates and/or absorbs meaning over time. Vickers related the core narrative, pieced together from variants on the story: "The exquisitely beautiful Medusa was one of the three Gorgons of Greek myth, and the only mortal one. She was said to have dallied with or to have been raped by sea god Poseidon in the temple of Athena. As punishment for this transgression, Athena transformed Medusa into a monster, changing her luxuriant long hair into a tangle of hissing snakes. A spectator gazing at Medusa would henceforth turn to stone. One of the tasks of the hero Perseus was to slay Medusa, which he was able to do with divine advice and magical devices. One of these was a shield so beautifully polished that he could reflect Medusa's image in it-guided by the mirror image, he cut off her head. One of the two children of Medusa and Poseidon that spring to life at the moment of their mother's decapitation was Pegasus, later the winged horse of the Muses, hence persistent associations of Medusa with poetry and the arts. Perseus appropriated the head of Medusa as a device for his own protection, holding it up to petrify his enemies. This begins a long line of the use of the head of Medusa on armorial surfaces such as breastplates or shields." The figure of Medusa is exceptional in its ubiquity, longevity and ambiguity, Vickers said. "You can see her (with characteristic staring eyes, a protruding tongue and snaky locks) on coins, mosaics, pottery, and over doorways throughout Greece and Turkey as an apotropaic figure, an object that wards off the very effect of evil it produces. There is an intrinsic doubleness built into her figure; she is at once a monster and a beauty. "You will encounter Medusa across the full Western canon, and at every level of high and low culture. She has become a fashion model, a logo and a figure for the present age. An advertisement for the 'hottest scream machine of 1999,' the Medusa Rollercoaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, calls her 'a millennium in the making.' Gianni Versace adopted a variant of the beautiful Medusa, from the Medusa Rondanini by sculptor Phidias, 440 B.C.E., in Munich's Glyptothek, as a logo for the House of Versace, putting her image on elegant apparel and having his models strike Perseus and Medusa attitudes. Asked in 1995 why he chose Medusa, Versace said, 'She is seduction, a sense of history, classicism ... She is fatal attraction.' " The Medusa project began some 20 years ago when Garber, a visiting professor at Dartmouth and Vickers, a faculty member there, discovered they both were working on Medusa and William Shakespeare. Garber, a noted cultural critic who spoke at Bryn Mawr this spring on literary Cleopatras, was writing an essay, "Macbeth: The Male Medusa" that later appeared in a volume of her works, Shakespeare's Ghost Writers:Literature as Uncanny Causality (London: Methuen, 1987). Vickers was writing an essay that later appeared as "The blazon of sweet beauty's best: Shakespeare's Lucrece," in Shakespeare and the Question of Theory, Patricia Parker and Geoffrey Hartman, eds., (New York: Methuen, 1985). She had been working on anatomical blazons, poems popular during the Renaissance that describe, in praise or blame, parts of the female body. "Blazon is a heraldic term, a coded language that tells you what the image on a shield looks like," Vickers said. "I became very interested in the relationship of the anatomical register, particularly pertaining to women's bodies, and the heraldic register, and came across an extraordinary mine of material in Shakespeare's narrative poem from the 1590s, The Rape of Lucrece." In a boasting contest among husbands each describing the beauty and virtue of his wife, Collatine so effectively praises the beauty of his wife, Lucrece, that Tarquin determines he must possess her, searches her out and rapes her. Lucrece calls for revenge and commits public suicide. "Shakespeare warns that in praising, one effectively merchandizes what one praises; the logical conclusion is either sale or theft," Vickers said. "Throughout the poem, Lucrece is described with heraldic metaphors. "The colors of her face, red and white, the colors of the house of Collatine, do war on the shield that is the construct of her face. The Lucrece-Medusa pair became for me an instance of the relationship of beauty to monstrousness, the one turning into the other at the moment of rape. Thinking about the role of eloquence in relationship to that turn, I found a 14th century commentator who glossed the figure of Medusa itself as eloquence. Eloquence, or the beautiful colors of rhetoric, merges with the colors of heraldry, merges with the colors of Lucrece's face." See more Medusa images. An architectural mystery Dr. Jeffery Cohen wants to solve a mystery. A lecturer in the Growth and Structure of Cities program and director of the Visual Media Center, Cohen has stumbled upon an 1889 photographic collection of 153 seemingly random suburban Philadelphian manors. His slide show and lecture on the collection had audience members itching to solve the mystery as well: Why does the collection exist? And what is it trying to show? Most of the houses in the collection are enormous and dispersed all over the periphery of the city, but conform to the five main railroad lines at the time. They are identified by the owner, the architect and the name of the house. Though the houses are not next to each other, the photos suggest "a sense of community in that they all want to be part of the same portfolio," Cohen said. Cohen has been trying to identity where the buildings once were (most of them no longer exist) and more importantly, what recommended them to the collection. In some cases he speculates it was the family's high social status or the house's architectural novelty that prompted the photographer. For example, A. J. Drexel's house, though older and architecturally unremarkable, is included in the collection. Also, two houses by Taylor Hall architect Addison Hutton are included: One, "Midhope," built in 1875 for Quaker chemist James Booth, is restrained and calm, "almost the dia- metric opposite" of Victorian architecture. But another house built by Hutton a few years later on Montgomery Avenue "has no calm in it" and typifies "gesticulating Victorian" architecture. What is certain is that the collection captures a suburban Philadelphia that no longer exists. Many of the homes were second homes of well-to-do bankers or retailers who prospered during the industrial era. They spent their winters in Center City townhouses, then summered in relative solitude five to 15 miles outside the city, where their closest neighbors might be as far as 100 acres away. Alumnae panelists representing each decade at Reunion talked about their career expectations and experiences in a discussion moderated by Representative to the Executive Board for Career Network Margaret A. Hoag '86. Athlete Marion Chester Read '42 played five varsity sports at Bryn Mawr and is a senior champion in several. "Half of our class went to Washington in war jobs," Read said. She majored in history of art, but had enjoyed her geology courses, and at the recommendation of professor Edmund Watson, went to Washington to work as a map maker for the Air Corps. After the war, she went to Harvard's geology department, where a project on Mount McKinley opened up new opportunities in mountain climbing. Read enjoyed her undergraduate sports experience, but acknowledged the enormous improvements for women that have resulted from Title IX. Susan Webb Hammond '54, professor of political science at American University in Washington, D.C., hoped to get a job with the foreign relations committee of the Senate, but found it "basically did not seem to be hiring women for any kind of professional position. ... I've been back to Hill since and a graduate degree makes a lot of difference, but things have changed dramatically both in terms of being elected to office and being appointed to high levels in government." As for the possibility of women achieving parity in Congress, Hammond pointed out that they still face responsibilities that make it difficult to decide when to run for Congress."Most of the women in Congress have grown children or are unmarried with no children," she said. Entrepreneur DeAnne S. Rosenberg '61, an expert on management and employment issues, expected after graduation "to find a job where I could make lots of money and be absolutely independent financially of parents and any men as well. But Ifound that I couldn't type. My first job was as a lipstick screwer. So I went into personnel, which was where they dumped you in those days if you had smarts but didn't type. And I quickly learned that in the personnel area, which they now call human resources, your job was to interview people and tell them they didn't qualify for employment. I found that it was a very negative situation. .... Then the war on poverty in late 1960s offered many opportunities for a woman to be creative and to move into that arena. I found that working with people to develop their skills was a very positive situation. So I decided that's what Iwanted to do with my life and on the basis of that, I went into my own business. I have been a management consultant up until this day, and it has been very rewarding." Kim Masters '76, one of the "five divas of reporting on the entertainment business," said she "stumbled into covering Hollywood" much as she had "stumbled into covering law" for a trade publication in Washington after graduation. Masters found she had a taste and talent for investigative reporting. She worked for The Washington Post for six years and has also written for other metropolitan newspapers, Vanity Fair, Time, Inside.com and Premier. She finally decided to switch from politics to Hollywood because "it was something I cared less about, that didn't tear me up inside." Masters said that Hollywood is the "ultimate boys' club, more so than the Senate-there's only a handful of major studios, and all of them were and are run by men." She found, however, that "it is a reflection of sexism, for better or for worse, that men in the industry are more willing to go to lunch and chat with a woman, and a smart woman presents an added dimension, a challenge. I have a reputation as being terrifying, so I'm mean and horrible with a little bit of playfulness and fun thrown in." Women remain particularly underrepresented as directors and writers, Masters said. "We do see more women as studio chairmen, but that job is a lot less exciting and glamorous.And the moguls have become fieldhands in the plantations of these vertically integrated companies, which will ultimately destroy democracy in my belief because they own so many media outlets." Egyptologist Salima Ikram '86, a professor at American University in Cairo who is an expert on animal mummies, weathered the daunting sexism and racism of "Oxbridge" during her graduate studies in archaeology. In Egypt, where she directs digs in addition to teaching, she finds that both men and women are "nicer to you if you're a woman, and I find I get farther if I am not confrontational. People do, in the end, recognize the value of your work." But Ikram can also bealso be mean and scary. "My students are terrified of me!" After receiving an MBA from the University of Chicago, Jennifer Wu '91 did small business consulting in Poland. She returned to the States to work in her family business as marketing manager and comptroller, then did management consulting for KPMG Consulting, focusing in the healthcare sector, and recently started as a professional representative with Merck. Frequent career change is good and it is now expected, she emphasized. "I also don't think you should be ashamed to want to work in the corporate world and make a lot of money," she said. "I want to be able to support myself, fund what Iwant to do, and write checks for Bryn Mawr! In the past we have spoken of intellectual and ideological independence. This is the message I'd like to share; that it's OK to want to be financially independent." Mary Lackritz Gray '51, Richard Gray, Andrew Zweifler and Ruth LaPlace Zweifler '51. Gigi Chapman '81, Carol Holden '81, Emily McKillip '81 and Alex Baxter, Hfd '81, do a wave. Jennifer Lotz '96, Jennifer Noon '96 and Harley Jenks '96 light candles. (Step Sing was held in Thomas Great Hall because of rain.) Karyn Folland '96, Truc Ha '96, Dawn Dow '96 and Tamika Lott '96. Paola Nogueras-Balasquide Tagliamonte '84 and Rosemarie Straijer-Amador '81. The Barbara Auchincloss Thacher '40 Award for Greatest Improvement in Participation Among the Ten Most Recent Classes went to The Class of 1991 with 36 percent (up from 26 percent last year). Return to Fall 2001 highlights